21 September 2005
Removing unfair dismissal laws will not help small business owners already concerned about skills shortages and recruitment, a Monash University researcher has found.
The director of Monash University's Family and Small Business Research Centre, Associate Professor Rowena Barrett, will present the findings of her LaTrobe Valley employment relations survey tomorrow at a seminar on small business management.
Dr Barrett surveyed around 1000 small business employers and employees in the LaTrobe Valley to explore small business job quality.
"We are told small businesses are the 'engine of the economy', but attention is rarely paid to the quality of small business employment," she said.
"Good small business employers understand that employees need security and therefore do not advocate removing employee rights, such as access to unfair dismissal.
"When looking for the best staff, small business employers can short-change themselves by not planning or recruiting widely. The majority of businesses surveyed rarely used planning practices and used referrals as the main method for recruiting staff."
Tomorrow's seminar will deal with research, policy and practice around small business employment. Three Latrobe Valley small business employers - Marg Norder from Nordical Diving and All Fresh to Go, Mario Monacella from Monacellars and Peter Polson from FabCad Drafting - will talk about their businesses and how they get the best from staff.
In addition, entrepreneurship expert Professor Monder Ram , director of the Small Business and Enterprise Research Group at the Leicester Business School , De Montfort University, UK, and director of the Centre for Research on Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship will be a keynote speaker.
What: Family and Small Business Research Unit seminar
When: Thursday 22 September, 10.30 am - 1 pm
Where: Business and Economics Conference Room, Monash University , Gippsland
RSVP: Email angelika.lieshout@buseco.mo nash.edu.au or contact 03 5122 6159
For further information contact Associate Professor Rowena Barrett on +61 3 5122 6619 or Ms Natasha Whalley, Media Communications, on +61 3 9905 9201 or 0437 458 457.
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