Businesses fear a mass sick day this Friday after Australia Day

Apparently our National Day is not an excuse for a hangover at work or “chucking a sickie” this Friday - how very unAustralian I hear some of you say! 

But, with hangovers costing businesses $5.6 billion a year, maybe it's time we had a rethink about overindulging during Australia Day festivities. 

NSW Business Chamber Executive Officer, Stephen Cartwright, urged revellers not to get carried away when they still had to put in a full day’s work before the weekend. 

“While Thursday will be a day off for many Australians to celebrate their national holiday, Friday is a normal working day, and employees will be expected to show up to the workplace ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed’”. 

Mr Cartwright said employees who planned to take a ‘sickie’ on Friday should be warned that they will be fooling no one. 

“Anybody who takes a ‘sickie’ on the Friday after Australia Day is not going to go unnoticed by their employer or their colleagues and it is likely to damage their professional reputation”. 

Employees who are planning an extra-long weekend have been urged to use their annual leave or talk to their employers to come up with alternative arrangements. 

“The impact of staff taking a ‘mass sick day’ on a business is significant in financial costs and lost productivity.” 

Read the full article on the NSW Business Chamber website here  

Leave Slots are an innovative holiday planning feature now available in the latest release of Mitrefinch’s Time Management System. 

This new functionality enables managers and supervisors to limit how many employees can be off on a given day or time period e.g. this Friday following Australia Day - averting potential staffing shortfalls and ensuring you have sufficient staff on hand to meet demand. 

Employees can view available Leave Slots online and they will be unable to request leave once the limit has been reached – hence HR won’t need to deal with multiple requests from staff on what days are available etc... 

In addition, Absence Profiling, allows you to see who took a sick day, when, and if any particular pattern is forming. For example, you could check back to last year and see if there was a spike in sick days taken the day after Australia Day or other popular public holidays – and take appropriate action. 

If you happen to work in an industry where staff are required to work on Australia Day, an automated Time and Attendance Software System can also take the stress out of payroll processing – by easily calculate overtime pay and public holiday penalties, and exporting this information direct to your external payroll application. 

Now all you have to worry about is how you are going to celebrate Australia Day! 

To find out more about Leave Management, Absence Profiling or Employee Time Management contact Mitrefinch today on 1300 884 831 or email sales@mitrefinch.com.au 

Hungry Jack's to back pay staff more than $104,000

(Source Payroll News) A Hungry Jack’s fast food outlet in central Victoria has been penalised for underpaying its staff for more than four years. 

The Federal Magistrates Court ordered the operator of the Bendigo outlet to pay a penalty of $46,200, after the company volunteered to pay back more than $104,000 it owed to its staff, who were mostly junior employees. 

The Fair Work Ombudsman said most of the underpayments resulted from the company failing to upgrade wage rates as required for the employees’ length of service. This resulted in underpayments of the minimum hourly rate, overtime and public holiday rates. 

The company also underpaid or failed to pay annual leave entitlements and a laundry allowance. 

The Fair Work Ombudsman said as well as repaying its workers, the company had appointed a new payroll adviser. 

The ruling comes in the wake of an official audit revealing a quarter of Australian employers in the $240 billion retail industry were underpaying staff or failing to record work times and wages properly. 

The Fair Work Ombudsman's random inspection of almost 1900 businesses found 26 per cent were breaking workplace laws or regulations - many unwittingly.
 

The findings have retailers fearing a huge bill, with sector's peak body, the Australian Retailers Association, warning there could be millions more owed in back pay because many of the 140,000 businesses were confused about their new obligations under the changed industrial relations regime and the change to a federal system. 

An automated Time and Attendance Software System can take the stress out of payroll processing, award and entitlement calculations. 

Easily calculate base and overtime pay, weekend and public holiday penalties, as well as leave loading and shift penalties, ensuring consistent application of your business rules. A direct interface to your external payroll application further reduces payroll administration and the potential for costly payroll errors. 

If you would like discover how your organisation can benefit from more efficient Award Interpretation and effective Employee Time Management contact Mitrefinch today on 1300 884 831 or email sales@mitrefinch.com.au