Blue Wren HR

09/11/2023

As a new enthusiast to ice baths and saunas, these employer perks are interesting and welcome. Do you think health and wellbeing perks deliver benefits back for an organisation?

Employers are ramping up their wellbeing offerings after the pandemic left many employees feeling burnt out. Subsidised gym memberships no longer cut it.

07/11/2023

Employing on a fixed term contract? New rules apply from 6 December 2023. Make sure you understand your obligations as an employer.

11/01/2023

A couple of important reminders for 2023:
1. New pay secrecy laws are now in effect meaning any contract terms (for contracts entered into prior to 7 December 2022) that do not allow employees to communicate their pay and employment terms are no longer enforceable. Employees are free to disclose (or not) their pay and employment terms to others and no adverse action can be taken against them.

From 7 June 2023, pay secrecy terms can’t be included in employment contracts or other written agreements. Employers who enter into employment contracts or agreements that have pay secrecy terms could face penalties.

So, update your employment contracts now!

2. From 1 February 2023, employees of non-small business employers (employers with 15 or more employees) can access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave every 12 months. Employees of small business employers can access this leave from 1 August 2023.

Blue Wren HR wish all our clients and prospective clients a prosperous and safe 2023. If we can be of assistance on any of your people matters please contact us.

01/07/2022

It's headline news at the moment.

Award rates have increased effective 1 July 2022.

Don't assume awards don't apply to your business. It is more than likely your business is covered by at least 1 award.

Feel free to consult with us! We can confirm your award coverage to keep you covered.

11/05/2021

Employ or going to employ casuals? Make sure you issue the Casual Employment Information Statement prior to or upon commencing employment.

14/01/2021

Do you have trust across your business? Blue Wren HR have been working with one client recently to build this. We started with trust because it was abundantly clear there wasn't any. The business believed that the business strategy and path to achieving their goals was crystal clear across the organisation and yet this week heard from brave and honest employees who now had the trust to speak up that this wasn't at all the case. So now the reset begins and a communication plan is in place right down to the structure, frequency and agenda of every meeting in this business. It's exciting. Everyone can feel the excitement despite some of us still in our fear zones. We are getting great focus, having brutally honest conversations with each other and without realising, we are building a better culture.
Sounds like something your business could do with? Get in touch with Blue Wren HR. We might just be your answer!

05/11/2020

I love working for companies where employees are high priority and they take pride in their corporate citizenship responsibilities. We are currently participating in Movember at O'Brien Boiler Services and its such a great initiative for Men's health.

Please get behind this organisation and support mens health.
https://movember.com/m/obrienboilers?mc=1

O'Brien's Motivation: I'm raising funds and awareness this Movember for all the dads, brothers, sons and mates in our lives. I need your help. Please donate to support men's health.

26/10/2020

I've always used St John's Ambulance for First aid training. The courses are always up to date and their reputation excels. Trialling the virtual course and I'm a huge fan. Show bag arrived in the mail today! I wondered whether we'd get a dummy. Scored. $245 PLUS resources is fantastic flexible value for businesses.

24/10/2020

Awesome that my beautiful friend Kim Slaverio of Urban Shine Hair & Makeup is back open for business and fully booked, but able to squeeze in my family crew! To all the businesses able to trade again, Congratulations and wishing you every success.

02/10/2020

Had to share this inspiring story! Love every element of it

Learn More.

02/10/2020

Fancy not having to think anymore about employee training? Blue Wren HR have partnered with SAP Litmos. We plan, manage and implement your training needs for you and at a fraction of the cost of doing it yourself.

Too often we walk into businesses that have invested little to none in employee training, including fundamental compliance and safety training. We understand though. Training is expensive and often the Return on Investment is hard to show let alone trying to fit it in and still get the job done. Unfortunately however, being too busy or expensive doesn’t change the legal responsibilities of an employer to provide adequate information, instruction, training and supervision to an employee, and until things go wrong, you don’t really know how valuable this training can be.

Many organisations I’ve worked for have sought to boost engagement levels but have not necessarily known how and all too often these organisations start the dis-engagement process of an employee right on the commencement of that employee. The induction programs don’t exist and if they do they are awful, leaving a bad first impression about the business.

Imagine if you could turn this around. Last week, we run a refresher induction program for a medium sized manufacturing business. The result – fist pumping excited employees. Now, when I say refresher I use the term loosely. These were all existing employees some with years of experience with the employer. Had they done an induction before. Nope. In fact one comment was “When I started here my induction was the worst I’d ever experienced in my working career. This however, is probably the best I’ve ever had”. Now I might be exaggerating a little with the fist pumping excitement but there was no doubt all employees felt a sense of pride in what the company was delivering, a little bit of “about time” but a definite acknowledgement that the company was lifting the bar of expectations and standards, and as a result they loved it.

So, how would you like all your company compliance and induction training needs tailored to your business and planned and managed each quarter, without you even having to think about it?

Better still, imagine if this was engaging and flexible and easy for your employees to access. You may for instance have unproductive hours and instead of having employees waste 15-30 minutes of time, they can quickly jump online and complete some of that compliance and safety training that was never able to be fit in.

We chose SAP Litmos for a reason. Its the best solution out there. Plus, we can tailor programs and add content so that it fully meets your individual circumstances. As a small to medium sized business you get the benefits of a big business training program, because we make the investment and deliver solutions to multiple businesses, meaning we save you money. By letting Blue Wren HR manage this for you, you don’t need to outlay the same level of cost of purchasing the system [in fact you get it at a fraction of the cost], plus you don’t even have to administer it. We do that for you!

But don’t wait. We need to start planning now for 2021! Feel free to get in touch to discuss these options further.

Watch this clip on SAP Litmos for further information:
https://youtu.be/fgGP7mn6Og0

09/09/2020

RUOK?
As a HR Consultant dealing with an employees mental health is one of the most difficult and challenging situations there is. We support and manage all the moving parts of the business and employee as best we can and we wish for a magic wand to make it better. It is tough and heartbreaking to watch an employee suffer and a business often being blamed for it. Never have I experienced a situation where others and businesses don't want the best for the person suffering. Having conversations early and often is the best prevention.
https://www.facebook.com/114503341893201/posts/4151555694854592/

23/08/2020

And that's a wrap. 6 weeks in lockdown and we are still here! I got so much out of doing this for the kids than I could ever have imagined. Whats next for Blue Wren HR?

22/08/2020

Our special surprise has been revealed. Well done Cara Comito for guessing correctly. The prize will be drawn on Monday and is the Melbourne City team of 20/21 (a year to remember!) Signed Soccer Ball.

13/08/2020

Out of my comfort zone: Website design & personality profiling

This week I’ve been busy and way out of my comfort zone. No, I’m not talking home-schooling either.

When I launched this business a month ago, I went “gung ho” into the challenge. Cheerful and optimistic, my spirits high and enthusiastic about getting out there. Within one week, I had made the decision to formalise my business, designed my logo, developed a website, and prepared all the admin and marketing materials (with help of course!).

My vision was always clear, I knew what I wanted and I went at it, with a level of urgency, that was not needed.

This week, I googled and you-tubed to my hearts content. Although stressful (technology is not my strength), I have managed to tweak and adjust my website to my vision. Now, by no means am I saying that this is an amazing savvy website. On all accounts, it is very basic, but it suits me perfectly. Tech people (like my husband!) will be saying “it’s not that hard”, but for people like me, it’s damn hard and terrifying. I’m mighty chuffed at the result – it may not be perfect but its a really good start.

The end of the week is always a great opportunity of reflection. Reflecting on this journey, I have acted within my comfort zones and my behaviour has been driven by my personality style. In my interactions with others, its been interesting to observe other peoples styles too, what worked, what didn’t and how I worked and could have worked more effectively. It’s rather inspiring really.

Check out my website tweaks, and let me know what you think. Website V2 found here: www.bluewrenhr.com.au

What’s your style and can you guess mine?
Feel free to give me a call, if you want to explore your style. Being able to understand yourself and others, can really help you to build better relationships, both personally and professionally. Have you done the DISC profiling assessment before? Can you guess what style I am? Blue Wren HR can offer a DISC personality assessment if you are keen to learn more about yourself.

12/08/2020

Face masks for HR peeps!

09/08/2020

When you play Cluedo with a HR person. Bam! First go, first guess, I win. Yeah