Figuring out Christmas trading hours is always a complicated task. Each state has its own rules, and with Christmas Day falling on a Sunday this year, substituted and additional public holidays make matters even worse.

There has been particular confusion in Queensland due to a new State Government plan to give workers an extra public holiday at Christmas, SMEs are understandably confused as to their obligations and duties as employers.

The Queensland proposal would see workers be given an additional public holiday whenever Christmas, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day falls on a weekend to ensure workers who are called in are awarded penalty rates.

With businesses now planning their rosters for Christmas and the New Year, it’s a good idea to find out which days you can’t trade and which days you’ll need to pay staff higher wages.

Here’s SmartCompany’s definitive guide to Christmas and New Year trading hours and restrictions for 2011-12:

Victoria

This year, Christmas falls on a Sunday. That day will not be a public holiday in Victoria, but instead will be held as a substitute day on Tuesday, December 27. Monday, December 26 – Boxing Day – will be a public holiday as usual.

For New Year’s Day, January 1 will be on a Sunday in 2012. Both that day and the next day, Monday January 2, will be public holidays.

Businesses are not permitted to open on Christmas Day, unless they fit into an exemption category. This includes shops that have 20 or fewer persons employed at any time, and businesses that have no more than 100 employees at any time during the seven days prior to Christmas.

However, some businesses are able to open whenever they want. These include chemists, petrol stations, restaurants, cafes, takeaway outlets, service providers and hire outlets.

New South Wales

Both December 25 and December 26 are public holidays, due to Christmas falling on a Sunday. However, the Boxing Day public holiday will be held on Tuesday, December 27.

Both January 1 and January 2 will be classed as public holidays next year.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day are both classed as restricted trading days. Exempt shops include small shops, businesses within the Sydney trading precinct, and holders of hotel licenses, along with businesses in certain government areas.

Businesses are able to find out if they can trade by visiting this website.

ACT

Although the Christmas Day public holiday has been moved to Monday, December 26, both it and December 25 will be classed as public holidays. Boxing Day will be a public holiday taking place on Tuesday, December 27.

Both January 1 and January 2 will be classed as public holidays.

Trading hours are deregulated in the ACT and therefore businesses can make their own decisions on when they want to open.

Queensland

Christmas Day will not be classed as a public holiday. Instead, the following day, Monday, December 26, will be a public holiday. Boxing Day is also a public holiday, to be held on Tuesday, December 27.

January 1 will not be a public holiday, but the next day, Monday, January 2, will be.

Queensland trading hours are extensive and complicated, with special rules applying in the four weeks to Christmas, while certain businesses may be exempt while others aren’t. There are also a number of different Government areas to keep in mind.

Businesses should visit this page and contact their Government to determine which days they will be able to trade.

Northern Territory

Christmas Day will not be a public holiday in the Northern Territory, only Tuesday, December 27, which is classed as Boxing Day. Only Monday, January 2 will be used as the New Year’s Day holiday.

Trading hours are mostly deregulated in the Northern Territory, except for certain stores that sell liquor.

South Australia

South Australian law dictates that if Christmas falls on a Sunday, both that day and the following Monday will be classed as public holidays. The Proclamation Day holiday will be held on Tuesday, December 27.

Both Sunday, January 1 and Monday January 2 will be classed as public holidays.

South Australian legislation dictates that non-exempt shops such as supermarkets and department stores cannot open on public holidays, and they must also remain closed on January 1 as well.

Smaller shops and speciality shops can trade without restriction, but there are some shops that are only partially restricted – these need to contact the Government to determine if they can trade.

Western Australia

December 25, December 26 and December 27 are all classed as public holidays in Western Australia, with the Boxing Day holiday to be held on the December 27. Both January 1 and January 2 will be public holidays also.

Western Australia has the most complicated trading restrictions out of all the states. The current trading hours set by the Government for the metropolitan area are:

• Sunday, 4 December – 11am to 5pm (precincts only)
• Monday, 5 December-Friday, 9th December – 8am to 9pm
• Saturday, 10 December – 8am to 5pm
• Sunday, 11 December – 10am – 5pm
• Monday, 12 December – Friday, 16th December – 8am to 9pm
• Saturday, 17 December – 8am to 5pm
• Sunday, 18 December – 10am to 5pm
• Monday, 19 December – Friday, 23rd December – 8am to 9pm
• Christmas Eve – 8am to 5pm
• Christmas Day – Closed
• Monday, 26 December – 10am to 5pm
• Tuesday, 27 December – 8am to 5pm
• Wednesday, 28 December – Friday, 30th December – 8am to 9pm
• Saturday, 31 December – 8am to 5pm
• Sunday, 1 January – 10am to 5pm
• Monday, 2 January – 8am to 5pm

Businesses need to contact the Government to see which area they are trading in, whether they have any restrictions imposed and whether they can be granted a permit.

Tasmania

December 25, 26 and 27 will all be public holidays, although the Christmas Day holiday will be on December 27, with Boxing Day still on December 26. Only Monday, January 2 will be used as a public holiday for New Year’s Day.

Source: Smart Company

Fair Trading Deputy Commissioner Steve Griffin today warned Albury residents to hang up on scam callers offering to fix computer faults.

Mr Griffin said local media and residents had contacted NSW Fair Trading yesterday about the perennial scam.

“Don’t let a scammer scare you into believing your computer is infected with a virus or is sending them error messages,” he said.

“Even if the caller claims to be a representative from Microsoft or another genuine service provider, be very wary of anyone who calls you out of the blue and tries to trick you into letting them gain remote access to your computer.”

Mr Griffin said several variations on this particular scam theme had been reported to SCAMwatch, the website run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to provide information to consumers and small businesses about how to recognise, avoid and report scams.

“Generally the caller claims they suspect your computer is infected and they need remote access to check,” he said.

“If you allow them access, they will then pretend to run a scan and report that your computer is infected.

“The caller will then try to convince you to purchase anti-virus software straight away to remove the infection.

“The fee may be a one-off payment or an ongoing subscription.”

Mr Griffin said as well as losing money to scammers by paying for a service that provides no benefits, consumers’ personal and banking details were also at risk.

“If you give a scammer remote access to your computer, they can infect your computer and acquire your personal information,” he said.

“If you receive a call like this, just hang up and report the incident to consumer protection agencies.

“Call NSW Fair Trading on 13 32 20 or go to www.scamwatch.gov.au”

Source: NSW Fair Trading

Today, Lifestyle Careers have released “Log in with LinkedIn” functionality.

This is a first for the Australian & New Zealand recruitment industry and for an online job board that allows users to use their existing LinkedIn details to Register/Login with another site.

LinkedIn users already represent themselves with their real names and real identities. With the Log in with LinkedIn functionality, users can bring their real identity information with them to whatever site they visit on the web.

The process behind the LinkedIn authentication is quite similar to those who are familiar with Facebook Connect. By adding the Log in with LinkedIn functionality, we aim to

• Increase user signups
• Create trusted user authentication
• Provides existing identity details
• Speeds up the Registration or Login process
• Allow users to refer content back to existing LinkedIn networks

The user will always have total control of the permissions granted and can revoke this permission through their LinkedIn account.

For example, a user wishes to register for an account on our job board. If the user has already registered, they can proceed to the Login panel, or else proceed to the registration form and click on the “Log in with LinkedIn” button.

Once the user clicks on the “Log in with LinkedIn” button, a secure LinkedIn authorisation form opens in a new window. If the user is logged into LinkedIn already it will ask the user to grant access to the specific application. Otherwise, it will ask the user to login to their LinkedIn account.

After the user grants access to the application, the LinkedIn window will close and grant access for the job board to connect to LinkedIn and access the following details – First Name, Last Name, Position Title, Organisation, Location. These details will be used to auto populate the job seekers registration form.

After the user has granted access for the job board to access their LinkedIn profile. You can proceed to the Login form.

Users can either manually login with their username and password OR click on the “Log in with LinkedIn” button to automatically connect!

Fantastic technology and Lifestyle Careers is very excited to be one of the first job boards in Australia and new Zealand to offer this service to our audience.

lifestylecareers.com.au was recently reviewed on the website killerstartups.com

The concept of working from home isn’t necessarily new, but it has been picking more and more steam over the last couple of years. Telecommuting offers a perfect equation for those trying to find and attain a good balance between their professional and personal lives.

Lifestyle Careers is a niche job boards that will cater for people looking exactly for positions of that nature. Niche job boards have a clear advantage over general job boards because these sites offer a more relevant experience from the very beginning.

From JobsPortalWatch:

While the managing director of leading jobs portal seek.com.au has said the economics of establishing a niche job board “don’t stack up” in Australia, there have been a number of new websites joining the market over the past year. One of those was lifestylecareers.com.au, which says it is going strong after 10 months of operation.  Read the full article…

With the ageing of the population and changing labour market conditions, adopting a flexible approach to work helps businesses attract a diverse workforce including mature age workers, those in remote communities, parents and people with disabilities. Research shows that implementing flexibility helps improve productivity as employees have increased levels of engagement, job-satisfaction and well-being.

The issue of finding and attaining a good balance between work and personal life is a growing trend for job seekers when making career decisions. Balancing work with family and personal responsibilities is a challenge in our busy lives. When searching for jobs online, most job seekers prefer niche job boards over general job boards because these sites offer more targeted job search results and a greater variety of relevant job opportunities.

The concept of working from home, flexible working and telecommuting has gained momentum over the past few years and is widely becoming accepted, recognized, and formalized across the board. All tiers of Government and private sector companies are recognizing the benefits of work life balance initiatives.

Lifestyle Careers understands this. Job Board owner, Leah Gibbs, created the business after being frustrated at the lack of flexible options available to job seekers. A finalist in the 2009 REA Recruitment Industry Awards, Lifestyle Careers has this week re-launched on a new job board platform. “We spent time listening to the feedback from our website users who wanted a cleaner and simpler way to search for a flexible job” Gibbs said.

The re-launched job board has made it easier for job seekers to search and apply for jobs with new functionality including SMS job alerts and Facebook Connect integration.

The advertisers section has also been updated to streamline job posting and integrated with multi-posting system JobAdder. Advertisers are provided with valuable statistical tools including advertising analytics.

“In just over 10 months since the site’s first launch, we have established a considerable database of flexible job seekers, with a heavy traffic flow of job seekers visiting on a daily basis,” she says.

For a good range of flexible jobs, go to www.lifestylecareers.com.au and see what’s out there for you.

Lifestyle Careers was recently nominated as a finalist in the second annual Recruitment Excellence Awards (REAs 2009). The recognition was in the ‘Best Industry Job Board’ Category. While Lifestyle Careers didn’t come away with the prize this time, just getting this far was a fantastic achievement given the job board has only been live for a handful of months. Read about the awards night here.

Balancing Australia is calling for employees to nominate their employer for a national directory of leading organisations offering alternative leave and flexible working arrangements.

Work life balance is a significant issue for many Australians who struggle to manage their work, family and other commitments.  Difficulties with balancing an individual’s life may cause major consequences such as health implications to family breakdowns. 

In the 2006 Relationships Australia “Relationships Indicators” survey it was found that 88% of people agreed (and 54% agreed strongly) that these days more relationships are in trouble because finding a balance between work and family life is so difficult.

Mandy Brasser, Balancing Australia’s Company Director says “By having the support of your employer can make a huge difference with someone’s ability to live a balanced life.”  Balancing Australia has recently launched a national website to recognise and celebrate the organisations that are taking action and supporting their employees to achieve this balance.

As employees are in the best position to determine whether their employer is supporting them to live a balanced life, Balancing Australia is asking individuals to nominate their flexible employers.  This valuable recommendation will ensure that we promote the best employers nationwide but also inspire others that there are many benefits available by making such initiatives available in the workforce.

Employees can nominate their organisation by visiting the Balancing Australia website at www.balancingaustralia.com.au or calling 0432 763 706.

Balancing Australia’s website provides candidates with comprehensive details on the work life balance arrangements offered by potential employers.

Leah appeared on channel Seven’s Sunrise program today with David Koch and Melissa Doyle. She discussed opportunities for working from home and some of the jobs available on LifestyleCareers.com.  You can watch the segment here.