As employment issues make headlines around the country, entities privy to the challenges of employers and employees bemoan “rigidity”.
Last month’s jobless figures reached 6.4 per cent – the highest since mid-2002 – as the Productivity Commission’s reputed wide-sweeping review of the country’s workplace relations system began.
Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce chief executive Kate Carnell told SmartCompany more than a week ago that the “rigidity of the industrial relations system” was a significant hurdle for SMEs wanting to employ staff.
“It’s a risk to employ people when it’s really hard to down-size. We desperately have to make it easier for SMEs to employ and shed staff if business doesn’t go well.”
Employment site Workible engages with both sides of the workforce equation, and recognises barriers to employers and employees looking to come together. [Read PubTIC article on Workible.]
“We see a lot of SME employers struggling to navigate the industrial relations system while keeping their businesses staffed with quality employees,” Workible director Alli Baker told PubTIC.
“And sadly, we also see a lot of them fail miserably, which leads to crippling staff turnover rates, employment relations nightmares, and in the end, costs Australian businesses a lot of time and money.
“The systems and mainstream tools in place don’t make it easy for employers to tap into the talent they need to run and grow their businesses, and when it all becomes ‘too hard’, it stifles employment and hurts both employers and employees.”
Baker says there is a “goldmine of talent out there searching for an opportunity”, yet SMEs often lack the knowledge of the system or resources to hire cost-effectively.
Workible produces an app that allows job seekers to register interest in employers or categories of employment, and collates these as per the needs of employers posting jobs, to dramatically cut the time to hire and cost of recruitment.