June 2012.pdf - RCSA

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
The more things change…
In all the regulatory and
societal changes recently,
the RCSA Code for
Professional Conduct
has remained the same.
How can that be Andrew
Wood explains how the
Code accommodates
all the changes that
have taken place and
yet remains relevant.
Andrew Wood, Hon
FRCSA (Life), Barrister
The more things change … the more some
things remain the same. At the time this
issue of the RCSA Journal is published, we
will be about 18 months out from the expiry
date of the current ACCC authorisation of
the RCSA Code. That means that it is time to
think about how the Code has performed
as a guide to the regulation of member
conduct and to think about what might
be included in its next version (version 3).
At the same time, we are beginning
to hear murmurings in support of the
reintroduction of a national system of
employment service supplier (agents)
licensing, even though most states, along
with New Zealand, dismantled their licensing
schemes many years ago as part of a move
towards a more competitive marketplace.
It is always interesting to reflect upon
what could be included in the RCSA
Code, what has been left out, and why.
The RCSA Code consists of a statement
of broad principle that requires members to
observe a high standard of ethics, probity
and professional conduct which requires
not simply compliance with the law, but
extends to honesty, equity, integrity, social
and environmental responsibility in all
dealings and holds up to disclosure and
to public scrutiny.
To that extent, it answers some of the
recent commentary that suggests that
industry codes should be about what to
do, rather than about what NOT to do.
It also contains eight more specific
points of guidance covering privacy and
confidentiality, honest dealings, respect
for work relationships, respect for laws,
respect for safety, respect for certainty
of engagement, professional knowledge,
and good order.
These points set out guidance about
what members should do as well as what
they should avoid. The Code has been
modelled along these lines since it was
first authorised in 2002.
Since that time, the industry has seen
many changes in its legal environment.
Licensing schemes have gone, discrimination
legislation has changed, privacy legislation
has been rolled out, competition and
consumer laws have undergone significant
change, Work Choices and Fair Work
reforms have radically altered the industrial
framework in which the industry operates,
workplace health and safety reforms – on
an unprecedented scale – have been and
are being rolled out, migration, tax and
superannuation reforms have come into
effect or are proposed and more is yet to
come.
In addition, the courts, Fair Fork Australia
and the Employment Relations Authority
have continued to make pronouncements
on the law that impact daily on the work
that recruiters do.
Yet the Code has remained the same.
How can that be How can the Code
operate so flexibly as to accommodate all
the changes that have taken place and yet
remain relevant
The answer, I think, lies in its design,
which emphasises levels of high principle:
social responsibility; respect for privacy,
respect for work engagements and so on;
as well as in the continued fine-tuning of
the Disciplinary & Dispute Resolution
Procedures (“D&DRP”) that underpin it.
While the Code has not changed, the
D&DRP has been fine-tuned on eight
separate occasions and continues to
undergo review and refinement by the
Board, the Professional Practice Council
and the Ethics Registrar – all based upon
direct experience gained from handling
many hundreds of matters and inquiries.
The other important element that
contributes to the flexibility of the RCSA
ethics regime is that RCSA’s Ethics
Committees, which determine serious
complaints, are made up of industry
participants who bring to bear on any
question years of experience, industry
insights and profound understanding of
what is involved in the work of recruitment.
These “champions” of the industry are able
to identify and state acceptable standards
of member conduct in the context of any
specific complaint that arises for their
consideration. No mere Code – whether
a statutory code or voluntary industry
code – can do that.
The key lies in the people – and that
is most appropriate in what is, after all,
a people business.
JUNE 2012 29