Small Biz Matters: People, Policy, Purpose.

Top Tips For Engaging With Consultants

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 8 August 2017

At one time or another in your small business journey you can be guaranteed you'll be dealing with consultants. Whether it's someone to help you with an aspect of your business you're not very strong in or to access the support that you need to improve your business journey, it's important to know how to engage with these consultants.

Today's guest is John Groarke principal partner of Find a Consultant. His organisation is unique in helping other businesses connect with the right people to support them. But it's not always easy, particularly when you're not the expert. And that's why John is here to help us.

Welcome to the show John.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Broadly your small business journey and what led you to start your own business
• What are your three top tips for finding the right consult the first time?
• How to best structure the relationships with your consultants.
  • Payment
  • IP
  • The right insurances
• Tell us a little bit about how your directory system works and what mistakes you made made along the way that you would give advice to other similar?

To find out more go to their website: www.findaconsultant.com.au   

Let's Talk About Sales Strategies

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 18 July 2017

Sales. It’s a topic not spoken about directly in Small Business. Sure, we chat about marketing, social media, online presence - even personal brand. But what about straight sales? How well are you engaging, Have you got your technique right? Do your sales staff actually know who they’re talking to and do they deliver value. ? Do you even have a CRM? Lots to chat about ….

Welcome to the show Gary. Firstly, tell us a little about your Small Business Journey and what led you to this consultation career?

Topics we’ll be covering:

What does an On-demand Sales Advisory and fulfillment Consultant do?

When you engage with a Consulting Sales Professional here’s what they would be asking you to asses:

• How do you conduct your sales engagements today
• Do you have a Unique Value Proposition (easily articulated)
• Who is doing the selling for your business and how much of it
• Do you have the right person selling for you?
• Is your website up to scratch? Engaging and shows value. Its
  often the beginning or end of an engagement. 
• Marketing/business plan in place? Grow revenue / profit /
  market share.
• How well you conduct any outbound calling ie but needs to be demographically researched and known market segment for B2B selling.
• Incremental sales capacity – at what point do you hire full time internal / external sales people or utilise On-Demand skills.
• Cyclical – have an idea of the cycles and when these sales
  conversations need to take place.
• Conservative estimate of profitability & revenue growth when you engage with them. Return on investment based on recommendations.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)  is core to the success of a business and adds value in many ways. (Role is different to that of billing application)

 Top Tips CRMs Steps of a CRM:

• Build
• Implement (structured  contact , pipeline , revenue tracking etc)
• Convert

Your CRM is not a static tool; it’s a living resource in your business and needs to be fed & watered with attention. It’s a digital footprint of your business – add value to the value of your business!!

Free software! Insightly, hubspot, ZOHO, Paid Dynamics, Salesforce.

• Customer Relationship Management (all aspects)
• Logging calls and conversations with customers / leads
• Date stamping when to call leads back and why.
• Pipeline visibility and deal closure
• Targets for possible earnings from the client
• When to let them go

Sales and Marketing - there IS a difference.

What the difference between Sales & Marketing & how do they in bigger companies come into conflict? Competitive because of the conflict – they should be unified – so you need a SMARKETING approach.

What’s a true Lead as opposed to a Suspect (shown an interest) and why do we need to know about this as a small business?

Let’s talk LinkedIn for B2B… What value does LinkedIn hold over that of Facebook and why is more relevant for B2B use.

Sales coaching – what to expect from your sales staff

• Using CRM (need continuity if rep leaves promoted etc)
• Visibility of diaries to maker sure face to face selling time is optimal
• In field coaching / role plays if applicable.
• Quantities of calls - Lead generation activity / success
• Periodic assessment - check on health and wellbeing

What Sales professionals want to see fro their employer

• Sales training / meaningful customer engagement
• Compensation plans that keep them enthused about the role
• Fed regular relevant industry information to help them achieve success
• Tools and technology that allow them to maximise selling time.

Don’t forget to Keep your reps happy!

To find out more go to their website: http://www.yoursalesmanager.net.au

Streetwork - One Of The Special Organisations In Our Midst

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 18 July 2017

Hornsby is unique for lots of reasons but one of the things I love about living in this fantastic area of Sydney is the honest, genuine people everywhere in Hornsby who give so much of themselves to their fellow man. It’s something we all need to be proud of and reminded of. So every so often I like to remind the small businesses what makes this part of Sydney so special and maybe suggest how they too can get involved.

It doesn’t have to be be money (although we all know that’s where we can do the most good) but perhaps gifts in kind, volunteering time, or even taking someone who hasn’t been so lucky in life under your wing.

Today we welcome Lucy Dahill from the wonderful organisation Streetwork to the show to tell us about how she helps others in her community and more importantly works hard to coordinate support for vulnerable kids across lots of groups.

Welcome to the show Lucy.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• The issues facing young unemployed local teenagers and how they can break through to the job market.
  • How small business can support these people.
• The shifting demographics around Hornsby & KuringGai area that small businesses need to be aware of.
  • Degradation of TAFE & things to do locally
  • What sort of kids does Streetwork support (it’s not always who you think)
• Streetworks & Fusion and how people can become involved.
  • International men's & women's day
  • Volunteering your time
  • Mentoring young people
• How Streetwork works with loass of other support organisations to get the real help these young people need

To find out more go to their website: www.streetwork.org.au

Employee Law Tips for Small Businesses - Hiring & Firing

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 27 June 2017

Today on Small Biz Matters we’ve brought in an expert on Employment Law; Michelle Archer from Archer Law practice based in Hornsby. It's a topic I’ve long wanted to discuss and I’m please to welcome a true, local expert on the subject. So welcome to the show and thanks for sharing all of your knowledge with us this morning.

A: Michelle, can you tell me a little bit about background and what led you to this career path?

M: brief description of previous experience in the field and the sort of businesses you’ve worked with over the years.

A: And Michelle, can you give me a brief overview of the Fair Work Act and how it relates to small business?

The Fair Work Act (“FWA”) is a Federal Government Act which regulates employment and industrial relations in Australia.  The Act applies to nearly all employers in NSW except NSW public servants, some NSW Government agencies and local Councils.  Most employment and industrial matters are dealt with in the Act.   The Act defines a small business employer as being fewer than 15 employees.  Some of the rights and obligation of employers under the Act are different depending on whether you are a small business or not

One aspect which is particularly misunderstood is that of the process of Hiring and Firing of staff and this is why we’re covering this topic today. The unfair dismissal laws in particular can be a bit of a roadblock for small business and can actually make them think twice about hiring that perfect employee. For many its another example of excessive red tape. But, is it all that bad?

Part 1 – Hiring

A: Now, we’ve covered the area of employment contracts  previously on Small Biz but I have to admit we didn’t consult an expert such as yourself; so can you give us some tips about what we should consider before hiring new staff?

M: When hiring employees a business has both statutory obligations to its employees and contractual obligation.  Statutory obligations are found in the Fair Work Act and also in Awards or other Acts such as the Long Service Leave Act.

The Fair Work Act provides some minimum entitlements which are referred to as the National Employment Standards or NES.  There are 10 terms and conditions in the NES, including:

1.      A maximum working week of 38 hours for full time employees plus “reasonable additional hours”.

2.      A right to request flexible working arrangements.

3.      12 months unpaid Parental and adoption leave, with the right to request an additional 12 months.

4.      Four weeks paid annual leave (pro rated for part time).

5.      Ten days paid personal/carer’s leave (pro rated for part time), two days paid compassionate leave for each permissible occasion, and two days unpaid carer’s leave for each permissible occasion.

6.      Community service leave for jury service or activities dealing with emergencies or natural disasters (this leave is unpaid except for jury service).

7.      Long service leave – (there is an entitlement to long service leave in the NES but the actual granting and payment of Long service leave is governed by the Long Service leave Act in NSW).

8.      Public holidays and the entitlement to be paid when working on those days.

9.      Notice of termination and redundancy pay.  (Note redundancy pay is not required to be paid by a small business employer)

10.  The right for new employees to receive a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement,

Employers also have to work out whether an Award applies to their Employees so having a good job description is very helpful as you need to know the type of work your employee is going to perform in order to work out if an Award will apply.   (See my attached presentation)

A: And what about an  agreement,  or contract? Should small business have a contract with their employees or just rely on the Award?

M: It is important to have an employment contract even if the employee is covered by an award. The contract can cover things like

·      Remuneration, including any bonus or commission schemes and superannuation;

·      Probationary periods,

·      Protection of confidential information,

·      Notice periods,

·      Post-employment restraints.

·      Compliance with the employer’s policies (although it is important to exclude the policies from being contractual terms).

A: And when we met recently you mentioned a document that ALL new employees should be supplied with at the point of employment which was the Fair Work Information Statement – I’ll be honest and say I had no idea about this regulation. Can you please explain what’s covered in a Fair Work Information Statement and where employers can find one?

The Fair Work Information Statement is a two page document which sets out information regarding the National Employment Standards, and also provides information on things like the right to request flexible working arrangements, Modern Awards and other workplace rights.  It also provides contact details for the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Fair Work Commission.  You can find the Fair Work Information Statement by going to www.fairwork.gov.au or you can just google “Fair Work Information Statement”.

Part 2 – Firing

A: So, as an expert in Employment Law, if I say the words “You’re Fired!” what does that term make you think on:

M: Well the first thing it makes me as an employment lawyer think of is “Why?”  Different scenarios can arise depending on why an employer terminated the employee.  For example, if an employee is guilty of some really serious misconduct then the employer has the right to terminate that employee on the spot without warning or notice.  But if it is not serious misconduct, then we have to look to see if the employer was justified in terminating that person’s employment.  For example, is it a redundancy, has the business been sold to someone else, is that person being terminated for performance reasons.

A: Firstly Michelle, let’s talk about unfair dismissal and the misconceptions that small business owners may have regarding this. Do you think is it more of a misinterpretation, or a lack of awareness as to their obligations?

M: In my experience both employees and employers have a lack of awareness of what claims can be made under the unfair dismissal laws.  Employees always think they are able to claim more than they actually can and Employers worry about hiring new staff because of unfair dismissal laws but there are some important hurdles for employees claiming unfair dismissal, such as:

·       employees of small business cannot claim unfair dismissal in the first twelve months of employment or if their earnings is above the high income threshold (which is presently $136,700).

·       Also, they cannot claim they have been unfairly dismissed if their job has been terminated for reasons of genuine redundancy.  If the role has been terminated because of redundancy, then a small business employer is not obliged to make redundancy payments under the Fair Work Act.

·       They must prove that their dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable.

·       Small business Employers also have access to the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code which provides a checklist of what to do in the event of termination.  If the Employer can show they have followed the Code then the employee will not be able to claim unfair dismissal.  The Code can also be found on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website.

-       Even if the employee is successful in their claim, the Fair Work Commission has  two options, it can reinstate the person to their previous role, which is quite rare, or they can award compensation.  The most that can be awarded is no more than six months of the employee’s salary or one half of the high income threshold, whichever is higher.  And that is the maximum, most decisions of the FWC are less than that.

A: As my regular listeners would know we’re all about solid processes and procedures here at Small Biz Matters, so what can businesses do to protect themselves when setting this all up?

M:   They should first have good job descriptions and make sure that their employees know what their job is and what are the expectations around it.  You should document everything.  If you have to counsel an employee about their performance, even if it is informally or without giving a warning, make sure you take file notes of your discussions.  For more formal interviews, you should have witnesses to the meeting and allow your employee a support person as well.

Also, you should have policies around such important matters as occupational health and safety, internet and email usage and bullying/harassment. But more importantly you should make sure that your employees know about the policies and that they are enforced for everyone including the owners and managers.  Having written policies is a great idea but they are of no help if everyone just ignores them.

A: In your opinion, are the unfair dismissal laws really there to protect businesses, employees or both?

M: I think the Act has tried to strike a balance between the interests of business and employees but I do think there is a level of misunderstanding in the community about what rights people have under the unfair dismissal regime.  A lot of businesses don’t know for example about the 12 month minimum employment period or the salary caps which can make some employees ineligible for unfair dismissal.

A: Is unfair dismissal all we have to worry about?  Are there any other claims employees can make?

M: Unfair dismissal is the most common claim that an unhappy employee would make but employers must also consider other potential claims if they are thinking of terminating an employee who may be ineligible to claim unfair dismissal.  For example there are laws in the FWA against discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family or carer's responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin.  Employers are also not allowed to act against employees because they have a workplace right, for example if an employee has a right to take leave, then employers cannot terminate them for reason of them taking or proposing to take that leave.  These claims are not subject to same eligibility criteria so employers must also be careful not to discriminate unfairly against their employees.

A: And where can businesses get more info on unfair dismissal if they’re in need of good advice?

M: It is always a good idea to get good advice from a lawyer experience in employment law early.  Waiting too long can cost more in the long run.  Employers can also contact the  Fair Work Ombudsman or their website for further information.

Data Analysis - What to do with the analytics your website provides

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 20 June 2017

So your website spat a whole load of data in your lap. Now what? Its all fine and well to count the visits, see how people found you and see what you’ve sold but do you really know how to analyse the data which your website and Google Analytics (or both) can provide?

Today’s guest is Alex Dance, founder of Hero SEO Partners. He sees the Matrix when it comes to your data. Not only can the company set up your analytics (like lots of other companies) but also teach you how to see it, analyse it and actually use it as a tool in your marketing arsenal.

And that’s what he’s here to do today!  Welcome to the show Alex.

Topics we’ll be covering:

â—     Broadly your small business journey and what led you to start your own business

o     Have a mathematics background

o     Half of Marketing Works / Half doesn’t – I calculated which half

o     Responsible for Innovation at Optus for Small Businesses and looked at Small Marketing opportunities and realised there was a hole in the marketplace for a reputable Marketing business

o     Helped a few friends out and loved the process and the concrete results so started to help a wider audience

â—     Where does small business typically get their data from?

o     Big Data is a catch cry and there is often too much business – particularly depending on the size – it then becomes a matter of working out what is important – what are the key metrics to look at – what are the canaries in the mine or what are the things that highlight what is working well

o     It can’t purely be the financials as that doesn’t necessarily drive good results

o     There is then 2 types of data to look at

â—     Data available on their industry and benchmarks

o        Google adwords tools – on Keywords – for industry

o     Competitors search volumes

â—     Own data (the most useful)

o        Google Analytics – on website – own customers

o        Facebook Analytics – on Facebook – what works

o        Google adwords tools – on Keywords – for industry

o        Keyword ranking on Google – what position

o        Google Tools – speed test of web site

â—     What’s the process for small business to start the process of analysing their data?

o     Spend some time to analyse it themselves or work with a partner they can trust

o     Set up  - Google Analytics –

o     Look at the demographics

o     Acquisition – Organic, Direct, social

o     Plus others

o     Facebook – Likes – is it only friends – test responses

â—     Now that you’ve got the data and understand it how can we use that better in our business?

o     Great question – purely analysing data without action is useful

o     What are web page conversion rates

o     Complete A/B testing

o     For many businesses it is a great reality check – currently 5 people are seeing my web page – then is it 10 people

o     Does it grow

o     When you advertise can you see who those customers are – can you see return on investment

o     When you know your target market you can know how to advertise to them – particularly in Facebook

o     If you have a CRM tool – what are the conversion rates 

o     For Google adwords – you can see the rate you are paying per click – based on your quality score

To find out more go to their website: heroseopartners.com.au

CeBIT 2017

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 13 June 2017

Tayble

Tayble is a new app making every dining experience just a little bit better, launching in Sydney in 2017.

With Tayble you can discover great restaurants in your area, order and pay for your meal all from your phone.

https://tayble.co/

Covet

Love fashion? Come play Covet Fashion, the game for the shopping obsessed! Join millions of other fashionistas, discover clothing and brands you love, and get recognized for your style! Feed your shopping addiction and create outfits in this fashion game designed to hone your style skills. Express your unique style by shopping for fabulous items to fill your closet, putting together looks for different Style Challenges and voting on other players’ looks. Plus, win exclusive in-game prizes for looks that earn 4 stars or more!

http://www.covetfashion.com/

ToolMates

What’s the point in having a bunch of expensive machinery hanging around at home when you only use it once or twice a year? With ToolMates Hire, you can rent those tools out to people in your area and make money off your oft used items! Find out how with ToolMates Hire.

https://toolmateshire.com.au/

Agnov8

Agnov8 energises the adoption of IoT and other technologies in agriculture. We understand that deploying turnkey solutions will assist farm managers and growers in gaining and maintaining operational awareness and compliance. Cost effective solutions that facilitate increased stock yields, sustainable water and soil management and provides growers with peace of mind, having access to pertinent environmental insights.

https://www.agnov8.com/

Growing High Performing Business Through Team

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 6 June 2017

Natasha Hawker has seen it all. An author of the successful From Hire to Fire and Everything In Between and owner of HR firm Employee Matters Natasha draws on her previous experiences and skills to help small businesses navigating the compliance-ridden world of employee relations.

After experience working in HR in the crazy, fast paced world of hiring and firing in India she learned fast to get control of a workforce under the most arduous of conditions. Returning to Australia she set up Employee Matters and now presents worldwide to businesses, professional associations and is the ‘go to’ resource for journalists wanting expert commentary on Human Resources. She has been interviewed for SMH, Australian Financial Review & The Huffington Post as well as ABC Radio. She advises big and small business about HR best practice and compliance for small businesses.

Welcome to the show Natasha.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Broadly your small business journey and what led you to start your own business
  • Began corporate life in the Financial sector
  • Worked on HR for another business and realised I could it do better
  • HR - recommendation from colleagues to look into HR then studied TAFE and post grad before starting my own business
  • International work - UK, India at Accenture and learned FAST
    • cultural learnings, gender issues , medical issues, travel challenges with SARS)
    • Fast hiring - 500 people in 5weeks! So Natasha was thrown in the deep end. Fabulous learning environment.
    • High stress, low infrastructure (electricity issues!)
  • Built a passion for educating small business owners build great businesses through building their team.

• It’s a massive people investment
  • Money, time, training time, wages, super, mentoring - it’s not just salary you’re paying
  • Big mistake owners make is expecting staff to just sit down and immediately be productive
  • You should expect someone to be productive at 100% after 6 months longer if they are more senior
  • Attrition is a massive expense to business. They’ll take with them knowledge, training, new skills
  • As business owners we tend to leave them in the technical part of their job rather than accountability for real people stuff
  • Consider an Employee assistance program - counselling, you need to consider the person problem. BUT you’re not skilled in that so OUTSOURCE
  • Don’t forget you need to engage with them as people not just task monkeys
• Team update tips / team
  • Issues with sharing communication - who shares financials out there? Well, we SHOULD. They’ll be a direct uplift in engagement and understanding in where they fit in the bigger picture.
  • Structuring a WIP
  • Voxer app to send messages & communicate
• Building highly engaged teams
  • Celebrate wins with your staff - the entire business should celebrate individual wins
  • Communications strategy - transparent, builds trust
  • Accountability not only to the owner but your team
  • Weeks slip by - bite sized chunks are best

To find out more go to their website: https://www.employeematters.com.au

Bio Natasha Hawker

Natasha Hawker is a small business owner, running Employee Matters with her husband and business partner Mark for the past three years. They work in Queensland, Victoria and NSW and have 10 employees. Employee Matters helps small business with Hire to Fire and Everything in Between which aptly, is the name of her new book.

She has worked in Employee Relations for over for 21 years working both nationally and internationally. Including twelve years at Accenture, one of the top global management consulting firms. She is routinely featured in the SMH and Start Up Smart and she is a regular writer for Flying Solo and Australian Businesswomen’s Network. She has been nominated for the Telstra Businesswomen of the Year and she has personally hired, managed and fired over 15, 000 employees.

She has a postgraduate in Employee Relations from UTS and is on a mission to help small business owners hire great talent, build high performing teams and terminate non performers.

Changes To 457 Visas & The Effect On Small Business

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 30 May 2017

Slight variations and changes to Government policy can have big consequences to small business. Recently in the last few weeks there has been some major overhauls to the 457 visa system in Australia and if you’re a small business which relies on overseas workers to fill the void of the lack of qualified, experienced personnel then these changes will have big consequences to your business and the way you process these applicants into the future. We have an expert on the show today to help you navigate this minefield ….

Welcome to the show Shelley.

Firstly, as a local small business tell us a little about your small business journey and why you are passionate about helping small business owners to solve this tricky problem?

Having worked in the immigration space for the past 10 years I decided to move out of the corporate environment and use my knowledge to assist companies and individuals with their migration needs. I have built my reputation around providing a personalised and tailored service and through this dedication the majority of my work comes through word of mouth.

I am passionate about making the process as seamless as possible for people looking to migrate, the prospect can be a daunting one so at Simply Visas we try to take away the stress so clients can enjoy their stay in our great country.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Why do, or should businesses consider overseas workers and really how hard is it to navigate your way around the processes in place to engage with a workers on a visa?

Generally businesses will consider employing a skilled overseas worker if they are experiencing a genuine difficulty in sourcing a suitable Australian worker to fill a position. The  process itself really depends on the business, how long they’ve been operating, their Australian workforce, their commitment to training, their industry, the skill set they’re looking for and whether they’ve actively sought out an Australian... so as you can see there are a number of variables. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection places a strong emphasis on training of Australians and the reason for this is because they want to see that the business has an interest in up-skilling Australians, in turn reducing their reliance on overseas workers as a whole.

Simply Visas basically has an initial conversation with a business to go through these factors and gauges the chance of a successful application. In broad terms, the process itself is made up of 3 stages. The first stage is an application for standard business sponsorship - where the business applies for approval to sponsor overseas workers, the length of this agreement is 18 months for a start up and 5 years for an established business. The second stage is a 457 business nomination - where a business nominates an overseas worker to fill a position within their business - the Department will assess whether or not the position is genuine, whether the company has the capacity to support such a role, the scope and scale of the business, the salary on offer, the market and the job description in comparison to the job classification. The final stage is the overseas worker’s 457 Visa, this is where the Department assesses the workers skill set in line with the nominated occupation to ensure they have the relevant qualifications and experience to work in the nominated position.

• In your experience when do businesses typically engage with an immigration lawyer - or better still, when in your opinion is the BEST time to engage with legal support of this nature?

Businesses generally engage a professional to assist when they have not gone through the process before and if they don’t have an employee or division dedicated to global mobility. The best time to engage a professional is before things turn pear shaped, it is always best to gain advice in the first instance rather than attempting something you are unfamiliar with. When it comes to applying to the Department it is always best to ensure a successful outcome for the business and the overseas worker, track records are important and compliance is a major issue, being non-compliant with sponsorship obligations can result in sanctions or fines so it’s always best to be cautious and aim for the best outcome possible. A migration agency like Simply Visas can advise on the chances of success and even assist to identify areas that you may not have considered throughout the migration process.

• What have been the recent changes from a small business perspective and how in your opinion is this going to change the playing field?

There have been a number of changes announced that are in place already and there are more to come. I think the main thing to point out at this stage is that the 457 visa programme is still active and the visa itself won’t be abolished until March 2018. There have however been significant changes to the validity period of the visa, 216 occupations have been removed from the list of eligible occupations and caveats have been applied to certain occupations.

Firstly, the skilled occupation lists have been updated - there is now a short term list and a medium to long term list. If the nominated occupation appears on the short term list the worker will be granted a 457 visa for 2 years - with the option to renew for a further 2 years. If the nominated occupation appears on the medium to long term list then the 457 visa will be granted for 4 years and these workers will also have a pathway to permanent residency.

Anyone who has lodged a 457 visa and their occupation has been removed will have the opportunity to withdraw their application and seek a refund for the fee paid to the Department.

These changes will have a flow on effect to permanent residency applications however the full extent of these changes have not yet been determined.

Further changes are due to be announced on the 1st of July which include further adjustment to the skilled occupation lists, changes to the training benchmarks, a requirement for police clearances which previously were only required in certain circumstances or for permanent residency applications, tightening of the English language requirements and expanding mandatory skills assessments.

The new TSS visa will come into effect in March 2018, it will have 2 distinct streams - short term of up to 2 years and medium term of up to 4 years.

The fees will go up to $1150 for the short term stream and 2400 for the medium term stream.

A higher standard of English will be required for the medium term stream.

Only occupations on the medium term stream will have a pathway to permanent residency.

Labour Market Testing - where a company has to prove they have advertised and unsuccessfully located an Australian worker - will become mandatory unless international trade obligations apply.

The training requirement for businesses will be revised.

• What do you think the government was trying to achieve with these changes and do you think it will work?

Unfortunately change is the only constant when it comes to immigration and it’s just the nature of the industry. Some say these changes are purely political and a tactic to win votes however as an agent it is my job to simply interpret the new legislation and apply it correctly.

The one thing I will say is that I was quite surprised with the number of trade occupations remaining on the skilled occupation lists. In my opinion there are many occupations which should be going to Australian workers, and where once apprenticeships were an appealing prospect this no longer seems to be the case. I believe this goes back to education and outlining options to our younger generation as well as the benefits of working in a highly lucrative industry.

It’s hard to say what affect these changes will have in the long term and I truly believe we won’t know until 5-10 years down the line when there are even more skills shortages how this will affect Australia as a whole.

To find out more go to their website: http://simplyvisas.com/

Developments in Bookkeeping

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 16 May 2017

Bookkeeping is a tiresome task for some, but for others a joy! This week on Small Biz we chat to a bookkeeping expert at the cutting edge of all new developments in the industry. Her business   Small Business Financial Ops and she’s going to share with our listeners the new apps and industry developments which are there to assist small business to get their bookkeeping back under control.

Welcome to the show Cate. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your small business journey.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Discussion in relation to disruptive technologies in industries such as bookkeeping...
   
• What new apps are out there to help small business take control of their bookkeeping?
   
• Why go paper-free and in the cloud?
   
• How and when is a bookkeeper a payroll expert & management consultant?
   
• Why is it important to make sure that your bookkeeper is also a BAS agent and a member of a professional association, and why is it important to know what and how they are doing whatever they do for you?
   
• Briefing consultants like bookkeepers: how you can save yourself money in the long run by ensuring that you're organised to handover to a bookkeeper?
   
• How you can set your business up to save time and money on bookkeeping, no matter WHO Is doing it?

To find out more go to Cate’s website: www.sbfo.com.au

Engaging with the Disability Sector for New Employees

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 9 May 2017

For many reasons it's very important to be across the disability sector. Not just from the perspective of finding the ideal employee (which Northcott assists business with all the time) but also to be conscious of the needs of current and potential clients. Did you know one in five of your potential clients may be experiencing some sort of disability - and it’s not just the ones we can visually see. Is your business inviting, inclusive?

Hiring a new employee with a disability can be daunting but Kiran and Deenie are here to help. Taking listeners not only through the practical process but also the benefits and incentives available to small business owners when engaging with a disabled employee.

Welcome to the show Kiran & Deenie.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• The importance and of having an inclusive workplace
• The benefits to small business for hiring employees with a disability?
• Who are Northcott and what are their values?
• Are there any Govt or organisation grants, funding, subsidies which small businesses can access when employing an employee with a disability?
• Tell us about the event on Wed 24th May