Information Centre
Practitioner briefings for Australian employers.
Practical guidance on workplace advisory, investigations, psychosocial safety, mediation, training and governance, risk and compliance. Written by the AWS Editorial Team for HR, safety, legal and executive readers.
Workplace Advisory & Compliance
13 articles
Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Wage compliance reviews: what employers should document
A practical view of the records employers should maintain to demonstrate active wage compliance, identify exposure early and respond credibly to regulator enquiries.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Award interpretation and classification risks for employers
Misclassification and award interpretation errors remain a leading source of underpayment exposure. This article outlines practical review steps employers can take.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Preparing for enterprise bargaining: practical governance steps
Effective enterprise bargaining depends on early preparation, clear governance and disciplined documentation. We outline practical steps for employer-side teams.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Redundancy, restructure and job redesign: documentation and consultation
Restructure processes are an area of repeated regulator and tribunal scrutiny. We outline the consultation steps and documentation employers should prepare.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Performance management and procedural fairness in workplace processes
Performance management decisions are routinely challenged. A structured, well-documented process protects both employees and employers.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Employee social media conduct: when should employers respond?
When an employee's social media activity intersects with the workplace, employers face a difficult judgement. This briefing outlines a structured way to assess and respond.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Updating workplace policies: notice, consultation and documented consent
Workplace policies are living documents. This briefing outlines how to update them in a way that is consultative, well-documented and resilient to challenge.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Wage compliance and accessorial liability: what advisers and payroll providers should know
Wage compliance failures rarely sit only with the employer. External advisers and payroll providers face increasing scrutiny. We outline the practical risk picture and controls.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Personal leave disputes: notice, evidence and practical employer responses
Personal leave disputes often escalate when notice or evidence is unclear. This briefing outlines a measured, employer-facing approach.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Employee communication during restructures and workplace change
Restructures and significant change succeed or fail on communication. This briefing sets out how to plan, sequence and document employee communication so consultation obligations are met and trust is preserved.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Managing termination risk through fair and documented processes
Termination decisions carry significant risk under unfair dismissal and general protections regimes. This briefing outlines the case management and documentation practices that reduce exposure.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Responding to compliance notices: practical steps for employers
Receiving a compliance or improvement notice from a regulator is a critical moment. This briefing outlines the practical steps employers should take: reading carefully, meeting deadlines, assigning responsibilities and tracking implementation.
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Workplace Advisory & Compliance
Genuine redundancy: consultation, redeployment and documentation risks
Genuine redundancy is an area of sustained tribunal and regulator scrutiny. This briefing outlines the consultation, redeployment assessment and documentation practices that help employers meet their obligations.
Read briefing →Workplace Investigations
5 articles
Workplace Investigations
Managing workplace complaints through a fair and structured process
A clear intake, triage and decision pathway reduces risk and improves outcomes for both complainants and respondents. This article sets out a workable process.
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Workplace Investigations
When to appoint an external workplace investigator
Not every matter needs an external investigator. We outline the factors employers should weigh when deciding to engage an independent investigation provider.
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Workplace Investigations
Workplace complaints: why early triage matters
How a complaint is triaged in the first 72 hours shapes its trajectory. This briefing outlines a structured triage approach for HR and people leaders.
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Workplace Investigations
Managing discrimination and harassment complaints in the workplace
How employers receive, triage and respond to discrimination and harassment complaints shapes both the outcome and the organisational risk profile. This briefing outlines a structured approach.
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Workplace Investigations
Sexual harassment prevention: policies, reporting pathways and manager training
Preventing and responding to sexual harassment requires more than a policy on a shelf. This briefing outlines what employers should put in place: clear standards, accessible reporting, trained managers and documented pathways.
Read briefing →Psychosocial Safety & WHS
7 articles
Psychosocial Safety & WHS
Psychosocial hazards: practical steps for Australian employers
Model WHS amendments require employers to identify and control psychosocial hazards. We outline a practical, evidence-led approach.
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Psychosocial Safety & WHS
Managing psychological injury, rehabilitation and return to work
Psychological injury claims require careful coordination across HR, safety and operations. We outline a practical approach to rehabilitation and return to work.
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Psychosocial Safety & WHS
Managing drug and alcohol risks in the workplace
Workplace drug and alcohol risks sit at the intersection of WHS, conduct and wellbeing. This briefing outlines a measured, policy-led approach.
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Psychosocial Safety & WHS
ISO 45001 and psychosocial safety: where WHS systems meet workplace risk
ISO 45001 provides a recognised framework for managing WHS risk. This briefing explores how the same system can be extended to identify, control and assure psychosocial hazards.
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Psychosocial Safety & WHS
Managing psychosocial risk during organisational change
Organisational change is a significant source of psychosocial hazard. This briefing outlines how employers can identify and control risks during restructures, technology transitions and workforce redesign.
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Psychosocial Safety & WHS
Psychosocial risk management: what employers should be reviewing now
Psychosocial risk management is now a core WHS obligation for Australian employers. This briefing outlines the practical review areas that should be on every employer's current checklist.
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Psychosocial Safety & WHS
Online workplace conduct and psychosocial risk
Digital communication tools have reshaped workplace conduct. This briefing outlines the psychosocial risks arising from online behaviour, after-hours contact and unclear remote-work expectations.
Read briefing →Mediation & Conflict Resolution
2 articles
Mediation & Conflict Resolution
Workplace mediation: when facilitated resolution is appropriate
Mediation is not the right tool for every workplace conflict. This article describes the situations in which structured mediation tends to produce the best outcomes.
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Mediation & Conflict Resolution
Workplace mediation: resolving conflict before it escalates
Mediation, used early and well, preserves working relationships and reduces formal complaint risk. This briefing outlines when it works and how to set it up.
Read briefing →Governance, Risk & Compliance
4 articles
Governance, Risk & Compliance
Building a well-documented workplace compliance framework
A workplace compliance framework should be coherent across HR, safety and operations. We outline the building blocks employers should put in place.
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How GRC technology supports workplace risk and assurance
Spreadsheets and inboxes do not scale for modern workplace risk and assurance. We outline what GRC technology should do for a workplace-risk-focused organisation.
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Building a workplace compliance framework that can be monitored and evidenced
A workplace compliance framework only adds value when it can be monitored and evidenced. We outline the building blocks and the role of GRC technology.
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Business continuity planning for workforce disruption
Workforce disruption is one of the most common and least planned-for continuity risks. This briefing outlines how business impact analysis, scenario planning and tested response plans strengthen resilience.
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