Good morning,
I am a small business employer and have two casual receptionists that work for me. Our opening hours are 72 hour per week, covered by myself and the two girls. Now that the 3rd receptionist left to gain full-time employment.
One of the girls in particular that has been with me for just over 14 months and has continuously taken time off for holidays and illness since employment and is now pregnant and suffering from morning sickness resulting in further time off. This is particularly difficult as I don't have a pool of staff to be able to cover the shifts with virtually no notice.
We have a management right business that offers both short-term and permanent letting, so we are either checking in guests or arranging tenant inspections. The latter requires our staff to be qualified to be able to do this.
We had paid for this particular staff member to gain her qualifications and licence to conduct property inspections but due to her continuing absenteeism, I no longer have anyone other than myself which is causing significant issues, particularly if I am already working at reception.
She has advised me that she intends to take maternity leave but doesn't know how long for at this stage as it will depend on her finances. Right now I need to employ another person to cover the spread of hours, but to do that and ensure everyone gets equal shifts means that the other receptionist would also be cut back on hours which doesn't seem right.
My question is - can I employ another person and split the hours equally between the receptionist in question and a new employee?
On average it costs $6000 - $8000 to train a new person plus REIQ training and certification so it is a big outlay for us given that the banks are also placing us under financial pressure with the downturn. Then if she does happen to return, do I have to again review the hours so that they are spread evenly?
Apologies for such a lengthy post.
I am a small business employer and have two casual receptionists that work for me. Our opening hours are 72 hour per week, covered by myself and the two girls. Now that the 3rd receptionist left to gain full-time employment.
One of the girls in particular that has been with me for just over 14 months and has continuously taken time off for holidays and illness since employment and is now pregnant and suffering from morning sickness resulting in further time off. This is particularly difficult as I don't have a pool of staff to be able to cover the shifts with virtually no notice.
We have a management right business that offers both short-term and permanent letting, so we are either checking in guests or arranging tenant inspections. The latter requires our staff to be qualified to be able to do this.
We had paid for this particular staff member to gain her qualifications and licence to conduct property inspections but due to her continuing absenteeism, I no longer have anyone other than myself which is causing significant issues, particularly if I am already working at reception.
She has advised me that she intends to take maternity leave but doesn't know how long for at this stage as it will depend on her finances. Right now I need to employ another person to cover the spread of hours, but to do that and ensure everyone gets equal shifts means that the other receptionist would also be cut back on hours which doesn't seem right.
My question is - can I employ another person and split the hours equally between the receptionist in question and a new employee?
On average it costs $6000 - $8000 to train a new person plus REIQ training and certification so it is a big outlay for us given that the banks are also placing us under financial pressure with the downturn. Then if she does happen to return, do I have to again review the hours so that they are spread evenly?
Apologies for such a lengthy post.