The benefits of Australian Workplace Agreements

Meaghan South gives her specialist view on some effective tools to support your successful Spa recruitment.

ìI have found Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAíS) provide an effective medium to create an agreement that suits the needs of both the business and the team members. Being able to provide clear and effective employment contracts enables potential team members to know where they stand before they join your business.î

Technically they are the alternative to an industry award. They are an individual written contract between an employer and an employee - that is created, negotiated and agreed to by both parties. The process for customising and implementing AWAís can be daunting, however with guidance and professional advice they can be incredibly positive for the long term. They allow you to negotiate with your team, learn what they have to offer, what motivates them, the conditions that will assist them to shine, promote a trusting environment and ultimately make for a happier team.

AWAís can have some great direct benefits for businesses and team members such as flexibility with

• Opening hours
• Overtime payments
• Leave arrangements
• Creating career paths
• Linking Performance to salary
• Ability to create a legal training bond

We invest an enormous amount of time and money on training and retraining our team. I believe we need to share the financial commitment and responsibility of that training with our team.

A training bond is a contract you have with each team member to withhold pay or seek the right to recover an agreed amount of training money invested in them if they choose to leave your business within a specific period of time. The Training Bond is not intended to be used reactively, on the contrary it is intended to ensure you recruit committed staff from day one. Training bonds can be efficiently incorporated into an AWA, which makes them a legal and binding contract.

In response to the need for concise and legally binding employment contracts that are specific to the needs of the Spa Industry, I have designed legal AWA contracts which can include Training Bonds, Performance based Salaries and Performance coaching. They encourage professional and dedicated employees to find a career path in the industry whilst protecting the employerís valuable training dollars. These contracts are available through Spa Solutions.

Meaghan South is the founder and former Managing Director of The Dome Retreat, an Urban Spa launched in Brisbane in 1998 which went on to receive many awards and accolades from guests, peer groups and the media. Meaghan has now founded Spa Solutions, a specialist consultancy providing a total package of knowledge-based solutions for the implementation of Spas in metropolitan areas and holiday destinations in Australia and overseas. Meaghan will also focus on Spa business mentoring and professional development, in-house systems, and marketing objectives.