Comment: A new system should make dealings with the Department of Labour easier, writes Federated Farmers Employment and Workplace Training spokesperson Chris Lewis.
Federated Farmers has been assembling new ways people can access the company's industry contracts.
I have been involved in this process for two years with fellow board member and tech guru, Andrew Hoggard, Federated Farmers staff and representatives from our organisation's strategic partner, Paysauce.
Originally, we went down this route of digitising our contracts because our members requested it.
I thought this would be a simple process, get some tech geeks, they do their magic and then boom. Job done. How naive was I.
Anyone who has done any tech projects of late will know the frustrations of doing IT projects.
Lucky for us, Andrew and I have helped along with Paysauce, a top provider of payroll to farmers for the last few years, and we knew they had the tech goods to deliver.
Federated Farmers Employment and Workplace Training spokesperson Chris Lewis. Photo / Supplied
Sounds simple doesn't it, it is, but it takes a lot of trial, feedback and more trial. Then lawyer's feedback, more changes are made, and then there is more lawyer's feedback.
There is a sprinkling of some tech genius along the way, then users like myself trialling it.
We have the digital contracts at a stage where they are awesome. Obviously, we still want feedback to pass on to make them even better.
That is the great thing about working with farmers; there is no bull dust. The feedback given is straight to the point, we collect it.
Federated Farmers 'Tech Guru' Andrew Hoggard. Photo / Supplied
So going forward, the contracts should make our dealings with our colleagues at the Department of Labour easier.
If the Department needs to check anything, the contracts are in a form that can easily be shared.
They can read our work in their offices in the city drinking latte. No paperwork, calculations, arguments with the partner over this.
The contracts should reduce our stress. The contracts are Compliance 101, done from your phone or laptop from home.
