Education is for us all - the Fair Work Ombudsman

As most of you know, the Fair Work Ombudsman plays a key role in assisting employees and employers alike to understand their respective workplace rights and obligations.

Our aim is to provide every Australian with direct and immediate access to information and resources on the workplace issues that matter to them in a way that is practical, helpful and accurate.

We provide support to small business through a number of services and products. Primary support can be accessed through our Fair Work Infoline (13 13 94) or our website www.fairwork.gov.au

The Infoline provides dedicated support for employers on a range of issues including wages, allowances, leave entitlements, termination inquiries and other conditions of employment. Our advisers are trained to support small business operators. Some 35 per cent of callers are employers. Between January and April our advisers assisted 440,000 callers and to ensure we meet anticipated growth in inquiries and minimise waiting times, the number of Infoline Advisers will be increased from 200 to about 300.

From our website, small businesses can also access our Live Help service online, which is a web chat tool which allows for time-poor employers to seek information without the need for a dedicated phone call. Also online, you can find Best Practice Guides and template employment documents on a range of topics plus our PayCheck facility, which helps employers calculate wage rates under modern awards. Between January and April, our website recorded 1.212 million visits. A clear sign that small business is engaging with the legislative changes is the fact our Small Business and the Fair Work Act Best Practice Guide has been downloaded 13,000 times.

The Fair Work Act has bestowed upon us a much stronger emphasis on educating workplace participants and promoting fairness and while we take that responsibility very seriously, we have not sought to work in isolation, but rather adopted a collaborative approach with our key stakeholders.  Improving community awareness about workplace relations is a job for all of us.

Finally, I am regularly asked about our approach to enforcing compliance with the transitional arrangements for modern awards. Can I reiterate that we will continue to be fair and flexible and to work with employers to assist them voluntarily rectify any issues we may identify. We have not prosecuted a small business for making an honest mistake and fixing it up, and we are not about to start now.

NICHOLAS WILSON

Fair Work Ombudsman