Nominations are now open for the 2015 United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Awards! 

The Awards, established in 1979, recognise those in the media whose work highlights and champions human rights and social justice issues and stimulates public debate and changes in public and private policy. Journalists and producers whose work has appeared in the Australian public media between 2 September 2014 and 4 September 2015 are encouraged to nominate now. 

Nominations will close 5pm Friday September 4. Enter before July 31 to receive the early bird entry fee.

Winners of the 2015 Media Peace Awards will be announced at the Awards Presentation Dinner to be held at the ANZ Pavilion, Arts Centre Melbourne and hosted by Virginia Trioli, Presenter of ABC News Breakfast. 

For entry criteria and nomination forms see here: http://www.unaavictoria.org.au/awards-programs/media-awards/

For more information on the Awards program please contact the Victorian office on (03) 9670 7878 or awards@unaavictoria.org.au

The CheckUP Forum series consists of two key events:

Forum Preliminary Program now available. To access click here.

• The Health Leaders' Forum (28 August 2015) will focus on the formation of the new PHNs and explore how the health and community services sectors can work collaboratively to ensure better patient health outcomes.
  

Framing the challenge: 

Hear first-hand from experts in their field about service integration, system cohesion, collaboration, and change management.

Working together to make it happen:

Discuss how we can work together to ensure PHNs make a difference.

Meeting the challenge:

Learn new skills through two Master Classes that explore commissioning and community engagement.

• CheckUP's Networking Dinner will be held the evening before the Health Leader's Forum, where forum delegates and presenters will have an opportunity to meet over dinner.
  

Venue:  Rydges South Bank from 6pm to 9pm (27 August 2015)

For more information about the series please go to: http://www.checkup.org.au/events/218026

Today more than ever, technology is a key component of all successful businesses. Selecting a product which is the correct fit for your organisation can be an enormous challenge due to the plethora of solutions available and the mix of features they all offer.

Identifying that you have a need is just the first step in a much bigger journey. The process of determining what you actually need, not what your key stakeholders, staff or potential suppliers say that you need, is possibly the most important step in this journey of discovery.

Member Evolution's NEW Technology Buyer's Guide will help guide you with proven processes, tools and techniques that will help ensure you make the correct technology buying decision. The Free eBook Covers the following high level content as well as much more: 

• Project success factors
• Forming the project team
• Identifying the business requirements
  
• Requirements selection and prioritisation
  
• Creating the gap analysis
  
• Vendor selection
  
• Total cost of ownership (TCO)
  
• Vendor engagement
  

On June 18 & 19 AuSAE held the highly successful AuSAE Conference and Exhibition (ACE) with around 350 delegates, 45 speakers and 42 exhibitors attending the event at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. 

The conference taught us how to get a meeting with government, about knowing your legal risk with MOUs and contracts, how to mobilise volunteers, how to develop strategy to engage in commercial opportunities and much, much more. 

You may have seen the conference hashtag #ACEBne15 trending on twitter during the event. We also received lovely feedback from delegates: 

• "What an incredible experience."
  
• "Fantastic event - great content and networking opportunities"
  
• "An excellent event... wondering why we hadn't attended before now!"
  
• "Great conference - one of the most useful in terms of content that I've attended in a while."
  
• "Great event. Best opening speaker I have ever heard. Venue great, food outstanding. Good range of topics. Got a lot out of it." 
  
• "Absolutely fantastic. Well run and immensely useful."
  

Check out the ACE Photo Gallery here: 
http://www.oneillphotographics.com.au/gallery/ausaeconference2015/

AuSAE thanks those who joined us at the 2015 AuSAE Conference and Exhibition. The delegates, exhibitors and partners in attendance were a fantastic group and engaged in the sessions and activities with enthusiasm and willingness.

Delegates gather at the ACE Party: An Elegant Welcome at Victoria Park

Alex Malley (CEO at CPA Australia) delivering his opening keynote address at ACE 2015.

The ACE plenary session on Day 2

Fantastic networking opportunities with other sector professionals

Delegates enjoying the Greek dancing at the ACE Celebration at the Greek Club

Beautiful catering provided by the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre

The Young Association Professionals Meet Up in the BCEC Meet Up Zone

The New Zealand Government has approved a package of measures to strengthen enforcement of employment standards, including:

• Tougher sanctions
• Clearer-record keeping requirements
• Increased tools for labour inspectors and
• Changes to the Employment Relations Authority’s approach to employment standards cases

All these changes will be reflected in an Employment Standards Bill which will be introduced to Parliament this year. The Bill will go through a normal select committee process including public submissions before it is passed into law.

Before the new law comes into force, MBIE will develop an information and education plan to inform businesses, including small businesses, and workers of the changes.

Tougher sanctions

• For the most serious breaches, such as exploitation, cases will be heard at the Employment Court and carry maximum penalties of $50,000 for an individual and the greater of $100,000 or three times the financial gain for a company. Previously the maximum fine was $10,000 for an individual and $20,000 for a company.
• Employers will be publically named if the Employment Relations Authority or Employment Court finds they have breached minimum standards.
• Individuals will also face the possibility of being banned as employers if they commit serious or persistent breaches of employment standards.
• Persons other than the employer – such as directors, senior managers, legal advisors and other corporate entities – will also be held accountable for breaches of employment standards if they are knowingly and intentionally involved when an employer breaks the law. These cases can be pursued even if the employer ceases to exist.

Who will be covered by the proposal for persons other than the employer to be able to be held accountable for breaches of employment standards?

• These provisions will only apply to ‘officers’ of the company, being directors and other individuals who occupy positions where they exercise significant influence over the management or administration of the whole, or a substantial part, of the business.
• Persons other than the primary contravener will only be accountable if they are knowingly and intentionally involved in a contravention of the employment standards provisions.
• A person would not be liable if they took reasonable and proper steps to ensure the employer complied or if they reasonably relied on information supplied by another person.
• For example, a senior payroll manager, under direction from the company’s director, who has set up the payroll system in such a way that employees do not receive their full holiday entitlements, could be caught by these provisions because they could meet the definition of an ‘officer’ of the company. However, a more junior payroll clerk would not be covered.
• The accountability provisions can also potentially cover individuals or other companies in a contractual relationship with the employer (for example, a legal advisor who aids the employer to manipulate corporate structures to avoid paying entitlements).

Will there be costs for employers in complying with the new requirements?

• Most businesses will not experience any increase in compliance costs resulting from these proposals.
• The focus of the proposals is on businesses that are not currently meeting their obligations. They will face minor compliance costs to become compliant and risk facing financial penalties if they don’t (with serious breaches resulting in significantly higher penalties).

What are the penalties for less serious breaches?

The penalties at the Employment Relations Authority for minor to moderate breaches would remain at $10,000 for an individual and $20,000 for a company.

Clearer-record keeping requirements

• Record-keeping requirements for wages, time, holidays and leave will be made consistent across all employment legislation.
• There will be flexibility around the format for records, so long as they can show compliance with the law.
• Infringement notices will be introduced for clear-cut breaches of these obligations with a maximum penalty of $1,000 per breach with a cap of $20,000 if there are multiple breaches.

Why are changes to record keeping requirements needed?

• The current requirements do not ensure that compliance with minimum entitlements can be assessed in all circumstances and are, in some places, inconsistent across the legislation. For example, the Employment Relations Act and Minimum Wage Act have different requirements for recording time worked and this has led to difficulties in assessing whether low salaried and piece workers (workers who are paid by the number of products they create or tasks they complete) are receiving adequate pay. The changes address these issues.

What will the costs be for complying with record keeping requirements?

• For most employers there will not be any costs associated with complying with the new record keeping requirements. This is because compliant employers will already be recording the necessary information.
• The key requirement is that employers can produce a record of the number of hours worked each day in a pay period, and the pay for those hours, in an easily accessible form on request from the employee or from a labour inspector. Employers will have flexibility as to what form this record takes.
• For those employees who work regular hours for regular pay, a simple statement of what the regular hours and pay for the employee are (for example, as set out in the employment agreement) is likely to be all that is needed to comply. However, more detailed information may be required when employees’ hours vary from day to day and from pay period to pay period, or when there is a significant departure from contracted hours.

What is the aim of the infringement notices for failure to keep records?

• Infringement fees are an additional tool for labour inspectors and commonly used in other sanction regimes.
• Labour Inspectors will use infringement fees for clear-cut breaches of the obligations to keep employment agreements and the prescribed records and to produce them at the request of a labour inspector.
• This will reduce the need for proceedings at the Employment Relations Authority or Employment Court.

Increased tools for labour inspectors

• Information sharing: There will be enhanced information sharing powers with other regulators such as Immigration New Zealand, the Companies Office and Inland Revenue to improve the ability of labour inspectors to identify and investigate alleged breaches.
• Information requests: Labour inspectors will be able to request any record or document from employers that they consider will help them determine whether a breach has occurred – for instance financial records or bank statements.

What protections will accompany the new information sharing powers for labour inspectors?

• All information shared (both business and personal) will continue to be subject to the protections of the Privacy Act. Memoranda of Understanding and Approved Information Sharing Agreements (AISAs) will outline the necessary checks and balances for how labour inspectors and other regulatory parties with whom they share information are required to handle both business and personal information.
• Only in very specific circumstances in which there is an Approved Information Sharing Agreement (AISA) between labour inspectors and another regulator, would the Privacy Act’s information sharing principles be modified or overridden to allow for specific personal information to be used or disclosed. However, an AISA must specify the safeguards to ensure that any interference with an individual’s privacy is minimised. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner will work with MBIE on the development of AISAs.

Why do labour inspectors need more information from employers?

• Labour inspectors may request further records and documents from employers when they need to obtain supporting evidence to substantiate an alleged breach – for example, when the required wages and time records are incomplete or not evident.
• Labour inspectors will need to have a reasonable belief that the records and documents they request will assist in determining whether or not a breach of an employee’s minimum entitlements has occurred.

Changes to Employment Relations Authority’s approach to employment standards cases

• More employment standards cases, particularly those that involve more serious and systemic and/or intentional breaches of employment standards will be resolved at the Employment Relations Authority or Court, rather than being automatically directed to mediation services in the first instance as is now the case.
• If it wishes, the Authority will continue to be able to send standards cases to mediation if they are mixed up with other employment relationship problems, or if it considers that mediation will contribute constructively to addressing the problem (for example, through clarifying the facts of the case).
• Employees will be able to seek penalties at the Employment Relations Authority for any minimum entitlement breach – currently this is only possible for breaches of the Wages Protection Act.

Why will the role of mediation be reduced for standards cases?

• For many employment standards cases, particularly those that involve more serious and systemic and/or intentional breaches, mediation is not appropriate because:
  • alleged standards breaches are matters of fact to be determined, as opposed to other employment relationship problems for which mediation between the employer and employee is more suitable
  • it cannot provide the enforcement outcomes sought (i.e. sanction/deterrence)
  • it can result in the case being prolonged if mediation cannot determine the breach as the case will end up back at the Authority
• The statutory obligation to direct standards cases will be removed and instead the Authority will be required to consider them.
• However, the Authority will retain discretion to send standards cases to mediation if they are mixed up with other employment relationship problems, or if it considers that mediation will contribute constructively to addressing the problem (for example, through clarifying the facts of the case).

Why can employees seek their own penalties at the Employment Relations Authority?

• Employees can already seek penalties under the Wages Protection Act. Extending this right to the Minimum Wage Act and Holidays Act is consistent with the ‘self-enforcement’ nature of the employment legislation.
• It means that the opportunity for the Authority to penalise employers will not be dependent on who brings the case (i.e. an employee or a labour inspector).

Sourced directly from Employment NZ here.

The union for government workers says it is not surprised by claims of bullying at the Ministry of Health - and says it has always been a problem within the public sector.

Labour's Annette King has received a letter from a senior person within the ministry accusing some executives of being nasty and abusive to other staff.

Radio New Zealand News was also sent a letter this afternoon by a support group of the partners of ACC staff, who said bullying was a big problem in certain ACC branches, and was not being tackled.

Public Service Association (PSA) national secretary Erin Polarczuk said the union knew there were some problems within the Ministry of Health, and was working with the State Services Commission to produce guidelines on bullying for agencies.

She said the PSA could not specify whether it has had complaints of this nature before.

State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie said bullying was unacceptable, and he was seeking further information on the accusations so they could be fairly assessed.

Wellington employment lawyer Hazel Armstrong said bullying in the public sector was worse now than ever before.

She said workplace bullying could be quite subtle, and many people were vulnerable because they were too scared to speak up for fear of losing their job.

"The kinds of bullying that I see would be setting tasks that the person cannot achieve in the time available. Or just not giving enough support to the person. And, particularly in Wellington, you see constant restructuring and having to apply for your own job."

Sourced directly from Radio NZ News here.

Become a Corporate Traveller client now and you'll receive a complimentary Virgin Australia Lounge Membership.

Virgin Australia Lounges offer a variety of benefits including complimentary WiFi, all day barista coffee, buffet menu, premium wine and beer selection and access to a suite of news publications so you can stay informed while you're away on business.

Find out more about this exclusive offer or call us on 1300 732 280. Hurry, offer ends 30 June 2015. Conditions apply.

From the Corporate Traveller Team (AuSAE Travel Specialist Partner)

Michael Smith explains what Cloud-based payroll solutions can offer SME business owners.

Business and payroll needs are constantly evolving, as is the technology that serves those needs. Cloud computing has exploded onto the scene and Australian businesses are leading the way in migrating to cloud-based services, but for many SMEs, cloud technology and its application for payroll services is not fully understood.

With cloud technology, SMEs now have access to capabilities that they require but may not hitherto have had the necessary skills set to manage. So, is moving to the cloud the right option for every business? 

Each business and payroll department faces its own set of challenges that lead the business to consider the prospect of migrating to the cloud. Some of these include internal pressures and budgets facing IT departments, lack of internal infrastructure to regularly process payroll, as well as cost and how that cost is valued – expense vs. opportunity. For many SMEs who do not have the capabilities to keep pace with software nor have the budgets to keep up with managing the costs of IT, migration to the cloud is often an easier move to commit to as it provides them with enterprise-scale IT capability without the price tag.

However, there are still some very valid considerations SMEs must examine before migrating their payroll to the cloud. Every business must ask the following questions of any cloud provider before signing on the dotted line:

• What experience do the provider have in data management for payroll?
• What is the provider’s experience in payroll database, applications and the relevant updates?
• What are the service level agreements?
• What is the disaster recovery plan?
• How will my data be continually protected?
• What happens if the office loses its internet connection?
• Where will my data be stored?  What support is available?
• What happens if I decide to move to another provider? Can I easily access and move my data?

Discussing these areas with your potential provider will help identify their capabilities and experience in managing payroll services, and provide peace of mind that your data is in safe hands. Here are some typical concerns that outline how migrating to the cloud can help increase business productivity and bottom line.

Security: Security is one of the greatest apprehensions businesses have in regards to using cloud technology. Trusting valuable data to a third party can be daunting, however cloud technology stores data in a secure environment with the most updated firewall and anti-virus protection. With a cloud service, small to medium sized businesses receive a dedicated team of professionals in an enterprise grade security environment with an affordable budget. 

Performance, availability and mobility: Cloud technology offers secure 24/7 access to data that is always available and backed up. Businesses can login from anywhere at any time through a secure system. The business passes the control and management of backups and disc space to a cloud provider and no longer has to worry about shrinking disc space or if the data is current. Workflow is never interrupted. This also applies to systems like Employee Self-Service (ESS), where security risks are no longer an issue and employees can access their records safely and securely from any device at any time. Cloud software is able to handle a large amount of transactions in a short amount of time.

Infrastructure: With declining IT budgets becoming the norm, migrating to the cloud makes good business sense. IT departments are less and less able to manage the payroll IT functions and cloud technology shifts those responsibilities and the related risks off site and away from in-house IT. Using a cloud service also eliminates the need to maintain hardware and updates to infrastructure as they continuously purchase state-of-the-art equipment to ensure reliable performance.  SMEs are no longer responsible for the management of the application and their in-house IT department no longer has to manage accessibility to data, software upgrades or security patching 

Cost: Cloud technology is an operational expenditure that is controlled and capped and does not suffer from significant or surprising increases. In-house solutions carry higher setup costs, ongoing costs of software and hardware updates and higher monthly maintenance costs.

Data management, back-ups and disaster recovery: Cloud technology offers reliable and flexible backup and data management systems and gives SMEs peace-of-mind with a sophisticated solution that enables data to be accessed, restored or recovered with minimal down time in order to meet payroll deadlines.

Compliance: Cloud technology is tailored to the SMEs’ local market conditions to ensure compliance as required by the business. A credible cloud software provider will maintain a number of compliance accreditations to also ensure every user is complying with internal controls and regulations.

The argument for migrating to the cloud for payroll makes good business sense.  SMEs gain enterprise level computing capability for software applications and infrastructure that can continually grow and adapt to their business needs without the hefty price tag. Cloud payroll provides the reliability and assurance that the payroll function will continue to operate smoothly, with greater accessibility to data that is systematically backed up and all for a lower monthly cost.

Michael Smith is Managing Director of Sage MicrOpay. (AuSAE Payroll and HR Systems Partner)

ASAE is pleased to welcome association professionals residing outside the U.S. (and Canada) to attend the 2015 ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition, the largest gathering of association professionals from the United States and countries around the world. ASAE respects and values the opportunity to showcase and deliver a memorable and exciting learning event.

International attendees will receive a special discount to attend the event. The registration fee of $699/$799 for international members/nonmembers includes one full conference registration to the event ($1,249.00 value)! All additional program expenses must be covered by each attendee and are not included in the cost of the full conference registration (examples include any Pre- or Post-Conference Programs; the ASAE Foundation Classic, a fundraising event for the ASAE Foundation; city and/or educational tours; community connection activities; and the Golf Tournament, another fundraising event for the ASAE Foundation).

Find out more.

Post by Callie Walker, sourced directly from the Member Clicks Blog here.

The primary goal for any membership website is to get members to the site and keep them coming back for more. This means offering fresh, up-to-date content that your members will find valuable.

Not sure where to begin? Check out these five tips for maintaining a fresh membership website:

Tip #1: Add a blog

A blog is a great way to keep your website fresh and active. If you’re not sure what to write about, check out your competitors’ blog posts for ideas and inspiration.

Still lacking ideas? Why not…

The possibilities here are endless!

• Write about an upcoming event or conference?
  
• Feature a new member?
  
• Review a book related to your association’s industry?
  
• Make a list of relevant industry leaders to follow on Twitter?
  

Tip #2: Add an image gallery 

Not much of a writer? No worries! Try adding an image gallery to your site instead. This is a great way to add fresh content to your website while showcasing your organization’s unique personality. Feel free to add pictures of your office, a recent event, your board members, etc.

Tip #3: Add an event calendar

Event calendars are also great for keeping your site active and engaging. Members will keep coming back to see what’s going on and what they don’t want to miss. That being said, if your organization doesn't host many events throughout the year, this may be one feature you want to skip over.  

Tip #4: Add testimonials

Testimonials aren’t for everyone, but if you already have some handy, why not put them on your website? Just remember to ask your members for permission first. If you think that acquiring testimonials will be a time-consuming or difficult task based on current engagement levels, maybe it’s something to consider down the road.

Tip #5: Add a news page

Even if you don’t think your organization has much news, there is always something interesting going on. Perhaps you just finished a project, elected a new board member, received a new sponsorship, or welcomed your 1,000th member. Any of these could form the basis of a news story, which could help keep your site active and refreshing. 

Remember, the trick to all of these tactics is to keep them updated on a regular basis. A blog or an image gallery won’t do you any good if they’re just sitting there. Update, update, update!