Why workplace bullying is a small business problem

The events which drove a young woman to suicide are truly heartbreaking in how avoidable it might all have been.

At an inquest into the death of Brodie Rae Constance Panlock, 19, Melbourne coroner Peter White heard how the young waitress was treated in an ”extremely aggressive and intimidating” manner at the popular Cafe Vamp in Hawthorn in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

Before she took her own life, Brodie endured being demeaned and humiliated by other workers at the popular cafe at which she waitressed.

Mr White said he was satisfied that ”this almost daily routine of inappropriate pressure at work” culminated in her jumping from a car park building on September 20, 2006.

This is not simply a terribly tragic story of a young woman battling her own demons; this should make every small business owner stop and think hard for a moment about what happens under their own roof.

Why is this a small business story? Because it underlines the critical role that small operators have as Australia’s major employers – the so-called ‘engine room’ of Australian industry – in ensuring they provide a protective environment for all their staff, particularly vulnerable young workers.

It is hard to believe that some people don’t understand what constitutes bullying behaviour, but sadly, it appears it is the modern epidemic of our belligerent times.

In a November survey, Victorian workplace authority WorkSafe reported that one in five respondents said they had been bullied at some point in their working life.

This figure could easily be higher, with official figures masked by the fact that many people probably do not bother to make a compensation claim.

Many will simply leave their jobs, or take time off, or suffer silently with stress-related illnesses such as anxiety and depression. A small number of people may end up taking their life.

Bullying can take a series of forms. It may be verbal abuse from a manager who repeatedly humiliates a worker; it can be more insidious, such as scheduling meetings on the day a particular staff member can’t attend, singling them out for constant criticism or failing to invite them to the Christmas party.

Bullying is not just losing one’s temper occasionally; it is concerted and repeated behaviour designed to diminish someone. Left untackled, it can even escalate to physical abuse.

Yet there appears to be an odd resistance in tackling the situation. Can’t take a joke, mate?

And too often in the hard-driving, high pressure world of hospitality, intolerable behaviour is glossed over, or even celebrated.

Witness the antics of ‘celebrity’ chef Gordon Ramsay, whose foul-tongued abuse of his unfortunate staff should have made him a pariah, but instead made him a global star and multi-millionaire.

It wasn’t until he encountered A Current Affair presenter, Tracey Grimshaw, someone powerful enough in her own right to be able to tackle his behaviour, that Ramsay was taken down a peg or two.

Unfortunately, most people being bullied don’t have the recourse of a national audience. Too often, they are vulnerable, inexperienced, young or worried about losing their jobs.

What they need is for their employer to be on the front foot in detecting and stamping out undesirable behaviour.

Yet the Worksafe survey also reported that less than half of respondents believed their organisations effectively dealt with bullying.

In some ways, because they are not separated by bureaucratic layers from their staff, small businesses can and should be at the forefront of this.

People are entitled to be safe and protected at work. We can ensure what happened to Brodie never happens to anyone else.

For help or information visit www.beyondblue.org.au, call Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251, or Lifeline on 131 114

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/why-workplace-bullying-is-a-small-business-problem-20091211-knn1.html

US – Small Business Not Benefitting From Stimulus

Large government spending programs often fail to benefit small businesses, and the owners of small businesses clearly recognize the stimulus will likely fail to benefit them as well. In an online survey of over 1,500 small business owners an astounding 99% of respondents said that their business has not “received any funding or contracts through President Obama’s stimulus plan.”

While the results are heavily lopsided, the findings should not be shocking to those familiar with way Washington politics work. Small businesses don’t typically have high paid lobbyists on their payroll, putting them a distinct disadvantage when it comes to competing with big businesses and government contractors for stimulus money. In fact, only 4% of business owners responding to our poll said they plan on applying for any stimulus money.

These results underscore the fundamental reasons why a “second stimulus” will not benefit most small business owners. Not only are they at a disadvantage when it comes to applying for and competing for government contracts, but also that these funds will take months to distribute to those lucky few businesses that are actually able to win these government contracts. It also makes clear why tax cuts are fundamentally more powerfully than massive government spending. A payroll tax reduction would benefit 100% of small business owners, not to mention their employees, by giving them additional capital starting as soon as the first pay period after that tax cut would be enacted. This is a stark contrast to the less than one percent of respondents who have received some funding or contracts through the stimulus plan almost a year after it passed.

In addition to not benefitting from the stimulus, an overwhelming majority of small business owners believe two of the President’s top agenda items (healthcare and climate change legislation) will be detrimental to the economy. Just one percent of small business said that Obama’s healthcare plan would create jobs if passed while only two percent of small business owners thought an energy tax would create jobs.

It has become very apparent that there is a fundamental disconnect about how to turnaround our economy between the Obama administration and the small business owners who are creating private sector jobs. Maybe it’s time for the administration to stop growing government and start taking job creators’ opinions seriously.

http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=7430

Small Business Gives NSW Labor Government A Vote Of No Confidence

Written by Mike Baird MP

Shadow Treasurer Mike Baird today said small and medium business owners have given the Rees Labor Government’s failed economic policies a vote of no confidence after NSW again recorded the lowest level of business confidence of any Australian state according to the December Sensis Business Index.

The December Sensis Business Index found support for the Rees Labor Government’s policies stood at negative 26% – the lowest level of support in the nation.

“Small and medium size businesses are sick of Labor’s failed economic policies,” Mr Baird said.

“The broken NSW Labor Government has recorded the lowest level of support from small businesses for 22 of the last 23 quarters,” he said.

“One in three small business operators believe Rees Government policies are actively working against their businesses.

“Treasurer Eric Roozendaal likes to talk about the ‘green shoots’ he sees appearing, but for the last quarter NSW recorded the lowest proportion of small and medium size businesses in any state or territory that reported increases in sales, employment, wages, profitability and capital expenditure.

“Maybe if the Treasurer was focussed on the state’s economic numbers rather than the backroom factional numbers as he wheels and deals in an attempt to become Premier, small and medium size businesses would have more confidence in the NSW Government.

“The broken NSW Labor Government’s failed economic policies are holding small and medium size businesses back whilst the world economy recovers.

“The NSW Liberals & Nationals have positive and practical plans to restore the economy by lowering taxes and supporting business growth.

“If Nathan Rees was fair dinkum about saving jobs, he’d have adopted the NSW Liberals & Nationals plan to cut payroll tax by 15% plus an additional 5% in areas of high unemployment.

“A cut to payroll tax would have sent a strong message to employers that NSW is open for business and government is serous about creating jobs and growing the economy.

“Only a change of Government can deliver the change needed to restore the NSW economy,” Mr Baird said.

https://www.nsw.liberal.org.au/public_news_and_events/media_releases/small_business_gives_nsw_labor_government_a_vote_of_no_confidence_.html

Angry banks reject Tony Abbott’s claim that small business is denied loans

Banks have responded angrily to Tony Abbott’s claims that large numbers of small businesses are being denied capital because the banks are refusing to lend on reasonable terms to good businesses.
Portraying the Coalition as the champion of small business and the Rudd government as a supporter of the banks, the Opposition Leader yesterday announced the Coalition would push for a Senate inquiry into restrictions on small business financing.

“I know that the banks have got to be secure, I know that the banks have got to be careful of risky lending,” Mr Abbott said yesterday on his first visit to Melbourne since becoming Liberal leader.

“But there are enormous numbers of small businesses . . . who are effectively being denied capital because the banks are refusing to lend on reasonable terms to good businesses that have been their customers for a long time.

“Banks have been given a lot of support by the Rudd government. Ultimately, thanks to the Rudd government, the taxpayers of Australia now stand behind the banks.

“I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Obviously we did need to solidify the banks at the height of the global financial crisis. But in return for that support, they have a very heavy social responsibility and part of that social responsibility is ensuring that small business can remain the engine room of our economy.”

But David Bell, chief executive of the Australian Bankers Association, said last night it was a “falsehood to say that banks aren’t lending to small business”. He said lending to small businesses (loans less than $2 million) was only slightly down, from a peak of $203.4 billion in September last year to $200.6bn, and much of the fall appeared to be as a result of debt reduction.

“We need to be very cautious about these highblown claims that banks aren’t lending to small business. It is simply not true,” he said.

Mr Bell also said the idea that banks had been in some way “bailed out” by the federal government during the financial crisis was incorrect, with the deposit guarantee supported by the banking industry and the wholesale funding guarantee put in place in October last year subject to repayment.

Commonwealth and NAB spokesmen said the big banks had grown their lending to small businesses, and suggested the fall might relate to a reduction in higher risk loans by smaller banks.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/industry-sectors/angry-banks-reject-tony-abbotts-claim-that-small-business-is-denied-loans/story-e6frg96f-1225811536455

Small business in for a shock

FEWER than half of Australia’s small businesses are adequately prepared to deal with a further round of family friendly workplace laws that will take effect next month.

A survey of 352 small and medium businesses found many were ill-prepared to deal with the third industrial relations regime in four years when the final stage of the Fair Work Act comes into effect on January 1.

The new laws include a ”modern awards” system and 10 new national employment standards replacing the minimum employment conditions that were part of the Howard government’s Work Choices legislation.

Businesses face compliance obligations and risk fines, says one of the report’s authors, David Griffiths, of the consultancy CompliSpace.

”What is clear from this study is that a great number of companies remain unaware and unprepared for the substantial changes,” the report says. ”Employers who ignore ‘modern awards’ may be in for a rude shock given that the flexibility clause contained in each award could mean their current common-law agreements no longer insulate them from obligations to pay overtime, penalty rates and leave loadings.”

Among the new national employment standards are:

> the extension from 12 to 24 months of unpaid parental leave that employees can request;

> the introduction of an entitlement to redundancy pay for all workers, not just those covered by awards;

> entitlement for carers of preschool children and children under the age of 18 with a disability to request flexible working arrangements.

Other changes provide for the extension of the definition of de facto partners to include same-sex couples and the removal of the restriction allowing an employee to take a maximum of 10 days carer’s leave in any 12-month period.

Fewer than half of the businesses surveyed know of, understand or are prepared for the industrial relations changes and less than half understand the compulsory flexibility clause in each award. More than half of the companies surveyed were considered at an extreme or high risk of falling foul of the laws, given their lack of preparation.

The survey identified call-centre employees among those to be covered for the first time by the new awards system.

Administrative staff across all industries could fall under a new clerks/private sector award.

Part-time workers in some industries would also be entitled to shift loading.

The survey covered businesses that employ more than 100,000 staff across 25 industries and was conducted from August to earlier this month.

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/small-business-in-for-a-shock-20091215-kujh.html