Sep-Oct 2016 Issue | Business View Oceania

163 Engaged employees drive competitive advantage From recruitment, employment agreements and health & safety, to performance, discipline, redundancy and restructuring. We have all the paperwork, legislation and advice you need to effectively manage your team. Call us on 0800 HRtoolkit (0800 47 86 65) or visit us at hrtoolkit.co.nz for expert advice. Full document library only $349 +GST Standing up to a bully HRtoolkit in action At HRtoolkit we work with a variety of clients, including several age care institutions. One of these clients identified that the legislative environment in which they were working was altering rapidly, and decided to employ a new CEO to effect change. The new CEO was a seriously high end practitioner with a great reputation. Unfortunately there was a high level of resistance to change, particularly from long-standing staff members! To say that there was a clash of personalities would be an understatement. The new CEO tried to implement change and many staff either ignored instructions, or actively undermined them. And when pushed, the staff cried ‘Bully’. Now, let’s be clear, no-one is entitled to act in an intimidating way in the workplace, but the principals of trust and good-faith apply to both employers and employees. It was obvious that staff weren’t being bullied. If anything, the staff members concerned were guilty of intimidating management, but allegations and counter allegations made it very difficult to identify the truth. In response to the situation, our client’s CEO gave HRtoolkit a call. Within a couple of hours we had an expert consultant on-site ready to conduct an independent investigation. Our consultant quickly identified the facts, and the management team worked together with HRtoolkit to develop an action plan. This included coaching the CEO and having some straight talks with staff members about what is, and is not, acceptable behaviour. The immediate issues were dealt with, but we also identified measures to prevent the recurrence of similar issues. Our client’s management team used the HRtoolkit document library to put in place an improved code of conduct and performance review systems which in turn improved patient care and staff satisfaction. A win:win for everyone. – Lisa MacKay, HRtoolkit.co.nz