How HR is important to this busy occupational therapy business

When occupational therapy business Family Connections Sydney prepared for a major audit in January 2023, staff were able to easily find their documents, reports, and records downloadable in Citation HR’s software.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) covers around 570,000 participants in Australia, with thousands more joining every quarter. Based in Bangor, Sydney, Family Connections currently provides occupational therapy for 120 NDIS participants who have specific learning difficulties, sensory processing disorders, autism, and other developmental disorders, helping parents to understand the support their children need. Every day an average of 30 or so participants come into Family Connections and are given one-on-one NDIS support from a team of paediatric occupational therapists and therapy assistants. Support is tailored to the level of service required – in-room therapy, preschool, school, telehealth, or behaviour support.

Having worked at Family Connections since 2009 – beginning four years before the NDIS scheme was set up – Business Administrator Leanne Pearce has seen plenty of developments in the industry over her 14 years. Leanne has worked on the rigorous audits required to be a registered NDIS provider every three years, as well as mid-term audits every 18 months.

Collating the right documents used to be time-consuming, Leanne remembers. Three years ago, the business realized that great HR software would help maintain rigorous practice standards and carry the company through audits more effectively, so Family Connections began searching for a system to streamline HR and Workplace Health & Safety (WHS) record-keeping in 2019.

“Our Director, Irena Woodward, was part of a business mentoring programme along with other therapists and she received a few recommendations for HR platforms,” Leanne says. “I researched HR software options online with all the bells and whistles, but another therapist recommended Citation HR to us. Having that 24/7 HR Advice Line to make sure we were complying with modern awards and handling tricky questions was valuable for us, particularly as we brought on more employees.”

Citation HR also conducted an initial Compliance Audit as part of their service.

“Citation HR’s Advice Promise was a bonus. But having the HR Advice Line professionals who were on top of WHS compliance, workplace changes, the Fair Work Act, National Employment Standards, and modern awards was invaluable.”

Keeping up with compliance as the business grows

As Family Connections Sydney has grown and expanded its services, more staff increasingly means more responsibility when it comes to keeping up with compliance in terms of modern awards, industry standards, and casual conversion, not to mention offering training, WHS, and risk register requirements.

Proving to auditors that Family Connections Sydney is on top of these requirements has meant a reliable, intuitive HR system is essential.

“Having just completed our second audit, Citation HR has been invaluable in being able to demonstrate that we have proper systems in place, that we have alerts for things about to expire, that we have assigned competencies to each role, staff training is up to date, employment agreements – all the things NDIS requires us to do are documented,” Leanne says. “Our most recent auditors were quite impressed we had the Citation HR system up and running.

“Being able to easily access employment contracts, and online performance reviews tailored to our business was really satisfying. We were complimented on that in our last audit.”

Valuable advice in a phone call

The HR Advice Line has proven highly valuable to Family Connections. A recent example found Leanne wanting to set up payroll deductions for professional development courses and needing the right form – which Citation HR customised specifically for Leanne’s needs.

“Being only a small business of 12 staff, I’ve not had the time to spend hours learning all the features of Citation HR, so it was helpful to have the Citation HR tech team quickly go in and check settings for us.”

Family Connections Sydney are also finding value in updates about the wider world of employment law.

“Citation HR’s webinars and things, accessing those is so valuable, being updated on Fair Work issues, overtime, and getting updates on recent workplace changes and the like – for a person wanting that sort of help, Citation HR is so valuable. Receiving the 2023 Workplace Relations Review, which summarises everything, that was really comprehensive, very well put together. And during COVID, Citation Group’s webinars around vaccination were really valuable.”

Citation HR takes the guesswork out of managing people and their paperwork – simply follow the workflows and prompts

Managing people can be a time-consuming and challenging juggle for businesses of all shapes and sizes. A great way to make the job systematic, easy, and keep immaculate records is to begin with a confidential, no-obligation  Workplace Compliance Consultation. Citation HR’s experts will complete a thorough evaluation of your HR that’ll help uncover any hidden risks before they become problems at audit time.

Join Citation HR and make the most of HR software, 24/7 HR Advice Line, auditing, and more to help you identify areas for improvement and stay compliant so you can focus on what your business does best.