Human Resources Assistants
Create and maintain personnel records and work rosters.
The 5am sick call
You are the rostering officer at an aged care home, answering the phone before sunrise on a Sunday when a care worker rings in sick. It is 5:10am. The morning shift starts at 6:30. One care worker has just called in sick, and the day will be short if you cannot find a replacement quickly.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I am so sorry, I woke up with a fever and I cannot come in. I know it is Sunday and you are short already. I can try to find someone to swap if that helps?
Tell her to rest, then check who is qualified and available and has not worked too many hours
You find two people who are rested and qualified. Ange feels looked after, and the home does not rely on someone who is already tired.
Accept her offer and let her find a swap herself, so you can save time
She is sick and still spending the morning on the phone. You also have no say in who turns up, and the person may not be eligible for the shift.
Ring the most reliable person on the list and ask them to come in, however many hours they have already worked
She arrives, but she has had a long week and the day is hard on her. Tired staff make mistakes, and the roster rules about rest exist for good reasons.
I do not like how Jo has been speaking to me lately. Put her on early shifts for the next month. She hates mornings. It will teach her a lesson, and nobody has to know why.
Do it, since Bruce is the manager and it is within his authority
Jo spots the pattern and raises a complaint. The roster looks like a punishment, and you have helped to make it.
Say you will roster by the agreement and availability, and suggest Bruce speaks to Jo or to HR directly
Bruce is irritated but cools down. You kept the roster fair, and gave him a better path to deal with the real problem.
Move Jo to a few more early shifts, but not as many as he asked
A half-measure still has the same purpose. Jo notices and the roster is no longer built on fair rules.
I heard Tuan has been given a lot of extra leave. Can you tell me how much leave he has left? I think it is unfair and I want to know if it is true.
Explain that you cannot share anyone's records, and suggest she raises her concern with her manager
Gwen respects the answer, but still walks away thinking something unfair is happening. Pointing her to a better route would have helped more than a simple refusal.
Tell her roughly, since it is only leave and everyone talks about it anyway
The number spreads around the staff room in an hour, and it was wrong anyway. A private record has become gossip.
Say you cannot share it, and offer to check her own balance and the rules for leave
Gwen learns what the rules are, and sees that her own entitlements are fine. She leaves with real information rather than a rumour.
How it went
By 6:15 the shift was covered, the roster was fair and a private record stayed private. Rostering and personnel records are about people, but they also depend on rules and fairness. Does being the quiet person who keeps a whole workplace running sound satisfying to you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The new starter with the missing paper
A fictional case set in the rostering and staff records office of a fictional aged care home that runs every day of the year.
The situation
Cass worked as a human resources assistant at Wattle Gardens Aged Care. On a Thursday, a new care worker, Mohammed, was due to start his first shift on Saturday morning. Cass was checking his file as part of her routine and noticed that a required document was still missing. The manager wanted every shift covered and had already put him on the roster. It would have been easy to say that the paper could be handed in next week.
What they did
Cass rang Mohammed that afternoon and told him exactly what he needed to supply and why. She explained what the home needed before anyone started working with residents, and offered to look at his options for getting it done before the weekend. She also told the manager that Saturday's shift might need a backup, and kept her notes in his file with dates and who she had spoken to.
How it turned out
Mohammed got the document on Friday and started on time. If he had not, the backup was ready. The manager later asked Cass to build a short checklist for new starters so gaps like this were caught the week before.
What would you do?
- Why do you think Cass rang Mohammed instead of just emailing him?
- What are the risks of letting someone start before their paperwork is complete?
- Would you enjoy keeping everything running quietly in the background?