WorkAccord’s “Tuesday TalkAbout” series of free, short webinars is set to return for a fourth season at 8:30 am AEST on July 21st 2020.

With The Recruitment, Consulting & Staffing Association’s new Code for Professional Conduct, authorised by the ACCC last year, commencing on August 8, the focus of the series will be on the Code’s principles of operational integrity.

As the author of the Code, I’m looking forward to  discussing topics such as Confidentiality, Care, Complaints Handling, Certainty of Engagement, Social Sustainability, Assurance, and Disclosure.

Here’s the Winter programme:

1.   RCSA Code: What’s New? (21/07/20)

Our first Tuesday TalkAbout for the Winter 2020 season presents an overview of the RCSA Code for Professional Conduct and asks, “What’s new?”

We’ll explain why this Code is different from what has gone before. We’ll explore the ethical principles that underpin the Code; and look at its statement of principles for personal professionalism and operational integrity. Finally, we’ll discover what the Code requires of RCSA Members and how RCSA supports its Members’ journey along the “Pathway to Professionalism”.

2.   Social Sustainability (28/07/20)

The new RCSA Code requires Members to

• conduct business in a way that avoids causing or contributing to exploitation through their activities; and
• seek to prevent or mitigate risks of exploitation that are linked to their operations or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those risks.

In this session, we’ll discover what the Code means when it talks about “exploitation” and we’ll learn about steps that you can take along your pathway to professionalism to reduce the risk of exploitation in your service networks.

You can register for this webinar here.

3.   Ascertain & Assure (4/08/20)

RCSA Members will be required to:

• apply resources; and
• establish and maintain controls

to ascertain and assure themselves, to a reasonable standard of confidence, that they meet the requirements of the regulatory environment in which they operate.

This session focuses on how to identify regulatory requirements and what types of controls you can implement in a recruitment and staffing environment to be confident that you are meeting them.

You can register for this webinar here.

4.   Certainty of Engagement (11/08/20)

Under RCSA’s new Code, Members will need to take reasonable steps:

• to ensure the certainty, transparency, and scope of their agreements; and
• to obtain adequately informed consent

for the provision of a workforce service, or for the performance of a service network role.

In this session, we’ll talk about provisions that present regular challenges and discuss what you can do to make their operation more certain. We’ll look at scoping provisions, screening responsibilities, fees & charges, restraints of trade, candidate replacement and other guarantees.

You can register for this webinar here.

5.   Confidentiality & Privacy (18/08/20)

Recruitment & staffing professionals handle vast quantities of confidential and personal information. Much of it is highly sensitive.

In this session, we’ll talk about some of the challenges that you will face and how you can deal with them. You’ll learn to identify when information is confidential and how to handle exceptions. You’ll learn about the different privacy regimes that you might operate within and why it is important to have a good understanding of your privacy obligations when you are obtaining consent to collect, use and disclose personal information. We’ll also look briefly at some of the additional issues that arise when you are operating in an on-line environment.

You can register for this webinar here.

6.   Complaints Handling (25/08/20)

RCSA Members will be required to establish and maintain credible grievance handling mechanisms and corrective action procedures, appropriate to their size and circumstances, to address any failure to meet the standard of professional conduct required by the RCSA Code.

In this session we will talk about how you can do that, using some of the principles in AS/NZS 10002:2014 Guidelines for complaint management in organizations.

You can register for this webinar here.

7.   Care (1/09/20)

A concept of care, requiring attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness underpins the new RCSA Code for Professional Conduct.

In this session, we’ll explore the concept of care and talk about its specific application to Members’ responsibility to meet the value promises they make about the quality of their services. Is there room, in a professional conduct framework, for an “all-care-no-responsibility” approach anymore? Let’s find out!

You can register for this webinar here.

Let’s talk again soon!

Andrew C. Wood Hon, FRCSA (Life)