BUSINESS owners in Perth are increasingly seeking professional advice on how to deal with the federal government's industrial relations reforms and the implications for their future staffing needs amid a worsening global economic climate.
BUSINESS owners in Perth are increasingly seeking professional advice on how to deal with the federal government's industrial relations reforms and the implications for their future staffing needs amid a worsening global economic climate.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA's Employee Relations Advice Centre normally fields about 1,500 calls a month from members concerned about the impact of the new Fair Work Bill and options regarding redundancies.
In January this year the centre received 1,755 calls from a range of sectors, compared to 1,383 calls in December 2008.
CCIWA's workplace relations director Marcia Kuhne said the prospect of having to cut staff numbers amid a fundamental shift in the workplace relations landscape was daunting to most employers.
"They're preparing to make people redundant, but they want to know what they can do to avoid standing down staff," Ms Kuhne said."A lot of businesses during the past two years worked very hard to find staff, so they are reluctant to lay them off during this temporary setback with the state of the economic climate and the workplace relations reforms."
Through the advisory hotline, CCIWA provides information regarding the restructuring or streamlining of a business, the financial liabilities of making employees redundant and developing a human resources plan.
The Small Business Development Corporation has experienced an increase in the number of calls from small and medium-sized enterprises regarding staff cuts and the workplace relations reforms.
"Overall there is a fair bit of interest in what the changes will mean to small business operators, but those making the inquiries are not worried," SBDC managing director Stephen Moir said.
"The fundamental issue that small business operators need to know is whether they come under federal or state jurisdiction."
BDO Kendalls director of private and entrepreneurial client services, Lyall Bear, said while wages were a massive cost burden to employers - taking into account aspects such as superannuation, WorkCover insurance and payroll tax - the accounting firm was advising clients to consider all options before making staff redundant.
"Even small businesses get hurt very quickly from those additional on-costs, so it's no wonder they look at it [redundancies]," Mr Bear said.
"Is that the right thing? Well, it depends if they have gone through the right process of reviewing everything else, and whether have they have looked at all the opportunities.
"If they have been just enjoying the good times, sucking out all of those profits and not having reserves and not having a very strong business model, then those businesses more often than not are looking at slashing jobs as their first port of call.
"Will it come back and bite them down the track? It may well do."
