Hire and Rental News - Eventsin Focus - November 2018

EVENTS in FOCUS Raising the Events industry profile – let’s network about the sale and hire of goods. The Retail Award does not offer any way to ‘grade’ staff according to its terms; in fact, I have had to create my own pay grades. While some operators do not pay their staff under the Retail Award it affects industry competitiveness because rates of pay are higher under the Retail Award, driving costs up for those compliant businesses and creating a competitive disadvantage. One of my main goals during my term as Events President is to work towards seeing if we can bring about an industry employment award specific to our industry that addresses the hours that go into our businesses, especially in our busy months. This will require lots of industry input, so I look forward to talking with Events members in coming months. We are talking about coming up with a new value proposition for the Events Division and are forming a new Events Division committee to help raise our division profile. If you are interested in joining our committee, contact the national office for more information. We’d love to hear from you. Erin Johnson Events Division President Our Events Division needs the input and assistance from the people that have heavily invested their time and energy into the industry. So after some discussion and nudging from HRIA HQ, I am stepping into the role of Events President aided and abetted by support from our national office. I am extremely excited to step into the role and look forward to working with the industry to create a cohesive environment in which we can generate greater satisfaction to all of the members involved. I have been very vocal in recent months about some of the contemporary issues and challenges that are currently facing the Events Division. Firstly, I see huge potential for growth in the industry, however, as it currently stands, I believe our division doesn’t possess a strong enough profile. This is something we can all work on together and it is an issue that will be addressed from our Association in the coming months as we determine how we can build and advance the Events profile to create more value for its stakeholders. One of the ways we will look at building our brand is to develop networking opportunities for Events members. When my business, South Coast Party Hire (SCPH) first began, we had no one to turn to for input or help on basic details such as which award covered our staff. We really struggled to know how we should proceed. General hire members have found comradeship with the Association and industry; now the Events Division needs to tackle this issue head on and learn how we can network with each other and get out of the mindset ‘your competitor is the enemy’. One of the main issues challenging our division is the Retail Award being upheld by FairWork Australia as the modern award covering our industry. Our business was audited by FairWork NSW a few years ago. I naively thought our business would be totally compliant since I had sought legal advice about the correct rates of pay and awards under which to pay our staff. However, I was advised by FairWork NSW the Amusement Award did not in fact cover our employees and we were notified we owed staff back pay to make up the shortfall between the two awards. During the process it became apparent FairWork NSW had no understanding at all of our business, nor was the inspector who audited our business interested in trying to understand what our business entailed or how our workers operated. For FairWork NSW, it was very black and white; we were told, pay your staff under the new award. As you may know, the only segment of the Retail Award that applies to or is of relevance to our industry is the line 46 HIRE AND RENTAL NEWS • EVENTS in FOCUS • NOVEMBER 2018 Erin Johnson “...now the Events Division needs to tackle this issue head on and learn how we can network with each other and get out of the mindset ‘your competitor is the enemy’...” president's message Entries will be accepted across categories including: • Rental Company of the Year (General and Event); • Supplier of the Year (General and Access) • Best New Product (General, Event and Access). There is always strong competition for hire’s highest accolades and in winning a Hire Industry Excellence Award, HRIA CEO James Oxenham said. There are major benefits for every company taking the time and effort to participate in the awards. “Finalists all say they increased their business and saw increased respect from their existing customer base for their achievement. “Just by completing a presentation, you have the opportunity to investigate and analyse your company’s Key Performance Indicators,” James said. “Entering the awards is comparative to an industry benchmarking program; it is a comparison between entrant businesses and provides an excellent system of feedback.” Visit: www.HIRE19.com.au for award entry dates and criteria. Hire Industry Excellence Awards 2019 will be opening soon.