As a disability service whose main aim is to provide quality services for your clients and their families, it can be difficult to proactively and effectively respond to changes in government policies and the regulatory environment.
The NDIS is a huge change for the disability services industry, and despite its advantages, it also poses many significant challenges to organisations like yours.
You might consider engaging external human resources help to ensure the long-term success of your organisation. Their specialist services and well-informed people can help you in a number of ways that would free you up to run your services, while maintaining peace of mind.
1. Help for Management
Your management should be focussed on the day to day running of your organisation, without the worry of being bogged down in workplace issues that can be avoided or minimised.
Having on call advisors for your managers to trust and learn from allows someone else to worry about the little things, and lets your managers get on with the job.
It’s also really important that managers are leaders, and create a culture of high performance and commitment to results. Allowing experts to get to know your organisation means they can advise on the best way to make this culture happen.
2. Ensure your strategies are up to scratch
The NDIS funding model brings with it some big changes, and those changes mean that your current procedures and strategies might not suit the new system.
In order to not only survive, but also thrive, under the NDIS, it’s really important that your strategies adapt to the new system and place an emphasis on reducing labour and management costs where possible.
3. Advise on employment contracts
A changing regulatory environment may require your employees to be more mobile and more flexible. This means that if your organisation currently employs mostly part time and full time staff, you might have to think about a need for casual staff to respond to clients’ needs.
The NDIS also requires your employment contracts to be accurate, flexible and up to date. It’s important that your contracts (with both employees and contractors) impose measures that protect your confidential information and any intellectual property.
If you think your contracts might be in need of an upgrade, act sooner rather than later. You don’t want an issue to arise before you’ve had a chance to make the changes you need to.
4. Making tough decisions
Sometimes, employment matters arise and your organisation needs to be well positioned to respond.
For example, if you have an employee who isn’t performing well, your managers need to know how best to implement a performance management plan. This can be tricky and require attention and a very careful strategy.
In order to avoid any possible future claims, and resolve the matter as easily as possible, you should definitely seek advice. Take the ‘tough’ out of making tough decisions.
5. Up to date information
External advisors who are the best in their field take the pressure off you. They know the industry, they know the up to date changes and they have their finger on the pulse.
Having a friendly face to call up whenever you have a question about the ins and outs of the NDIS means you can get back to your important work faster.
JFM Law offers on call human resources services and specialises in advising disability services on how their organisation can succeed under the NDIS. Contact JFM Law on (02) 9199 8597 or email us for a no obligation chat.
We’re here to help minimise your legal risk and maximise your results.
The information contained in this post is current at the date of editing – 19 January 2024.
