The Australian Government has introduced the Fresh Ideas for Work and Family grants program to support Australian small businesses to implement practices that help employees balance their work and family obligations as well as improve employee retention and productivity.
The program provides grants of $5,000 to $15,000 (GST inclusive) to small businesses to help meet the set-up costs of family friendly arrangements that suit the individual needs of the business.
In addition, the program supports small businesses through:
- developing and distributing business and industry specific information to assist in implementing family friendly work arrangements
- having experts within Fair Work Australia from January 2010, to provide assistance and advice to small businesses seeking to set up family friendly work arrangements.
The program is administered in funding rounds by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
Further information on family friendly work arrangements and the program is available from this website. For more information please email FIWF@deewr.gov.au.