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Bronwyn Coulthart

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Wellbeing at Work Is No Longer Optional

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Wellbeing at Work Is No Longer Optional.

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Culture, External HR Support, HR essentials, Leadership, Workforce

Here’s Where the Conversation Is Heading — and What It Means for Your Business.

Day 14 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — workplace wellbeing. I want to go beyond the programmes and frameworks and tell you what I’m seeing at the leading edge of where this is all heading.

The fruit bowls and mindfulness apps are not the story. They never were. They were the beginning of a conversation — and that conversation has moved significantly.

Where we’ve arrived

Burnout has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as an occupational phenomenon — not a personal failing, a character weakness, or a lifestyle problem. It is a chronic workplace stress response that hasn’t been successfully managed. The burden of responsibility sits with the employer, not the employee.
In Australia, this is increasingly reflected in WorkCover claims, Fair Work applications, and the legal obligation to manage psychosocial hazards I covered on Day 11. The financial exposure from unmanaged burnout — in workers compensation premiums, lost productivity, turnover, and potential litigation — is substantial.

What the data is showing 

Microsoft’s Work Trend Index and Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace consistently show that a large proportion of workers — in some surveys, more than half — report feeling burnt out. For SMEs, this isn’t abstract. It shows up in sick leave patterns, in the quality of work declining before someone resigns, in “quiet quitting” — the disengaged employee who is technically present but has long since checked out.

What forward-thinking businesses are doing

They’ve stopped treating wellbeing as a programme you bolt on and started treating it as a condition you create.
They’re designing work differently — looking at workloads, autonomy, role clarity, and flexibility as levers for psychological health, not just satisfaction.
They’re training managers to recognise the early signs of burnout: disengagement, irritability, reduced output, increased presenteeism. The manager who catches it early can intervene. The manager who misses it or dismisses it loses the person.
They’re integrating positive psychology principles — strengths use, meaning, progress, connection — into how work is designed and how people are managed. The evidence on strengths-based approaches to work design is compelling: people who use their strengths at work are more engaged, more productive, and significantly less likely to leave.

 

My honest view 

The SMEs that treat wellbeing as a strategic priority — not a feel-good initiative but a deliberate investment in the conditions that allow people to do their best work — are building a competitive advantage in the talent market that’s going to compound over time.
The ones that keep treating it as optional are carrying a liability they’re not yet pricing.

Book your free 30-minute consultation at Blue Kite HR Consulting 

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Coaching vs. Managing: Knowing When to Use Each Approach

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Coaching vs. Managing: Knowing When to Use Each Approach

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Business Update, Change management, Culture, HR essentials, Leadership, Workforce

Day 13 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — one of the most powerful shifts a manager can make is learning when to stop managing and start coaching.

Both approaches have their place. The challenge is that most managers default to managing — directing, instructing, problem-solving — even in situations where a coaching approach would be more effective and produce better long-term outcomes.

What’s the difference?

Managing is telling. Coaching is asking. Managing solves the immediate problem. Coaching builds the capability to solve it next time without you.

When to manage

A new employee who genuinely doesn’t yet have the knowledge or skill to operate independently needs clear direction and instruction. In a genuine crisis or time-sensitive situation where there’s no room for exploration. When safety is at stake.

When to coach

A capable team member who keeps coming to you for decisions they could be making themselves. Someone who’s stuck on a problem they have the skill to solve if they think it through. Any situation where you want to build someone’s confidence and capability rather than just solve today’s problem.

What coaching actually looks like in practice

Instead of answering the question, ask one. “What have you tried so far?” “What do you think the options are?” “What would you do if I wasn’t available?” These questions are not deflection — they’re development. You’re building the thinking process, not just solving the task.

The manager who can coach well will consistently outperform the one who can only direct. Their team will take more initiative, solve more problems independently, and stay longer — because they’re growing.

Book your free 30-minute consultation at Blue Kite HR Consulting

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Succession Planning: Why Businesses Leave It Too Late

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Succession Planning: Why Businesses Leave It Too Late

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Business Update, Career Planning, Change management, Culture, External HR Support, HR essentials, Leadership, Succession Management, Workforce, Workforce Planning

Day 12 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — succession planning is something most business owners know they should be doing. Most of them aren’t.

The conversation usually goes one of two ways. Either the business owner thinks succession planning is only for large corporations, or they plan to “deal with it when the time comes.” Both positions create significant risk.

 

What succession planning actually is for a business

It’s not a corporate exercise involving lengthy documentation and committee reviews. For a business, succession planning is about understanding which roles are critical to the business continuing to function, identifying the risks if those roles suddenly became vacant, and having a plan, even a simple one, for what happens if they do.

 

The most common risk most businesses carry

Key person dependency. One person,  often the owner, or a long-tenured operations manager, or the one person who “knows how everything works”, holds knowledge, relationships, and capability that exists nowhere else in the business. When they leave — and eventually they will — the disruption can be significant.

 

Three things to do this week 

First

Identify your critical roles. Not just seniority, actual criticality. Which positions, if they became vacant tomorrow with no notice, would cause the most operational damage?

Second

Assess your bench. For each critical role, is there anyone in the business who could step into it, even partially? What would it take to get them ready? That gap analysis is the starting point for your succession plan.

Third

Capture critical knowledge. Start a simple process of documentation, key contacts, processes, passwords, client relationships for your highest-risk roles. This alone reduces the impact of an unexpected departure significantly.

 

The thing no one says out loud

Succession planning also applies to the owner. If something happened to you tomorrow, what would happen to your business? Your team? Your clients? A succession plan is also a contingency plan, and it’s one of the most responsible things you can build.

Book a free 30-minute consultation at Blue Kite HR Consulting 

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Psychosocial Hazards: Australian Law Has Changed. Most Businesses Don’t Know What That Means for Them Yet — But They Will.

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Psychosocial Hazards: Australian Law Has Changed. Most Businesses Don't Know What That Means for Them Yet — But They Will.

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Culture, External HR Support, HR essentials, Leadership, Workforce, Workforce Planning

Day 11 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — this is one of the most important posts in the series, because the legislation is real, the obligations are significant, and the gap between what the law requires and what most businesses are doing right now is substantial.

What has changed 

Psychosocial hazards — factors in the work environment that can cause psychological harm — are now explicitly regulated under Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation across most Australian states and territories. The model WHS Regulations now require employers to proactively identify, assess, and control psychosocial hazards. This is not optional. It is not aspirational. It is a legal obligation with real consequences.

Safe Work Australia’s Code of Practice on Psychosocial Hazards at Work came into effect, and state regulators are increasingly active in this space. In Victoria, for example, the Workers Compensation scheme has seen a significant increase in psychological injury claims, and those claims are expensive, disruptive, and often preventable.

 

What counts as a psychosocial hazard

  • Job demands that are excessive or unmanageable.
  • Low job control.
  • Poor support from supervisors.
  • Lack of role clarity.
  • Remote or isolated work.
  • Bullying, harassment, and violence.
  • Traumatic events.
  • Conflict at work.
  • Poor organisational change management.
Notice something? Almost every workplace has at least some of these. The question is not whether psychosocial hazards exist in your business — they almost certainly do. The question is whether you’re managing them.

 

What the law now requires

You must identify psychosocial hazards in your workplace through consultation with workers, observation, review of data (sick leave, incident reports, turnover), and risk assessment.
You must assess the risk those hazards pose — considering the likelihood and severity of harm, who is at risk, and any existing controls.
You must implement controls that eliminate or minimise the risks, so far as is reasonably practicable.
You must review those controls regularly.

 

What forward-thinking businesses are doing now

They’re treating psychological health the same way they treat physical health and safety — as a structured, documented, ongoing process. They’re conducting psychosocial risk assessments before they receive a complaint or a WorkCover claim. They’re training leaders to recognise signs of psychological distress and respond appropriately. They’re building clear escalation pathways for when things go wrong.
The businesses that get ahead of this now will have better retention, fewer claims, and a demonstrably safer workplace. The businesses that ignore it are accumulating regulatory and financial risk they don’t yet know they’re carrying.

 

If you don’t know where to start, start with a workplace review. Map the hazards. Understand your exposure. Build a plan.

 

Book a free 30-minute consultation at  Blue Kite HR Consulting 

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What to Do When an Employee Claims Unfair Dismissal

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What to Do When an Employee Claims Unfair Dismissal

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Change management, Culture, HR essentials, Leadership, Workforce, Workforce Planning

Day 10 of 31 Days of Better Workplaces — today, a scenario no employer wants to face but many will: an employee claims unfair dismissal.

First, don’t panic. An unfair dismissal claim doesn’t mean the dismissal was unfair — it means someone has asserted that it was. The Fair Work Commission will assess that based on the facts. Your job is to make sure your facts are solid.

Understand the threshold first 

Unfair dismissal claims can only be made by employees who have completed the minimum employment period — typically six months, or twelve months for small businesses with fewer than fifteen employees. Casual employees with irregular patterns, contractors, and high-income earners above the threshold may be excluded. Know whether the claim is even eligible before you respond to it.

Don’t say anything in the heat of the moment 

The period immediately after a dismissal or a threat of a claim is when people say things they shouldn’t. Don’t engage in informal back-and-forth with the former employee, don’t discuss it with other staff, and don’t put anything in writing without thinking carefully about how it would read to a third party.

Pull your documentation together

Your strongest position is a clear paper trail: documented performance concerns, records of conversations, copies of any formal processes followed, the letter of termination. If the dismissal process was procedurally sound, that documentation is your defence.

Asssess the merit honestly

Was the dismissal for a valid reason? Was the process fair — did the person know what they were accused of, were they given an opportunity to respond, was the decision proportionate? These are the questions the Commission will ask. Answer them honestly to yourself before a commission application makes you answer them on the record.

Consider early resolution

Many unfair dismissal claims resolve through a conciliation conference — an informal, voluntary process where both parties can reach an agreed outcome without a hearing. This is often faster, cheaper, and less stressful than a full hearing, even where you believe your position is strong.
Get HR and legal advice early. The cost of getting it right before the hearing is almost always less than the cost of getting it wrong.

Book a free 30-minute consultation at Blue Kite HR Consulting

 

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Exit Interviews: Why You’re Missing Gold When You Skip Them

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Exit Interviews: Why You're Missing Gold When You Skip Them

Filed Under: Advisory and compliance, Business Update, Change management, Culture, External HR Support, HR essentials, Leadership, Workforce

Exit interviews are one of the most underused tools in a businesses HR toolkit.  

Most businesses skip them entirely. Some do them but don’t act on what they hear. A small number use them really well — and those businesses consistently have lower turnover than their peers.
Here’s what you’re missing when someone walks out the door without an exit interview.

 

The real reason why they are leaving 

The stated reason for resignation is almost never the whole picture. “A better opportunity” often means “I was looking for something better because I wasn’t happy here.” An exit interview, done well and done safely, surfaces the real driver — and that information is invaluable.

Patterns you can’t see 

Individual exit interviews tell you one person’s experience. Aggregate data from multiple exits tells you something systemic — a manager who consistently features in exit conversations, a team with retention problems, a policy or practice that’s driving people away.

Intelligence on market position 

Departing employees often know what your competitors are offering, what the market rate is, and what alternative employers are doing that you’re not. That’s genuinely useful business intelligence.

How to make them work 

Conduct them as a conversation, not a form. Use a short, structured survey if you’re worried about time — but follow it up with a brief conversation where possible.
Do them with someone other than the person’s direct leader. People will not be honest about their experience if the person they’re talking to is part of the problem.
Keep them confidential. If people think what they say will be used against them or shared indiscriminately, they’ll tell you nothing useful.
Act on what you hear. The quickest way to make exit interviews worthless is to do them and do nothing with the information. Share themes with leadership, track patterns, and show the remaining team that feedback gets taken seriously.
A departing employee is one of the most honest sources of information about your business you’ll ever have. Don’t let them leave without asking the right questions.

Book a free 30-minute consultation at Blue Kite HR Consulting 

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