Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Work effectively in a business
environment
Topic 1: Work within organisational
requirements
Understand your role
New employees learn about their organisation through:
• induction programs
• workplace documents
• their supervisor and colleagues.
Induction programs
Induction programs introduce the organisation to new employees,
providing information about:
• the organisation
• workplace policies and procedures
• legal and regulatory responsibilities
• employment conditions
• administrative information
• general information about the workplace.
Ask for help
If you need help, speak to your supervisor, a colleague or a nominated
person. You might need to:
• make an appointment
• send an email
• make a call
• ask in person.
Understand organisational documents
Organisations use a wide range of documents to meet operational and
legal requirements, including:
• mission statements
• vision statements
• business plans
• department plans
• policy and procedure manuals
• charters
• quality assurance plans.
Understand your employment Conditions
Familiarise yourself with your terms and conditions of employment.
These may be addressed in different arrangements, including:
• awards: apply to whole industries or sectors of industry
• certified agreements: formal agreements between unions and an
employer
• enterprise agreements: an agreement between employees and one
organisation.
Understand your rights: unions
Employees have the right to:
• belong to a union
• be represented by a union when negotiating workplace agreements
• have union assistance if they feel they have been treated unfairly.
Understand your rights
Employees have other rights relating to the conditions at their
workplace. They have the right to a workplace that is:
• safe and healthy
• free of discrimination
• free of sexual harassment
• free of bullying.
What is bullying?
Bullying is ‘repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed
towards a person or group of persons at a workplace,
which creates a risk to health and safety’. It can include:
• verbal abuse
• pranks
• humiliation or criticism
• unfair distribution of work or impossible deadlines
• displaying or distributing offensive material.
Know your responsibilities
As well as rights, all employees have responsibilities
relating to:
• health and safety: follow safety instructions
• anti‐discrimination: treat others equally
• privacy: maintain confidentiality as prescribed
Know your responsibilities (continued)
• workplace standards: treating others with respect
and following protocols
• job‐specific requirements: carrying out your role as
per the position description
• duty of care: having responsibility for others in your
workplace.
Recognise employer rights
Employers also have rights and responsibilities. Employers can expect
staff to:
• respect confidentiality and rights or others
• have a good attitude to work
• carry out work diligently
• be respectful
• act to avoid harming others.
Know your employer’s responsibilities
Your employer must:
• meet your employment conditions
• provide a safe environment
• ensure non‐discriminatory practices
• take affirmative action
• apply duty of care.
How do laws affect your work?
Organisations must comply with a range of laws, including:
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth)
• equal opportunity
• Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)
• anti‐discrimination
• privacy.
How to comply with the law
• Organisations write policies and procedures to comply with
legislation.
• You don’t need to know the law, but you must be familiar with
workplace procedures.
Understand the direction
Organisations document their plans in a range of documents:
• Vision, mission and values statements
• Strategic plans
• Business plans
• Goals, objectives and KPIs
• Strategy documents
How do values affect business?
An organisation’s values, goals and objectives affect how they:
• communicate with others
• manage people
• carry out their work.
Human Resources
Human Resources departments are generally responsible for:
• providing advice relating to employment conditions
• supporting recruitment and induction
• carrying our performance appraisals
• conducting salary reviews.
Understand your workplace structure
• Organisational structures show who is responsible for what, and who
reports to whom.
• Familiarise yourself with the organisational structure in your
workplace.
Where do I fit in?
• Organisation charts show each role relative to others.
• They show who you work with and who you report to.
Where do I fit in? (continued)
Your supervisor
A support role
to the
supervisor
Someone
reporting to
your colleague
Required standards for meetings
Standards specify how an organisation expects its employees to
behave. Standards may relate to:
• communication with colleagues, customers and others
• use of technology
• use of organisational resources
• dealing with issues and concerns.
When things are not up to standard
• If you notice behaviour that does not meet organisational standards,
you can:
• discuss it with a supervisor
• ask about it in a team meeting
• talk to the person involved (where appropriate).
• When deciding how to respond, consider whether the matter is best
discussed privately or in a group setting.
Workplace safety
Everyone can help make the workplace safer. You can contribute by:
• sharing knowledge
• making suggestions to improve processes
• listening to others
• identifying and reporting hazards
• following procedures
• solving problems.
Help the environment
Many organisations have environmental policies, designed to reduce
their impact on the environment. These may include guidelines about:
• paper use
• energy requirements for equipment
• recycling policies
• vehicle emissions
• proactive environmental activities.