Government Legislation and Compliance Requirements

The Meadow is an old fashioned age care facility and this centre face issues in attracting the new residents and staffs in recent years. This organization also involved in the serious breach of government regulations on different occasions from last few years. Board of the organization apply for the re-accreditation program which is facilitated and supported by the government of Australia. Board of management get information from un-official source that unless organization addressed the serious deficiencies the re-accreditation will not be granted by the organization.

Human resource consultant is appointed in terms of developing the proposal for addressing the issues which is identified by the board. Consultant is also responsible to improve the efficiencies and the human resource practice in the organization. The focus must be on improving the efficiencies in service delivery by improving the HR practices in context of the Human Resources Management theory and practices.

Structure of this paper includes the identification of the government legislation, identification of staff issues by using the elements of the HRM, proposal related to appropriate work performance, proposal for managing the obstacles for change and facilitating the change process. At the end, brief recommendations and conclusion is stated.

This section of the paper identify the issues faced by The Meadow in context of the government legislation requirements and also give suggestion to meet these government legislations requirements. Further, organizational and staff issues are addressed on the basis on relevant HRM theories.

Organization currently faced number of issues in context of their employees such as issue related to the aging workforce, which means, majority of the workforce of the organization is near the age of retirement. Another issue relates with the bullying and harassment, which means, new staff put in the test and this results in the bullying and harassment (ICLG, no date.

It is necessary for the organization to understand that the common law employment relationship based on the requirement of fair work legislation and applicable industrial awards. In terms of present case, Aged Care Award 2010 is applied for resolving the issues faced by the organization.

It is necessary for the organization to ensure that all the terms and conditions related to the employment in Australia must be complied by the organizations. These terms and conditions of employment are stated under the National Employment standards and deal with number of things for ensuring effective working in the organization.

Staff Issues and HRM Theories

Workplace safety and health is the another important section which needs to be considered by the organizations for their employees, such as legislation is introduced by Fair Work Commission for preventing the workplace harassment, bullying, and discrimination. As defined by the Fair Work Amendment Act 2013 workplace behaviour is the repeated unreasonable behaviour by an individual’s towards their workers which creates the risk related to health and safety (Federal Register of Legislation, 2009.

Diversity in the workplace is the another factor which must be considered by the organization, as it is necessary for the organization to ensure that employees must be of all the age and type for ensuring best services in the organization.

There are number of sections of the Aged Care Award 2010 which helps the organization in resolving all these issues, and some of these are defined below-

Section 2 of the Awards defines the provisions related to the commencement and transition of this award. This section states that, Award commence on 1^st January 2010. This section further states that this award recognize some important terms and conditions related to the employment, and it is necessary for the organization to complied with them-

• Minimum wages and rates related to piecework.
• Casula or part-time loadings.
• Shift/allowances and penalties
• Holidays (FWC, 2010).

Section 3 of the Award states the different definitions in this context and as per this paper whenever the award refers to the conditions related to the employment provided for in the NES, the definition of NES will apply.

Section 6 of the Award define the provisions related to the NES and this award, and as per this section both the NES and this award includes the minimum conditions of employment for the employees covered under this Award.

Section 7 defines the individual flexibility arrangement, which means, employer can terminate the agreement-

• By any time, through the written agreement between the employer and employee.
• By giving 13 week written notice to the respective person either by employer of by employee.

The Meadow can terminate its aging workforce by giving them written notice of 13 weeks or by signing written agreement with them. They can resolve this issue by terminate these employees and hire new employees in place of old employees.

There are numbers of organizational and staff issues faced by this organization and some of these issues are defined below-

Organization faces the issue related change resistance, as employees create obstacles in adopting the change and also the issue related to the culture of leaving the work as it is as it has worked until now.

For managing the change resistance, the best theory which can be used by the organization is the effective communication. In this, leader communicates the change with the employees of the organization and also ensures that each and every employee of the organization understands the change. The biggest reason of resistance is the misunderstanding related to the change, as their number of employees which are not able to understand the change and resist it. Method of effective communication not only helps the individuals in understanding the change but also identifies the issues of employees and resolves it.  

Proposal for Work Performance

Another theory of HRM which can be used by the human resource consultant is the engagement of employees, which means, employees must be engaged in the implementation process of change. It helps them in understanding the change and adapting it which ultimately reduce the chances of resistance.

For resolving this culture of leaving the work, human resource consultant can use the approach implementation of change at each and every stage. In other words, this culture can only be removed with the effective implementation of change at each and every level and process of the organization, because these changes ultimately results in the flexible environment of working and also leads to change this culture (Avey, Wernsing, & Luthans, 2008).

Another issue faced by the organization is resistance to re-training by the employees. The biggest reason behind this is the lack of trust and lack of confidence in the employees of the organization. This issue can be resolved by conducting communication with the employees and tell them about the advantages of training. Organization can also include the top management in the training sessions as this enhances their trust and confidence.

This system can be implemented in the organization through different levels, and this implementation will be deemed as major change in the organization. This recommended proposal is based on the section 8 of the Aged Care Award 2010.

In case any definite decision is made by the employer in context of making changes in the production, program, organization, structure and technology then such change must be implemented in the way defined under this section (Becker & Gerhart, 1996). In other words, if such change imposes significant effect on the employees of the organization then such change must result in following manner-

• Notice of the change must be given to all the employees of the organization who might be affected by these changes.
• Employer must discuss the effect of the change with the employees and their representatives. In this context, employer must discuss the introduction related to the changes, likely effect of the changes on employees, and measures which can be used to reduce or prevent the adverse effects of change (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).
• Discussion with the employees must be commenced soon after the decision related to the change has been made.

In terms of discussing the above facts, employer needs to give the notice in writing to the affected employees, and such notice must include all the relevant information such as nature of the change, expected effect of the change on employees, matters that might affect the employees (Ford, & Ford, 2009). Following are the significant effect of the change on the employees of the organization-

• Termination of the employment of employee.
• Major changes in the composition, operation, and size of the workforce of the employer or in the skills requirement of the employees.
• Changes in the working hours of employees.
• Loss or reduction in context of job tenure.
• Loss or reduction in the opportunities of the job promotion (FWC, 2010).

It must be noted that, employer is exempted to disclose any information which might affect the interest of the employer in adverse manner.

Another important step which needs to be taken by the employee is the consideration of those matters which are raised by the employees in terms of the change implemented by the employer. In other words, employer must discuss the matters raised by the employees and also take steps to resolve their issues (Alvesson, & Sveningsson, 2015).

Proposal for Change Management

Management of obstacles to change is the most important step in the process of change implementation, as it focuses on preventing or reducing the resistance to change by adopting different measures (Becker & Gerhart, 1996). In this context, proposal plan is based on section 8A, 9, and 11 of the Aged Care Award 2010. Following is the proposal plan in terms of different obstacles faced by the employer from the employees while implementing the change-

In case change affect the working hours of the employee, then employer must discuss and consult that change with the employee.  In context of consulting this employer must consider following things-

• Employer must give the complete information about the change to the employees.
• Effect of the proposed change must be discussed with the employee.

This is the most effective way to avoid the obstacles created by employees in adapting the change, and through this board can also ensure the effective management of the obstacles which are created by employees in implementing the change (Bryman, & Bell, 2015).

In case any dispute is occurred between the employees and employer in terms of implementing the change, then such dispute can only be resolved with the help of effective communication session with the employees-

• First, supervisor of the organization must discuss the matter with the employees.
• In case supervisor fails to resolve the matter, then top management must intervene in the matter.

This method not only manages the obstacles but also enhance confidence in employees for adopting the change.

In case change results in the termination of employee, then employer must give notice to the employee. Time period of notice is stated under section 11 of the Award that is-

Working period	Notice period
Less than 1 year	1 Week
More than 1 year	2 Week
More than 1 year but less than 3 year	3 Week
More than 5 year	4 Week (FWC, 2010

Employer must give compensation to the employees in case employee fails to give notice of stipulated time period to the employee.

Following are the recommendations for the board of the in terms of dealing with the above issues-

• Board must implement the change on the basis of the above proposal plan.
• Training sessions must be arranged for the employees, as it helps them in adopting the change in effective manner (Symon, 2005).

Conclusion

After considering the above facts, consultant is appointed in terms of developing the proposal for addressing the issues which is identified by the board. Organization faces the issue related change resistance, as employees create obstacles in adopting the change and some other issues also. For managing the change resistance, the best theory which can be used by the organization is the effective communication. Another theory of HRM which can be used by the human resource consultant is the engagement of employees, which means, employees must be engaged in the implementation process of change.

References

Agent care Award-2010

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Avey, J., Wernsing, T. S., & Luthans, F. (2008). Can Positive Employees Help Positive Organizational Change? Impact of Psychological Capital and Emotions on Relevant Attitudes and Behaviors. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 44 (1): 48-70.

Becker, B., & Gerhart, B. (1996). The impact of human resource management on organizational performance: Progress and prospects. Academy of management journal, 39(4), 779-801.

Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.

Federal Register of Legislation. Fair Work Act 2009. Retrieved from https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00323.

Ford, J. D., & Ford, L. W. (2009). Decoding Resistance to Change. Harvard Business Review, 87 (4).

FWC, (2010). Aged Care Award 2010. Retrieved from https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/documents/modern_awards/pdf/ma000018.pdf.

ICLG. Employment and Labour Law 2018. Retrieved from https://iclg.com/practice-areas/employment-and-labour-laws-and-regulations/australia.

Symon, G. (2005). Exploring resistance from a rhetorical perspective. Organization Studies, 26: 1641-1663.