Coronavirus Workforce implications HRM WEBINAR Food Agribusiness Network

Coronavirus- Workforce implications HRM WEBINAR - Food & Agribusiness Network (FAN)

Our employees are our most important assets to our business. On 11 th March 2020 the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic, and the emergency has continued to escalate. Complex HR and operational issues are continually arising from the COVID-19 emergency and we as employers should be prepared for possible future implications to our employees.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Information for Employers “We encourage employees and employers to work together to find appropriate solutions that suit the needs of individual workplaces and staff. This may include taking different forms of leave, working from home, or taking extra precautions in the workplace” www. fairwork. gov. au (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting|

COVID-19 AND THE WORKPLACE Avoiding the spread of COVID-19 is paramount to your business and it is important the following factors are considered: • workforce’s health and wellbeing; • business’ workflow continues; • workplace flexibility is provided; • Reputation reductions in production and revenue; • potential long-term effects on business continuity. (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting|

COVID-19 AND THE WORKPLACE • If employees are not feeling well and show symptoms of COVID-19, direct them to selfisolate and get tested especially if they have been in any country or region listed by Department of Health, or if they have been in contact with confirmed cases of COVID-19. (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting|

As an Employer: • Ensure you are up-to-date with what is occurring with information released from Department of Health; • Update employees about the virus and its impacts (if any) on the workplace; • Ensures that those employees that have returned from overseas self-isolate; • Ensure that all employees who are sick do not attend the workplace; • if there are impacts upon the workplace, that employees are advised in a timely way of those impacts. Business Impacts: • clients and suppliers putting contracts on hold; • customers not attending premises - people and staff self-isolating.

IF AN EMPLOYEE OR FAMILY MEMBER IS SICK WITH CORONAVIRUS? • Employees who are sick with the coronavirus cannot attend the workplace for a period due to the workplace health and safety legal obligations that both employers and employees have. • Employers can direct employees who are sick with the coronavirus not to come to work • Employees must obtain medical clearance from a doctor before returning to work. • Full-time and part-time employees who cannot come to work because they are sick with coronavirus can take paid sick leave. If an employee needs to look after a family member or a member of their household who is sick with coronavirus, or suffering an unexpected emergency, they are entitled to take paid carer’s leave. An employer cannot require an employee to take sick or carer’s leave. However, in these circumstances, the employee is not entitled to be paid unless they use their paid leave entitlements. (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting

IF AN EMPLOYEE OR FAMILY MEMBER IS SICK WITH CORONAVIRUS? • Under the Fair Work Act, casual employees are entitled to 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion. Full-time and part-time employees can take unpaid carer’s leave if they have no paid sick or carer’s leave left. • Employers should consider their obligations under any applicable enterprise agreement, award, employees’ employment contracts or workplace policies, which may be more generous. • An employee must give their employer reasonable evidence of the illness or unexpected emergency if their employer asks for it. This will also apply to situations relating to coronavirus. • Under the Fair Work Act, an employee is protected from being dismissed because of their temporary absence due to illness or injury. (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting

WORKFORCE HEALTH & WELLBEING- PROACTIVE ADVICE FOR EMPLOYEES • Establish a clear line of managerial responsibility for your business/organisation COVID-19 response - will it be CEO/Director or Operations Manager to provide all communications and relevant updates; • Educate and update employees on new information relating to the impact of COVID-19 on your workplaceavoid information overload; • Communicate with employees about support available if applicable, i. e. Do you or your members have “Employee Assistance Programs” (EAP) (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting|

WORKFORCE PREPARATION • Carry out leave liability reports for employees i. e. annual, personal and career’s leave balances in preparation for employees leave arrangements. • Maintain and adhere to up to date workplace policies relating to infection control, workplace hygiene, risk identification and working from home (WFH) policies. (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting|

SUGGESTED FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE OPTIONS; • Can employees perform alternate duties or work at alternate locations? • Is there a need to reduce work hours (on a temporary basis), have temporary salary reductions, take accrued personal, annual and/long service leave, or other flexible options? • Consider the option for employees to “Work from Home” (WFH) if possible- Do you have relevant approvals/procedural flows in place? i. e. employee should complete form for Management approval or at least obtain email approval in writing? • Reducing non-permanent workforce? Management/HR discussions to plan future workforce requirements? • short term solutions such as temps &/or contractors? (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting|

OPTION: “WORK FROM HOME” SUGGESTED PROCEDURE 1. Application for a Working from Home (WFH) arrangement can be considered on a case by case basis by the Accountable Manager 2. Working conditions at the home based worksite need to be negotiated and documented. 3. A staff member who requires close supervision or close interaction with other staff may not be suitable for the independent nature of a working from home arrangement. 4. Maintain accurate and up to date records of hours worked at home within required hours as per contract agreement. (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting|

OPTION: STAND DOWN EMPLOYEES • If an employee cannot usefully be employed due to; o a stoppage of work for any cause for which the employer cannot reasonably be held responsible. • You must consider the relevant enterprise agreement, or a contract of employment as it applies to you as the ”employer” and/or “employee” An employee is not taken to be stood down during a period when the employee: • is taking paid or unpaid leave that is authorised by the employer, or • is otherwise authorised to be absent from his or her employment. Note: An employee may take paid or unpaid leave (for example, annual leave) during all or part of a period during which the employee would otherwise be stood down. (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting

IN SUMMARY • Flexible work options should be considered depending on modern awards and enterprise agreements for employees • Regular and up to date information communication is vital to reduce anxiety in the workplace. (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting

SOURCES &/OR RESOURCES 1/ https: //www. fairwork. gov. au/about-us/newsand-media-releases/website-news/coronavirusand-australian-workplace-laws 2/https: //www. usc. edu. au/explore/policies-andprocedures/working-from-home-guidelines https: //www. qld. gov. au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/ 119364/covid-19 -industry-recovery-overview. pdf (c) HRM Contracting & Consulting