MORE THAN 15,000 Victorians received help from Wage Inspectorate Victoria during its first 12 months, the regulator’s end of financial year figures reveal.

“We’ve had a successful and balanced first year, educating businesses and workers about the law and taking appropriate compliance action,” Wage Inspectorate Victoria Commissioner Robert Hortle said. “These have been equal focuses for the new statutory authority.

“We’re aiming to have an even bigger impact over the next 12 months through our intelligence-led compliance activities, prosecutions and the release of new educational resources, including e-learning courses and multilingual videos, to make complying with the law even easier.”

Most requests for help came through phone calls from employees and businesses seeking information about long service leave, child employment, wage theft and owner driver laws. Mr Hortle said 295 Victorians claimed they were underpaid long service leave and $309,367 was recouped with the regulator’s help, taking the total recovered over the past four years to more than $1.5 million. 

The Wage Inspectorate also took strong action in the courts, with seven matters before court during the financial year, including its successful action against Coles Supermarkets that led to more than 4000 workers being paid back in excess of $700,000 in long service leave.

The financial year figures show that 7758 permits were issued to employers of children under 15 years and that 329 child employment compliance checks and investigations were conducted. The regulator’s child employment team also conducted almost 100 field visits and sent over 200 letters to businesses suspected of employing children under 15 years to educate them about the law.

In one of the most serious cases taken to court, a travelling circus pleaded guilty to three charges, admitting it breached the law by employing Chinese nationals as acrobats without a mandatory child employment permit. One of the children spent 10 days in hospital after being hit by a trapeze.

The Wage Inspectorate also commenced intelligence-led, criminal wage theft investigations using the powers granted under Victoria’s new wage theft laws, including executing search warrants, issuing compulsory notices, entering premises and seizing evidence.

Hirers of owner drivers were audited too, with the Wage Inspectorate checking compliance with Victoria’s owner driver and forestry contractor laws for 259 individual drivers.

The retail, hospitality, manufacturing and services industries were the most likely to call the Wage Inspectorate. About 3000 calls came from employers seeking to understand their obligations, with employees, parents or people calling on behalf of a worker or business making up the rest.

The entertainment, retail, and hospitality industries accounted for over half of all child employment permits applied for. While Victoria came in and out of COVID-19 restrictions, officers supported applicants with advice about how business openings and closures would affect their permits.

More than 286,000 people accessed the Wage Inspectorate’s online tools, with its long service leave, child employment and wage theft pages the most popular resources.

“It’s our vision to create productive and prosperous Victorian workplaces. That means fairer conditions for workers and a level playing field for businesses, so they’re not undercut by law breakers,” Mr Hortle said.

www.wageinspectorate.vic.gov.au

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FOR SOMEONE like Emily Jaksch, who helps businesses to evolve, it makes perfect sense for her own business interests to continually evolve.

While she is probably best known for her recruitment, people management and leadership training group – HR Gurus – Ms Jaksch’s two other businesses are taking on lives of their own. Even the one that is personally branded: Emily Jaksch.

Ms Jakisch started HR Gurus in 2010 as a human resources (HR) consulting business for the SME market and that entity has now morphed into a ‘leadership coaching’ business offering business transformation and culture change services. Today it employs three people.

“The vision behind the business was that small business is the biggest employer in Australia – and they don’t have the budget for or they don’t need a full HR function, but they definitely have HR issues,” Ms Jaksch said. “HR Gurus became an outsourced HR function for SMEs.

“I was 32 and I had worked in corporate HR for 11 years before that,” she said of her time with Royal Bank of Scotland, General Motors Holden, Wesfarmers and Coles, “so I’d seen the problem emerging. 

“Our biggest product at HR Gurus is a virtual HR manager service. That allows small business to get access to a qualified experienced HR manager level person – without having to employ them. Which worked really well and that business has been relatively successful.”

While HR Gurus is still ticking along nicely, the way HR has changed – in an economy that is increasingly opting for ‘gig’ employment – and the way Emily Jaksch’s own business aspirations have evolved, new doors have also opened.

“We still do the HR consulting, but initially it was all about coming in and helping the small business to set up their HR function – so it was very much HR compliance based,” Ms Jaksch said. “That business we are now morphing more into a leadership coaching business, where instead of getting the call from the business – when they are in trouble and need a quick fix – the whole philosophy has changed into we want to be more proactive.

“I am working with business owners and leadership teams so that they don’t have these problems … because they are coaching and leading their staff more effectively.

“Instead of being the business that gets called when there is a problem, what we do now is work with the business owner on what is my strategy, mission, vision, values and then what is the business strategy that I need to plug into that which will help these people to grow and be successful?

“We would get the call and go in and have to tell them that the root of their problem was that their leadership team had no training in how to deal with these issues,” Ms Jaksch said. “Or, this problem is occurring because you have not defined what your values are, so you are hiring the wrong people, and also not holding people accountable to your values.

“Therefore that is what is causing performance issues.”

As part of the HR Gurus transformation, the business has linked up with a ‘sister’ company to handle the more straightforward tasks, such as where a client simply wants someone to come in and terminate a staff member. That is referred to and handled by staff at the allied company.

“We are still aiming to service those clients but in a different way,” Ms Jaksch said.

“ We now work with pro-active clients that are interested in what we are doing for them in terms of taking a leadership approach – and doing preventative work that pre-empts HR problems.”

AGED, HEALTH CARE RECRUITING

It was a client, impressed with the work that HR Gurus was doing, that led Ms Jaksch and her team into a whole new specialised area of recruitment.

“In 2016 started We Care Recruitment, which is a specialist aged and health care recruiter, which employs two people,” Ms Jaksch said.

“One of our biggest clients that we were doing HR consulting for was building five aged care facilities. They asked if we were interested in doing the recruitment for them.

“We said we had never done that before and they said okay, we trust you. Go and do it.

We did so and got amazing results in terms of our time-to-deal and our placement ratios. It was about 1.4-to-one, so they only had to do 1.4 interviews to get a placement. The industry standard is three-to-one.”

The reason We Care Recruitment is successful is the firm has a unique approach in values-based recruitment.

“So we help them (the clients) to find their value and we now embed that in the recruitment interviewing process,” Ms Jaksch said. “We only hire people that are aligned with their values.

“That business is growing and we are trying to expand into health care now, at which we are doing quite well. It is a big growth industry.

“We are really pitching ourselves as different because we have a different pricing structure.

“For volume based recruitment, we don’t do placement fees. We do a retainer and we recruit as many people as we possibly can in that retainer.

“Or we do hourly-based recruitment, which means we get paid for what we do, which seems to work really well. And then, with our placement fee structure we do a flat fee. So based on the specific role, we lock down the fee so that they know what they are paying, not based on the salary or package,” Ms Jaksch said.

“We have a lot of clients that don’t really like recruitment agencies … because they often find the most expensive person they can find and get them in, because they get more money – which is unethical and stupid.”

EMILY JAKSCH, HERSELF

In 2018, Emily Jaksch launched her speaking and coaching business “with a goal of changing the dialogue around Millennials”.

“Through a commitment to research and data, my passion is around creating the next generation of Millennial leaders,” Ms Jaksch said.

“I have just launched a new business which is just under my name, Emily Jaksch. That is really around pitching myself as a millennial expert. I was getting asked to do a lot of speeches around Millennials and I had a lot of my clients asking the same questions: How do I get into millennials, how do I understand them?

“I started doing all this research to try to understand.

“I embarked on a research journey myself. I had never done research before. So I paid a lot of money to a company called Honeycomb Strategy to conduct that research. It cost me $30,000,” she said, to survey 1000 random Millennials.

“I made it really specific. A lot of the research out there is very general and is actually from the US. So I realised we had all been reporting on inaccurate data as it is irrelevant in Australia.

“So I commissioned my own study called The Australian Workplace Millennial Study. I really delved down into what millennials want in the workplace, what are their motivations, what are their values, how long they have been with their current employer.”

With that research, Emily Jaksch produced an e-book with all the data explained.

“I have also written a book which I am about to launch called Why the Gap? –  Are Millennials the Most Misunderstood Generation of Our Time?

“The goal of that business is to really change the dialogue around Millennials. Because it is very negative at present. The media seems to bash Millennials … it seems to have become a national sport. I think it is unhealthy and really stupid.

“I’m not a Millennial, I am 42, on the cusp. But I feel we have created this divide and a lot of the Millennials I speak to feel disenfranchised and really disengaged. In workplaces they are constantly being put down … ‘oh be quiet you are just a Millennial’.

“What I have done is to create coaching programs for millennials, because a lot of them are leaders now and need to be the best that they can be.”

Importantly, Ms Jaksch has also created coaching programs for leaders who are managing Millennials. All this is designed to challenge people’s beliefs about Millennials, defined as those born between  1981 and 1995.

“What we really need to do is to help business leaders to understand that we need to embrace them – and they are coming. By 2025 they are going to make up two-thirds of our workforce.

“According to my research a huge proportion of them are already leaders. The way they lead is going to change the way we do business.

“We need to get out of the way and let them come in and do what they need to do. There are so many great millennial stories. They are going to make amazing leaders as they are highly coachable, especially for personal development.” 

In her training courses and books, Ms Jaksch talks about the new Millennial characteristics and gives examples of inspirational millennials that have started businesses.

“It changes the whole narrative that they are selfish and lazy and still living with their parents. It’s wrecked,” Ms Jaksch said.

“My big goal is to create the next generation of Millennial leaders. That will have a big impact on the world. They are already shaping the world around is and a lot of the shaming is fear. They are changing the way we do business.

“If you think about massive game changing millennials who have disrupted industries you think about Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook; you think about Nick Molnar, an Australian who is one of the founders of Afterpay – now that is an extremely disruptive business model. Uber was created by American millennials.

“The reason we are afraid of them is that they are disrupting business and making whole industries obsolete. We misinterpret some of that drive and disruptive nature as them being upstarts and them not being respectful is the way I see it.” 

Emily Jaksch’s businesses may not specifically revolve around her any more – but they certainly evolve around her. 

www.hrgurus.com.au

www.wecarerecruitment.com.au

www.emilyjaksch.com

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MELBOURNE's office workers will be drawn back to the CBD through a series of business events supporting innovation and collaboration. 

The City of Melbourne initiative will see 20 organisations benefit from grants totalling $100,000. 

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the funding, allocated through the Business Event Sponsorship Program, would support conferences, meetings and other business forums in Melbourne over the next six months.  

“Office workers make up the majority of midweek customers for our traders, who have been hardest hit by the pandemic,” the Lord Mator Capp said. 

“Prior to the pandemic, nearly 14 million delegates visited Victoria each year, armed with knowledge, bold ideas and experiences to share with likeminded colleagues.  

“We know a strong calendar of business events strengthens our city’s knowledge-based industry sectors, which thrive when people come together and share ideas.  

“The events receiving funding from this program will give office workers a great reason to return to the city, as they rediscover the benefits of face-to-face collaboration.”  

Business and Global Opportunities portfolio lead, Councillor Kevin Louey said the supported events will draw thousands of people to the CBD, providing a number of industries with a much-needed boost.  

“Whether a delegate attends a large conference or a specialised workshop, they are supporting local venues, technicians and event hire companies, along with our hospitality and accommodations sectors,” Cr Louey said.  

“Some of the best ideas and deals happen in person, which is why we’re delighted to fund events that stimulate innovation and business growth here in Melbourne.”  

RMIT University received a $10,000 grant for its three-day Future/Inclusive Festival in the CBD.  

RMIT xecutive director of policy, strategy and impact Tom Bentley said the university’s event would explore ideas around sustainability across Melbourne, the region and the world.  

"Inclusion - across many dimensions - is key to reactivating Melbourne mid and post-pandemic, creating a city that is more equitable and vibrant than ever before,” Mr Bentley said.  

“We are thrilled to partner with the City of Melbourne to bring to life public ideas about inclusion, resilience, and what our city needs right now, to make a positive impact for Melbourne’s community, economy and broader society."   

In addition to funding, the City of Melbourne will also offer in-kind marketing and promotional support to recipients.   

Funded events must be delivered by June 30, 2022 and adhere to the Victorian Government’s COVIDSafe settings.  

For a full list of grant recipients under the Business Event Sponsorship Program, visit the City of Melbourne website. 

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NCS GROUP Chartered Accountants was founded in 2003 on the belief that good small-and-medium-sized businesses could grow more effectively with the benefit of financial accounting advice that was in the league of the Big Four accounting firms.

Founders Sharryn Carey-Nicholls and Andrew Nicholls also believed that their family business approach – highlighted by as much partner-client personal service as possible – and a dedication to research would be the way to deliver a great service relationship. 

“My wife Sharryn Carey-Nicholls and I founded the practice on July 1, 2003,” NCS Group Chartered Accountants director and CEO Andrew Nicholls said.

“We established the practice with a view that SMEs and professional individuals were missing out on true strategic financial advisory services,” he said. “This was mainly the domain of the Big Four accounting firms and perhaps some of the next level firms.

“Most sub-corporate businesses were simply dealing with their accountants on a form filling exercise – BAS, tax returns and financial statements. From day one, we have been fully involved with our clients in forecasting, risk management and strategic business decision making.

“We consider ourselves ‘boutique’ by design. Our feedback has always been, clients want access to partners and expertise within their accounting suppliers.

“We can’t provide that level of service with a large number of clients. Therefore, we tend to refuse more potential clients than we take on,” Mr Nicholls said.

“That’s not trying to be snobby. We are looking for clients whom we can partner with, respect our experience and advice and, likewise, will take advice from us in the future direction of our client’s business. We look to ourselves as partners with our clients – not merely compliance service providers.”

STRONG PEDIGREE

Prior to founding NCS, Sharryn Carey-Nicholls had previously worked for large and small chartered accounting firms in the tax advisory space. Husband Andrew Nicholls’ background encompassed large chartered accounting firms, trading and investment banks and management consulting firms. 

So both were well briefed in the demands of accounting for various sized business across many industries. Their hunch about the shape of a successful practice was verified in short time as the business grew strongly from its original base in Melbourne. Soon clients with Sydney offices were asking NCS to extend northwards – and that happened in the past year with a new office in Sydney.

NCS is now mid-way through an entry strategy into the Sydney market and, just like the Melbourne growth, results to date have exceeded expectations.

“We changed our branding during this period,” Mr Nicholls said. “This has provided a fresh new look to the practice as well. We are proud of being able to assist our clients in their financial objectives.”

In such a practice, giving staff freedom and leeway to meet client needs has been important – and it has also influenced NCS’s recent move to ‘Cloud’ technology.

“We provide a flexible work environment for our staff – we continue to successfully balance our staff’s private commitments with our firm’s requirements. This differentiates us from other firms which merely talk about flexibility,” Mr Nicholls said.

“A large number of our staff have encompassed return to work parents, which has been a successful strategy for us and worked really well with them.”

One ongoing challenge has been to find experienced staff willing to work in a small firm with a personal approach, rather than join the climb to the top of large firms.

“Finding experienced staff who wish to work in a small firm continues to be a challenge. It’s a frustration, the difficulty in recruiting appropriately experienced staff into a small practice like ours.”

The way NCS does business also places it in an unusual position when it comes to observing the challenges its clients face on a daily basis.

“We have noticed over the past few years, and we are becoming more aware of, the mental health aspects of some of our small business clients from time to time,” he said. “The link between mental health problems and financial difficulties results in business owners under enormous stress resulting from long hours, cash flow issues as well as copious amounts of paperwork.

“The nature of our advisory role means we maintain a very close working relationship with our clients. This means whilst not in a position – and nor do we intend – to diagnose and treat mental illness, we do find ourselves having more sensitive discussions with our clients with an aim to encourage those impacted to seek support or treatment from appropriately qualified mental health professionals.”

NEW WAYS FORWARD

NCS Group is continuing its general program of moving to an increased mix in its fee generation towards advisory services such as cash forecasting, budgeting, business finance for growth, and industry analysis.

In fact, research and development (R&D) opportunities continue to emerge for NCS.

“Whilst we don’t practise in the R&D Incentives space, we have fantastic partners who assist our clients in this area,” Mr Nicholls said of the often complex Federal Government incentive programs for R&D. However, in its own area of R&D, NCS continues to evolve.

“Identifying and managing the various risks involved in running a business has always been a major part of our work,” Mr Nicholls said. “This continues to grow each year.

“We carefully manage the growth in our business each year. As I mentioned earlier, we established our practice with a view to providing partner access to all clients – which is a major complaint from our new clients about their previous accountant. Accordingly, our growth tends to come from providing additional services to existing clients. 

“We have had a specific strategy over the past year in increasing our practice in the Sydney market. With the assistance of the Leaders Network, our expansion into Sydney has been most satisfying. The support of members, experts and advisory board members has been enormous.

“We have been very successful in this respect, and this has led to many referral opportunities from our clients. We are always most grateful for client referrals as it is the ultimate compliment about the work we are doing for them.

“Referrals from existing clients demonstrate to us that we are doing something right.”

Another significant change that has worked immediately to assist in the mobility of NCS Group staff has been the move to the ‘Cloud’ – although the decision only came after exhaustive work on cyber security.

“After much thought and discussion over the past 12 months, we have moved all of our servers into the Cloud,” Mr Nicholls said.

“Given the amount of sensitive information we hold on behalf of clients, the decision making aspect was a very long process in terms of risk management – that is selecting the right provider – as well as ensuring we have an appropriate backup strategy in place.”

That effort was worth it, Mr Nicholls said, because of the real-time accessibility of referring to and working on files in various client locations.

“Cyber security is an increasing risk to all of us. So we continually update our staff with education on identifying and managing potential threats to our systems.”

AGILE APPROACH

NCS Group knows that its real value to clients is not in completing compliance tasks but in researching the business, finance and taxation environment and assisting clients to navigate them effectively.

In doing so, NCS directors and staff can also find themselves navigating mental health issues of small business owners – often recommending their clients seek professional help – and through NCS’s own strict cyber security regime can also help clients to be aware of cyber risk.

One area NCS cannot influence, but can help clients navigate, according to Mr Nicholls is “the current state of Federal and State Governments in terms of passing legislation quickly”.

“Governments keep meddling with existing superannuation and taxation legislation,” Mr Nicholls said. “This means there is a lot of uncertainty as individuals and businesses try to plan for the future.

“Leave super alone,” he said. Instead, Mr Nicholls advised, governments should “reduce the amount of tax legislation and associated compliance issues for all taxpayers. That’s the way to help small and medium business.”

NCS Group will ‘stick to the knitting’ of carefully managed growth over the next 12 months, “ensuring we maintain our promise of access to clients” according to Mr Nicholls.

And NCS Group will stay true to its original mission of providing true financial advisory services to the SME and professional individual sectors around the country.

“Our advice is typically forward looking whilst at the same time ‘painlessly’ looking after historical compliance matters,” Mr Nicholls said.

“Our mantra is ‘Respect for the Past, Focussed on the Future’. Today, our mission remains firm.”

About NCS Group Chartered Accountants 

NCS Group Chartered Accountants specialises in providing the type of well informed accounting and financial advice to small and medium businesses that major accounting practices provide, but in a personalised way.. The practice’s best-known brands are NCS and NCS-Nicholls, operating across the Accounting, Taxation and Finance sectors for businesses across a wide spectrum of industries.

NCS Group is led by Director-Principal Sharryn Carey-Nicholls and Director-CEO Andrew Nicholls. The company likes to describe its size and style as ‘boutique’.

www.ncs-group.com.au

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