A wine with: Jennifer Bicknell

So before we get to difficult conversations, can we just quickly talk about what the hell workplace law is? You've kind of alluded to it in the claims that were coming across your desk, but just for everyone listening, what are we talking about here?

So it's pretty general.

Pretty much everybody who isn't at school or isn't retired or isn't unable to work for whatever reason is a worker.

So that's a really big chunk of our population, right? So when you think about it, we all go to work and things happen at work.

And sometimes it's, you know, just personality clashes.

Sometimes it's someone being dismissed and they don't like it, so they bring a claim against their former employer for being dismissed.

Sometimes it's sexual harassment claims or bullying.

Sometimes you have a dispute about your pay and your conditions or being underpaid.

It's pretty much any issue that can arise in the workplace.

And... my goal is to prevent disputes so my sign off um my signature on my email is that i'm a lawyer and i'm a dispute prevention advisor because that's what i like to think that i do is i'll be a lawyer if i have to i'll draft you a contract or i'll help defend you if you end up in the fair work commission but i really would rather prevent you ending up in the fair work commission

Wow.

And does this affect, you know, so women listening to this right now are business owners.

Does this affect businesses of all sizes? It sure does.

Yeah, it does.

I almost would tend to think, and maybe I'm completely wrong here, but small business owners, us women in business who are kind of getting into this for the first time, who maybe are a little bit unsure as to what our rights are, our employees' rights are, and maybe are a little nervous to have some difficult conversations, I would almost think that we might be in the line of fire a little bit more than others? I

think that anyone who starts a business is firstly incredibly brave.

So kudos for that.

But also it does shock me just how I don't want to say uneducated, but I guess people are so excited about the prospect of selling their widget or providing that service that they want to provide that they focus on the thing that they are putting out into the world, as they should.

But if they don't have an understanding of how they need to set up the foundations of their business, so they've got to have, you know, the corporation stuff done and the accounting stuff done, but they also have to have the employment things in place, like having employment contracts, having policies and procedures, and also knowing when something does come up what to do.

And What I find is that most people are paralysed with fear.

They don't know what to do.

So they do nothing, which is a perfectly understandable human response, but it's usually the wrong response.

And also not defensible, not an excuse for when things don't go to plan.

Yeah.

Yeah, so it can be very serious or just very bad for business.