The changes to bullying legislation have prompted me to revisit my one and only personal experience of corporate bullying.

30 years ago I joined one of the big 4 banks as a graduate trainee. As part of our supposed fast-track development into a head office job each member of the graduate intake was allocated a branch where we were to spend the next 2 years honing our skills counting money, serving customers and ordering Bankcards.

I was lucky enough to score Kings Cross as my branch. I say lucky because it was close to home and had as its clientele the most eclectic bunch of people you could imagine. Travellers, corporate big-shots, shady nightclub owners, some very attractive women, down-and-outs and the odd famous person would regularly queue up together to do their banking (ATMs had only just been introduced into the country).

My first contact with Erica was immediate and full of foreboding.  As with most bullies, she assumed her position of superiority using the oldest trick in the book – the surprise attack. No sooner had I been allocated to her by my manager with a reassuring “don’t worry, Erica will show you how things work around here” than she had me totally cowered and subdued. To this day I’m not sure how she did it. It was a mixture of physical presence, confidence that she was right about everything, the aforementioned ability to strike immediately while most normal people are still in the “checking each other out” stage and an office environment which allowed this type of behaviour to flourish unchecked.

I wonder how I might have handled the situation better. Could I have been more assertive, should I have said something to my manager (surely he could see what was going on I used to say to myself – Erica’s bullying occurred in full view of everyone) or was ignoring it, as I did, the best approach?

I was not alone in being bullied either; every new employee at the branch was treated similarly yet those of us who had been and were still subject to Erica’s bullying said nothing.

As an aside, I have to say I quite enjoyed my time at the bank. My other co-workers were delightful. I left 15 months later not because of Erica but because I realised my future lay elsewhere. Sadly, this is not a common outcome of workplace bullying.  As we know, people do often quit a job or take extended stress leave (or even worse) because of workplace bullying. I was one of the lucky ones.

 

 

 

It’s 7pm Wednesday night and you’re still at the office. You haven’t seen the kids since Sunday. Your wife’s had to cook dinner again and we all know you’re a better cook than her. Here’s why you need HR.

Still, one of your new overseas clients has just called and wants to know how they can kick off their product launch before their official start date in Sydney. They need you to find someone to look after their HR and marketing and you need to find it tonight.  After all, it’s 9 in the morning over there. While you’re at it, they also want you to source an IT specialist to start scoping out their data comms.

And you’re an accountant! What do you know about HR, marketing or IT? If only you had a person you could call who could handle this sort of stuff.

That’s where we come in. Wurth HR has the HR expertise and experience to perfectly manage this type of situation for you. Whether it’s HR, marketing, IT or any other service we’re the ones who can help. All it takes is one phone call and we’ll do the rest.

Why would you trust your clients to us? Wurth HR is one of the leading outsourced HR companies in Australia and can demonstrate an impeccable track record of superb service to our clients over many years. We also have a network of outstanding professionals who can assist your clients in all their start-up requirements. As a team, we combine all this expertise into a seamless provision of the help your clients will need.

Wurth HR – helping your kids get the dinner they deserve.

You’ve thought about it, you’ve seen it in your mind’s eye, you can even taste it. Yes! You’re taking your company halfway around the world because you know it’s the right thing to do.

Australia calls you and you’ve answered that call. Sydney and the great land down under await.

But you’re rightfully a bit concerned – so many things to think about. You imagine 12 months from now – how will it all look? How will you ensure that what you’ve got now will seamlessly transpose to a foreign country?

That’s where we can help. Wurth HR takes your vision and neatly and without fuss ensures that you have everything to make your business as successful in Australia as it is where you are right now.

Apart from being HR specialists ourselves, we also have access to a team of experts – legal, accounting, marketing, telecommunications, IT, immigration, real estate and anything else you may need to get yourself set up and doing business fast.

The really good news is that Wurth HR is your one-stop shop – contact us and you instantly have all these services at your disposal. You don’t need to go anywhere else.

How do you know we’re any good? We are experts in our field and can demonstrate an impeccable track record of superb service to our clients over many years. As a team, we combine all this expertise into a seamless provision of the help you need.

Wurth HR – the only call you need to make when setting up your business in Australia.

Outsourcing your HR isn’t for everyone but it can be a cost-effective way to introduce some structure into your business without having to hire a full-time person to do it.

You probably need HR regardless of the size of your business, even though it’s sometimes hard to imagine the return on investment. HR professionals, like myself, will tell you that attracting and retaining good people is the only way to grow your business. You know this already – it seems logical. How does HR help you do this?

• being part of your recruitment process to help you find the best people
• ensuring the experience of coming on board with you is a professional and pleasant one
• having checks and measures to help keep that person in your business. Remember, if you lose someone you’ve had for 6 months it will cost you 150% of that person’s salary package to replace them. If they’ve been with you for 18 months and they leave the cost is 250% of their salary package
• helping you deal with performance issues
• helping you legally dismiss someone if required
• training your managers and staff in workplace harassment awareness, particularly now that anti-bullying legislation has recently changed.

Outsourcing your HR means that you can have an HR presence only when you need it. HR on call or an HR hotline is what you should be looking for in an outsourced HR company.

Once you’ve grown to around 80 employees it may be time to think about having a full-time HR person. Before that, outsourcing is your most cost-effective solution.