Minol Australia
When a new start-up grows rapidly in a very short space of time they need all the HR assistance they can get and Minol Australia has not looked back since discovering online employment relations service Workforce Guardian.
As a Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) handling billing and customer management Minol Australia services a range of customers, including Government and non-Government businesses. It launched with 18 staff on its books and a mere 18 months later has 75 staff with a view of having 100 people working for the company within the next few months.
And success appears to be Minol's second name - the company reached its 2011 target in mid-2008 much to the directors' delight and increasing anxiety. Monthly growth of 5% for 13 months straight puts a strain on any company, let alone a start-up.
As the speed of the growth continued, management started to feel the pressure of such a rapidly growing business and realized they urgently required a HR manager to take over this all-consuming, all-important role.
Luckily for Minol, at that very stage in their growth the company's Executive Director of Corporate Services, Jim Clarke, noticed a reference to Workforce Guardian on the Commonwealth Bank's Commbiz site. After 30 minutes of exploring this employment relations online resource he was on the phone to Workforce Guardian and the very next day he signed Minol up and believes it is one of his best management decisions yet!
Clarke particularly appreciates the fact Minol has not yet needed to employ a HR resource - as Workforce guardian provides them with all the information and guidance they need and he finds this a remarkable fact given the nature of employment law in Australia.
As Clarke explains employment law is an excellent example of a classic ‘headache' area for a business as it is problematic and extremely difficult for a non-expert to understand. The laws keep changing and are complex, daunting and incredibly grey in places. Thanks to Workforce Guardian Minol has all the information, facts and figures they need so at all times have the peace of mind they are operating well within the bounds of employment law.
"When the law is grey and there's a lot left to interpretation you need all the help you can get", says Mr Clarke. "SMBs cannot afford to seek a lawyer's advice all the time or to employ a dedicated HR resource - so Workforce Guardian plays a vital role in keeping SMBs on the right side of employment law in a highly cost effective, user-friendly manner".
"Compare $2,000 per annum for Workforce Guardian with the $6,000 - $8,000 you'd spend each time you seek a lawyer's advice, add in the savings of not employing a dedicated HR employee and Workforce Guardian is delivering thousands of dollars in savings to our business. That is phenomenal when every dollar counts. It really is a no-brainer investment for any SMB."
And the cost effective nature of the resource isn't the only reason Minol believes Workforce Guardian is essential for SMBs.
As he explains business owners always set out with the best intentions and believe they are going to be a good employer - but once employees are employed, issues can often arise - it's the nature of social interactions within a work place. If left un-addressed however the situation can easily spiral out of control and then affect all staff not to mention the company culture, which can have a devastating effect on the business.
In these cases employers need guidance to manage the issue sensitively and with integrity and Clarke believes the people management information and processes Workforce Guardian provides are invaluable, having helped him enormously in the day-to-day activities and conflict management required to manage a rapidly growing team.
"Workforce Guardian clearly sets out the parameters within which you can work and outlines in black and white exactly what your limits are - both for employers and employees. You know exactly what you need to do and how to manage sensitive performance management issues - to do right by the company and the employee."
Having worked with Workforce Guardian in the past few months Clarke sees a clear road forward where they will continue to use the resource on a day-to-day basis and he is so satisfied with the resource that he doesn't believe he'll need a dedicated person until they have 100 people working for the company.
"Even then we'll only require a lower level resource as they'll use Workforce Guardian as their guide. That's a remarkable accolade this online resource and is an indictment of the confidence we have in it and the value we place on it in our business".
