Testimonial: Response Direct Publishing

An Australian SMB success story - direct marketing response media company Response Direct Publishing (RDP) enjoys the enviable reputation of being the largest card deck publisher in Asia. A remarkable feat given it employs just four fulltime members and has only operated in Australia since 2001.

Change is ahead however as MD Marcelo Ulvert’s sights are set on business expansion to leverage the current success, which includes employing additional staff members to help grow the business. To do so requires more than just a focused business plan, however, and Ulvert is aware that his relaxed approach to employment relations and the associated paper work requires scrutiny if he is to successfully grow his company.

More formalised people management processes and procedures are required as well as a sound understanding of employment legislation and its implications for small business.

Implementing Workforce Guardian

Wanting to instigate change in the most cost effective, expedient and effective manner, Ulvert turned to Workforce Guardian for assistance.

“RDP needed everything from formal employment contracts to the right approach to hiring and managing staff and I didn’t want to have to pay hefty lawyers fees for these types of templates and processes”, says Ulvert.

“Workforce Guardian is the perfect employment relations resource to get us and keep us on the right track. Thanks to this platform we have all the employment relations information we need to ensure we do the right thing by our people. At the same time it protects our company as we are operating in a fully compliant manner”.

Employment relations information at a keystroke

RDP’s Financial Controller Jaala Cheetham has been particularly impressed with the breadth and depth of employment relations information housed within it. Whereas in the past she struggled to acquire adequate information on hiring, managing and firing staff at an affordable rate, she has been highly impressed with the quality and quantity of employment relations material presented by Workforce Guardian.

“Workforce Guardian spells out the fundamentals of employment legislation and procedures in black and white. It is easy to understand and to navigate and you very quickly see exactly what you need to do to act in a fair and just manner. There is no room for error,” says Cheetham.

“More so, Workforce Guardian gives you the peace of mind that you are operating in a legally binding manner and that’s important given the continuing changes to employment law in Australia,” says Cheetham. “SMBs struggle to keep on top of those changes and to understand how they should operate. Workforce Guardian takes the guesswork out of it”.

From viewing the recommended work processes and procedures for dealing with staffing issues, grievances and performance issues Cheetham and Ulvert now fully understand the perils of taking a relaxed approach to employee management.

“Workforce Guardian has made us realise just how open we had left the door for potential legal action if there had been any dispute or grievance and that is a worry for a small business,” says Ulvert. “Workforce Guardian provides a blueprint for best practice and helps SMBs put processes in place which protect the company, its people and assets,” says Ulvert.

Fully compliant contracts in minutes

Cheetham has used Workforce Guardian’s intuitive menu based tool to prepare and create fully compliant comprehensive employment contracts for each of RDP’s staff members and has collated and housed the staff’s HR files into the one centralised area. She has been wholly impressed with the contract creation tool particularly when comparing it with the cost of commission a lawyer to complete the same task.

“Our lawyer’s proposal to create four different employment contracts had been in the thousands of dollars which was prohibitive given the size of our business. Using Workforce Guardian we generated the employment contracts we needed at a fraction of the cost of using a law firm and it took just minutes to create each contract. That’s a huge saving to our company. Workforce Guardian is definitely on the side of the SMB,” says Cheetham.

An investment for the future

Ulvert and Cheetham agree that subscribing to Workforce Guardian has been the best investment they have made to ensure the successful growth of the company. As RDP expands and more staff come on board Ulvert has the peace of mind that he has fully compliant employment processes and procedures in place that support him to manage a growing body of employees.

“Workforce Guardian provides a best practice employment relations approach for an SMB. It is an invaluable, comprehensive yet inexpensive employment relations tool that gives an SMB the confidence needed to operate compliantly. You can’t ask for more than that,” says Ulvert.

Workforce Guardian benefits

• Cost savings: employment relations advice at a fraction of the cost of seeking a lawyer’s input
• Centralised, secure, up to date employee records: available 24/7 though any web browser
• Employment relations best practice: encourages SMBs to instigate recommended employment relations practices that ensure compliance and fairness, providing employers with peace of mind that their systems and procedures are legally binding
• Intuitive and easy to use: technology novices can use this system; it is straightforward and very easy to navigate