The Council of Small Business Organisations (COSBOA) CEO, Luke Achterstraat, has this week announced the launch of a new, government-funded program created to help small businesses pick their way through the recently-introduced complex industrial relations (IR) changes.
The Small Business PEAK program was created on the back of research revealing that 56 per cent of small businesses are unaware of the IR legislation changes. Additionally, only seven per cent of respondents claimed to have a “comprehensive understanding” of the IR changes legislated in the last three years.
The research also reveals that 64.7 per cent of respondents don’t understand their obligations under the casual conversion IR changes that will come into force on 26 August this year, and that 63 per cent of respondents don’t understand what the new definition of a casual employee will mean for their business.
“The research highlights the low levels of awareness of IR changes,” Achterstraat said. “This was true across all industry sectors which demonstrates why Small Business Peak is so critical to the small-business community.”
On 1 January 2025 intentional underpayment of wages by employers will become a criminal offence under the IR changes, but only 28.7 per cent of respondents understand their obligations under the criminalising intentional wage underpayments IR changes – a dangerous situation considering that business owners face a penalty of a maximum of 10 years in prison if they are found to have committed wage theft under the new IR laws.
“Small businesses need to understand which IR changes apply to their operations, when they come into effect and how to ensure they meet their employer obligations and business reporting responsibilities,” Achterstraat stressed.
The Small Business PEAK program offers:
- Free small-business materials such as information sheets, timelines and details of IR legislation changes.
- A Canva tool through which small businesses can customise their IR content to fit their brand and industry sector.
- Practical case studies on how the IR changes apply in easy-to-follow scenarios.
- An AI-powered chatbot that answers questions about the new IR changes.
“The 24/7 chatbot functionality means busy small-business owners can receive speedy responses to their high-level questions with answers they can rely on,” Achterstraat said. “We hope our new resource hub will empower small business and support this engine room of our economy during these complex and uncertain times.”
