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Small business

Fresh Ideas for Work and Family:  Government Grants In May 2008, the Australian Government announced the Fresh Ideas for Work and Family programme, designed to support Australian small businesses and increase workforce productivity and participation.  This programme could provide a much needed stimulus package to assist small businesses to weather the economic crisis by implementing positive work/family initiatives.

The Fresh Ideas programme was launched on 1st March 2009 and will invest $12 million over three years to encourage small businesses to implement practices that help employees balance their work/family obligations as well as improve employee retention and productivity.

As part of the $12 million commitment, the programme will provide grants of $5,000 to $15,000 to small businesses to help meet the set-up costs of family-friendly working arrangements.  The grants will support a range of initiatives, including:

• establishing rosters based on school terms and alternative core hours, for example, 10am to 3pm;
• developing workplace policies on unpaid leave for carers and workers who have children with disability or other special needs;
• providing facilities for employees with young children such as family rooms; and
• setting up workplace mentoring.

Applications for grants are now being invited from eligible small businesses.  The current funding round will close on 24 April 2009.

More details about the program, including the application form, guidelines for applicants and terms and conditions, are available at  www.deewr.gov.au/freshideas  or by calling the Workplace Infoline on 1300 363 264.