Effective Workplace Solutions

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Effective Workplace Solutions The team at Effective Workplace Solutions believe in a strategic or pro-active approach to workplace relations and employee management.

Effective Workplace Solutions are specialist practitioners who provide practical advice and assistance in workplace relations, employment law and human resources related matters. We believe that having systems, procedures and processes in place, and having managers and employees educated in employment law and workplace law and aware of their rights and responsibilities in the workplace, is essential to avoiding protracted and costly court cases and prosecutions, and maintaining a safe and productive work environment.

What happens when an employee is facing serious criminal charges, is being held in custody and cannot attend work? Does ...
21/10/2026

What happens when an employee is facing serious criminal charges, is being held in custody and cannot attend work? Does the employer have grounds to terminate their employment?

This was the issue considered by the Fair Work Commission after an employee was dismissed while being held on remand, leaving him unable to fulfil his employment obligations.

While the Commission acknowledged that the employee's ongoing inability to attend work could constitute a valid reason for dismissal, the employer's decision was not based solely on his absence. The Commission found that unproven criminal allegations had also influenced the decision to terminate his employment.

The distinction proved significant.

Despite the employee being unable to perform his duties, the Commission determined that the dismissal was unfair and ordered his reinstatement, together with partial reimbursement of lost remuneration.

The case serves as an important reminder that even where an employer has legitimate operational concerns, the reasons underpinning a dismissal and the process followed can ultimately determine whether that dismissal is lawful and defensible.

An employee being charged with a criminal offence is not the same as being found guilty. Employers must distinguish between the allegations themselves and the actual impact an employee's circumstances have on their ability to perform their role.

While employers are not necessarily required to hold a position open indefinitely, decisions must be based on substantiated facts, legitimate employment considerations and procedural fairness.

A potentially valid reason for dismissal does not guarantee a fair dismissal. What matters is not only the decision an employer makes, but how and why they make it.

Workload pressures. Poor management practices. Unresolved conflict. Early signs of cultural stress.These might look like...
14/10/2026

Workload pressures. Poor management practices. Unresolved conflict. Early signs of cultural stress.

These might look like operational HR issues, but their implications extend well beyond the HR function.

They can affect productivity, retention, organisational performance and legal exposure.

And increasingly, they're matters that boards and senior leaders need to understand, question and actively oversee.

The challenge is that psychosocial hazards rarely arrive as a single, obvious warning sign. They often emerge through everyday people management issues, long before they escalate into formal complaints, absenteeism or claims.

That makes early visibility critical.

Are managers equipped to recognise and respond to emerging risks? Are workloads sustainable? Are patterns of conflict, turnover or employee concerns being identified and addressed?

These aren't simply questions for HR.

They're questions about how effectively an organisation is managing its people, its culture and its risk.

Because what happens on the ground should matter at the boardroom table.

Ahead of World Mental Health Day tomorrow, there’s an important conversation to have about what a genuinely supportive w...
09/10/2026

Ahead of World Mental Health Day tomorrow, there’s an important conversation to have about what a genuinely supportive workplace looks like.

It’s checking in. Listening. Creating space for people to speak up and recognising when someone might need support.

But it’s also what happens next.

Does a manager know how to respond when someone raises a concern? Is there a fair process when conflict arises? Are expectations clear when an employee is struggling? Do people trust that an issue will be handled consistently and with care?

These everyday moments shape how psychologically safe a workplace actually feels.

Because a culture that cares isn’t built through wellbeing initiatives alone. It’s built through the way people are treated, conversations are handled and workplace issues are managed every day.

Good process doesn’t take the human element out of HR.

Done well, it helps protect it.

October is NSW Small Business Month, and when it comes to workplace culture, being small changes the dynamics.In a team ...
05/10/2026

October is NSW Small Business Month, and when it comes to workplace culture, being small changes the dynamics.

In a team of 10 or 20, an unresolved conflict rarely stays between two people. An overloaded employee affects how work gets shared. Unclear expectations create frustration. And when a difficult conversation is handled poorly, the impact can be felt across the whole team.

Psychosocial risk isn’t always something obvious or easily labelled.

Often, it shows up first in these everyday workplace issues.

For small businesses, building a culture that cares doesn’t require big-business wellbeing programs. It means getting the fundamentals right: clear expectations, capable managers, fair processes and addressing issues before they escalate.

Because in a small team, the way you manage one workplace issue can shape the experience of everyone around it.

Draft legislation released by the Commonwealth would ban non-compete clauses in new contracts for employees earning at o...
29/09/2026

Draft legislation released by the Commonwealth would ban non-compete clauses in new contracts for employees earning at or below the Fair Work Act high-income threshold, currently $190,100 a year. Nine out of ten Australian employees sit under that threshold, so for most businesses the ban reaches everyone below senior management.

The exposure draft also prohibits terms that stop a departing employee from soliciting former co-workers, regardless of income. It bans “cascading” restraints, the familiar drafting device that stacks twelve, six and three month periods and hopes a court will pick one.

What survives is important.

Confidentiality and intellectual property clauses are untouched. Restraints in a business sale agreement that protect purchased goodwill remain outside the reform. Client non-solicitation clauses are still under consultation rather than banned outright.

Our view is that the practical loss for most employers is small. Non-competes for sales staff, technicians, administrators and middle managers were rarely enforceable under the existing common law test, and almost never litigated.

For employers, the risk is not simply whether a restraint can be enforced. Including a prohibited clause in a new or varied contract after commencement could expose the business to penalties. A six-month grace period is proposed before penalties apply.

Three actions follow.

First, audit contract templates and identify each restraint, including co-worker non-solicitation and cascading provisions.

Second, strengthen the protections that will remain, particularly confidentiality, return of property and treatment of customer and pricing data.

Third, watch the transitional rules. The current proposal is intended to apply to new or varied contracts rather than automatically voiding legacy contracts on day one. A routine variation, such as a promotion letter, could bring an old contract inside the new regime.

The legislation is still in draft, but the reforms are expected in 2027.

EWS can review your templates against the exposure draft and prepare your restraint clauses for the proposed reforms.

The best workplace training doesn’t start with a slide deck. It starts with understanding the workplace.For Caloundra RS...
23/09/2026

The best workplace training doesn’t start with a slide deck. It starts with understanding the workplace.

For Caloundra RSL, that meant drawing on our understanding of the business, its policies and workplace realities, and working closely with Melissa Brooke and her team to shape training that was genuinely relevant to their people.

The result is the practical, engaging training Melissa speaks about in the testimonial. She also highlighted what sat behind it:

“What really set the experience apart was the whole EWS team. They were efficient, organised and consistently supportive, keeping everything on track and making sure every deliverable was met so our staff had the best possible experience.”

That end-to-end approach is the EWS difference.

A recent employment decision is a sharp reminder that workplace risk can sit in places nobody has looked at for years.A ...
15/09/2026

A recent employment decision is a sharp reminder that workplace risk can sit in places nobody has looked at for years.

A senior manager at Toll Transport was made redundant after 34 years with the business. He alleged the decision was adverse action connected with earlier complaints about bullying.

Toll successfully defended the general protections claim. The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia accepted the evidence behind the decision to terminate his employment.

But then came the contract.

The termination clause stated that either party could end the employment by giving “months’ written notice”. The number of months had never been inserted.

With no notice period specified, the Court determined that 12 months’ reasonable notice applied. After allowing for the three months already provided, Toll was ordered to pay a further $176,250 plus interest.

For Greg Arnold, Founder and Principal Consultant at EWS, that is the real lesson from this case:

“The biggest contract risks are not always complicated legal clauses. Sometimes they are a missing word, an incomplete provision, or a contract written 15 years ago for a role the employee no longer performs.”

Contracts are not set-and-forget documents. Employees are promoted. Roles evolve. Responsibilities and remuneration change. Yet the contract sitting behind the employment relationship may never be revisited.

While everything is going well, those gaps can remain unnoticed for years. When the relationship ends, every word matters.

If you have long-serving employees, senior employees or people whose roles have changed significantly since their contracts were signed, it may be time to pull those contracts out of the drawer.

https://ap1.hubs.ly/H01mBDC0

Asking “R U OK?” can open an important conversation. But in a workplace, knowing what to do with the answer matters too....
10/09/2026

Asking “R U OK?” can open an important conversation. But in a workplace, knowing what to do with the answer matters too.

An employee might talk about workload, conflict, poor support, bullying or something else happening at work.

What sounds like an informal conversation may be the first indication of an issue that requires a workplace response.

Managers don’t need to have all the answers. But they do need to recognise when something they are hearing requires action, know what to do next and when to escalate.

This R U OK?Day, asking the question matters. So does knowing what to do with the answer.

“Can we terminate this employee?” It sounds like a straightforward question.But the answer can change completely depend...
02/09/2026

“Can we terminate this employee?” It sounds like a straightforward question.

But the answer can change completely depending on what sits behind it.

*Has the issue been raised before?
*Was the employee given a chance to respond?
*Is there documentation?
*Have expectations been clear?
*Did the employee recently raise a complaint, take leave or disclose something the business now needs to consider?

Two employers can ask exactly the same question and need very different advice. Because in HR, what sits behind the question can completely change the answer.

Experience is knowing what else to ask before deciding what happens next.

https://ap1.hubs.ly/H01kn300

26/08/2026

Gut feel can start the conversation. It shouldn’t make the hiring decision.

When interviews are unstructured, it becomes much harder to compare candidates consistently, explain why one person progressed over another, or know whether you are choosing the best fit for the role.

In this clip from our latest HR2Go episode, Karen Arnold and guest Christine Foudoulis from Superior Recruitment discuss why good hiring needs more than instinct. Clear criteria, consistent questions and a structured process give employers something much more reliable to base the decision on.

It is one of the many gaps that can seem small during recruitment, but matter much more once someone joins the business.

🎧 The Hiring Gap: Better Hiring, Stronger Retention

Listen to the full episode:
https://ap1.hubs.ly/H01jqRn0

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