Meet Our Founders
Richard Tait
Richard has over 20 years experience in workplace relations working in a variety of industries including clubs, real estate and construction. For the last 16 years Richard has worked for ClubsNSW as Executive Manager Workplace Relations where he provided professional, strategic and legal advice on a myriad of workplace relations and human resource issues.
In 2011 he set up Clubs Australia Industrial (CAI) and was appointed its inaugural Executive Director where he led the strategic direction for clubs on a national basis. In conjunction with Helen he ensured, among other things, that clubs could access their unique part—time provisions. Richard guaranteed CAI future by creating a unified body with on-going financial sustainability via negotiated sponsorships, provision of services to state bodies and a National WR and HR Conference.
For the last 12 years Richard has also sat on the Club Plus Superannuation Board where he has overseen a move from a 16 man Board with no employees to a 8 person Board with a management structure of 30 employees. He is strong advocate for corporate governance and risk management and influencing others in this regard. He has sat on numerous committees including the Investment, Claims and Remuneration.
Richard’s passion is in management and strategic thinking. He believes a focus on these two aspects, especially when combining strategic view to your workforce planning, will set your business as a leader both internally and externally.
Richard has degrees in law, arts (major in economics and history) and an Honours degree in Industrial Relations.
Helen Carayannis
Helen is a trusted strategic partner to industry, private and public enterprise in the specialised area of employment and industrial law.
Helen’s accomplished advocacy in both State and Federal Courts and Tribunals is best exemplified by her recent achievements in acting for the national registered clubs industry in the Four Yearly Review Modern Award Proceedings before the Full Bench. In particular, the positive outcomes with respect to the cashing out of annual leave in the modern award and maintaining critical flexible part time employment.
As Special Counsel of Workplace Relations in her previous role, Helen was responsible for handling all major litigation and other complex industrial matters, as well as successfully negotiating some of the largest employer enterprise agreements with various unions.
Her submission work to government on employment law policy and litigation matters has also resulted in amendments being made to the Fair Work Act 2009.
Helen has also worked as a lawyer at a leading Sydney law firm, exclusively practicing in industrial relations and employment law for a wide range of industries, including education, manufacturing, building and construction, insurance, engineering, clothing and textiles.
It was here that Helen was directly involved in a number of precedent cases at the Federal and High Court level that influenced the industrial relations legislation of the day.
Helen regularly delivers seminars, speaks at conferences and delivers be-spoke Board, management and employee training including for The University of Sydney’s Workplace Research Centre and Australian Human Resources Institute and has had articles published on various employment law issues in journals such as HR Monthly.
Helen is also an accredited mediator, having mediated successfully many sensitive and complex workplace relations matters.
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Our Services
H & R Workplace Strategies prides itself on providing strategic practical advice on a wide range of issues including:
- Award and legislative interpretations
- Unfair dismissal and other employment claims
- Contracts of employment and policies and procedures
- Performance management
- Redundancies
- Discrimination claims
- Industrial disputes
H & R Workplace Strategies can represent you in any Tribunal, Court or Commission with jurisdiction over workplace and industrial law matters. We provide a proactive business approach to pending litigation with the primary aim of keeping businesses out of formal litigation in order to reduce costs and reputational damage.
Where litigation cannot be avoided, we will work with you at every stage of the process to ensure the best possible outcome. Our significant level of experience in all forms of workplace relations and industrial dispute litigation puts our clients in the best position possible from the outset.
We also help our clients strategically manage the unions, other lawyers, the media and workplace cultures as part of our case management.
H & R Workplace Strategies prides itself on professional independent workplace investigations. We understand the importance of maintaining healthy workplace environments in the midst of employee or employer issues and how critical it is to deal with these matters effectively and quickly. Outsourcing your investigation to experts in this field is an integral part of achieving this.
H & R Workplace Strategies have conducted regular investigations in the following areas:
We conduct interviews with relevant parties and witnesses, diligently analyse documents and provide a comprehensive independent privileged report.
Often, the results of the investigation give rise to broader concerns around an organisation. We ensure that any such concerns are addressed to reduce the risk of similar issues arising again.
- Allegations of work health and safety issues
- Serious misconduct cases
- Employee grievances against other staff
- Board of Director issues
- Discrimination complaints
- Performance management
- Bullying and harassment claims
H & R Workplace Strategies are experts in ensuring your enterprise agreements meet your business requirements. H & R Workplace Strategies assist you through your business strategy; negotiation tactics; workplace practicalities; and the complex processes and forms required for the agreement to pass the Fair Work Commission’s “better off overall” test.
H & R Workplace Strategies prides itself on keeping clients from formal litigation by adopting pro-active measures. An important aspect of this is H & R Workplace Strategies utilisation of differing dispute resolution services.
We have made careers out resolving disputes at the workplace. We are accredited mediators and in 10 years of utilising this form of dispute resolution have not had one matter proceed past the mediation.
Terms and conditions of employment are one of the most essential aspect of the employment relationship. The impact of getting this wrong can have adverse ramification to businesses from before the relationship commences to the end of employment.
H & R Workplace Strategies will tailor employment contracts to the business and the person being employed to ensure they accurately reflect what is understood by the parties to be their respective duties and obligations as well as legally compliant.
Policies and procedures often cause business more problems than any other aspect of the employment relationship.
H & R Workplace Strategies undertake regular assessments of workplace policy and procedure handbooks and provide advice and drafting of policies that best protect particular business interests.
H & R Workplace Strategies works with a business to analyse and assess their HR capabilities and legal compliance in the area of employment. We regularly advise on the health of all aspects of people management highlighting the areas the business does well in, areas the business could optimise more and areas of imminent risk.
Comprehensive reports are provided as part of this process, being the foundation stone of change management where needed.
We then work with businesses to advise on how to best implement change with minimal disruption to the organisation and with the confidence of all stakeholders.
H & R Workplace Strategies specialises in all aspects of people management training including:
- Management coaching and mentoring
- Leadership training
- People Management
- Preparing for difficult conversations
- Bullying training
- How and when to conduct an investigation
- Alternative dispute resolution training
- Understanding and maximising your Award or Enterprise Agreement
We also develop specific training packages for individual businesses.
Richard has been a Director, Executive Director and Executive Manager for well over a decade and is passionate about businesses maximising their strategic planning sessions. All too often strategic planning is undertaken on an annual basis, then filed away in a drawer never to be seen until the next years review.
H & R Workplace Strategies helps with the facilitation of meaningful and engaging strategic planning sessions and subsequent reporting and measuring of outcomes to ensure the plan is being properly implemented.
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