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"Back to basics" a key theme for 2023 as IR threats loom

The staffing industry is potentially facing its biggest threat this year as further industrial relations changes loom, making it imperative to double down on adding value, according to Programmed Skilled Workforce executive general manager David Hele.

Upcoming IR reforms – including but not limited to 'same job, same pay' proposals, the review of casual employment laws, and changes to fixed-term contracts – are "without doubt the biggest challenge ahead, and it may well be one of the biggest challenges the industry has faced", Hele tells Shortlist, noting that unions have become "quite vocal" in their demands for casual conversion clauses, among other areas.

This has prompted PSW to "go back to basics", he says, by "refreshing" the business on why it exists and the value it brings to industry, because "some of these proposed changes may bring that into question"...