CCBR Business Review

21 B U S I N E S S T I P S Prevention is always better than a cure – Increased Protection in the Workplace for Sexual Harassment By Warwick Ryan, Partner, Hicksons Lawyers By Troy Marchant, Director, Adviceco Chartered Accountants The purpose of business planning is not only to give you the light on the hill – the goals that drive your strategies and focus – but, importantly, to improve your financial return. In this unpredict- able business environment, COVID can surprise businesses with a forced closure or limited mobility, disrupt supply and consumer trends, or even change legis- lature with minimal notice, it is critical to revisit your business plan NOW to secure your chances of success. Here are some reasons to encourage a date with your business plan this EOFY. 1. Make better critical decisions A read-through of your business plan should trigger a reflection of what lies at the heart of your business, and whether all of your daily actions are laddering up to that. A reminder 4 reasons you must have a business plan right now! MIND YOUR BUSINESS of your succinct and clear business purpose is a healthy lens on your decisions. 2. Avoid making big mistakes and plan for risks The biggest business mistakes typically relate to market relevance, cashflow issues, people and culture, competition and pricing. A business plan update should highlight the probability of risk in these areas. An updated risk analysis and scenario plan means that you’re leaving less to chance - most bases are covered, and you’re prepared to respond quickly and efficiently. This could be the competitive advantage that boosts your business and reaps significant financial rewards. A crisis can make or break a business. 3. Provide the viability of business and secure financing This relates to the compare-and- match process of your financial reports with your business plan. Is your growth plan financially viable? It can be really valuable to update your market research at this point. Ensuring you are meeting your customers needs will support your profitability. A fluid business plan that shows timely response to environmental and circumstantial change is more likely to garner the support of banks and ven- ture capitalists. 4. To set and share better objectives and benchmarks Goal posts get moved…all the time. We need to move with them. Has your business moved in the direction you expected it to? Is it continuing in the direction you envisioned? When objectives change, your team will enable them, but only if they know about them. This is a good time of year to communicate any changes in your business plan and to articulate how you can work together to make them happen. Your team and business partners are making thousands of decisions about your business every day - communication will help them to make the right ones, and remind them to come to you for clarity, direc- tion and collaboration. And remem- ber, your team extends well beyond your employees. If your service provid- ers are on board with your direction, they will adapt to support you. Working collaboratively with your accountant on your business plan will ensure that your strategy is designed to deliver your financial and lifestyle goals. To arrange a business planning session with an experienced business advisor, call 4320 0500 or email mail@adviceco. com.au. alternatively, join the AdviceCo. Business Workshop on 23 June. Visit www.adviceco.com.au/events The Commonwealth Government has been under considerable pressure for some months to step in to respond to several high profile incidents of sexual harassment. The recent tabling in the Commonwealth Parliament of a Bill with a raft of amend- ments to Commonwealth sexual harass- ment legislation provides additional options for employees to take action in relation to occurrences of sexual harass- ment. These options are both preventative and potentially much less expensive. Up until now, the typical options for employees to make complaints against employers and/or colleagues or managers, lay more in being able to seek recourse after the fact. That is, employees needed to wait until an incident had occurred and then make a complaint. This left little option for protection before an incident of harass- ment occurred. Also, since the stripping any effective determinative powers from the Australian Human Rights Commission, the option for employees who were seeking a low fee option to prevent future incidents of sexual harassment were very limited. The Government’s recent Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Bill 2021 (the Bill) seeks to address this. It expands the current pow- ers available to the Fair Work Commission in relation to stop bullying orders in the workplace to also empower the Fair Work Commission to make an order to stop sexual harassment in the workplace. These are personal orders that can be sought by an employee against a specific colleague or manager. This is a lower cost and faster option than previous alternatives. However, the Fair Work Commission has been choosey in relation to when it would step in to make orders in relation to bullying. It’s not clear whether the FWC will be more forthcoming when it comes to making orders pertaining to sexual harassment in the future. Other changes introduced to the Fair Work Act with the Bill include specify- ing that sexual harassment can be a valid reason for dismissal, when determining whether a termination of an offender was harsh, unjust or unreasonable. The Bill also extends the time for people seeking recourse under the Sex Discrimination Act regarding sexual harass- ment to 24 months from 6 months and broadens the definition of parties that CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 CENTRAL COAST BUSINESS REVIEW JULY 2021