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From Hire to Fire and Everything In Between

Your Complete Guide to Managing the Employee Lifecycle

Written for small to medium business owners and managers, this comprehensive guide is more than just a book—it’s a practical resource that will become your go-to reference for every stage of the employee lifecycle. Whether you’re struggling with hiring the right talent, ensuring compliance, managing performance, or navigating exits, From Hire to Fire & Everything in Between offers step-by-step guidance and actionable insights for building a high-performing team.

 

Key Chapters Include: 

  • Hire: Discover what to consider before hiring, the risks of ‘sham contracting,’ and strategies for attracting top talent.
  • Manage: Learn critical management skills like effective communication, leadership strategies, and performance management techniques.
  • Well-Being: Understand how to implement employee well-being initiatives, including new regulations like Domestic Violence Leave.
  • Exit: Gain insights into managing exits effectively, handling redundancies, and avoiding common pitfalls of unfair dismissal.

Why You Need This Book

  1. Avoid Costly Mistakes – Non-compliance with employment laws can result in fines up to $63,000, with personal fines as high as $12,600. This book helps you avoid those risks by breaking down complex regulations in a clear, accessible way.
  2. Build High-Performance Teams – Discover how to create motivated, engaged teams that drive productivity and profitability.
  3. Master Difficult Conversations – Whether it’s performance reviews or employee exits, this book gives you the tools to handle challenging conversations with confidence.
  4. Improve Productivity and Profitability – With Natasha’s insights, you’ll learn strategies that increase engagement and profitability by up to 20%.

Designed to be both comprehensive and user-friendly, From Hire to Fire & Everything in Between is not just a book to read cover-to-cover—it’s a resource you’ll keep on hand, whether you need quick advice on managing team dynamics or insights into legal obligations.

From Hire to Fire & Everything in Between is the essential resource for any Australian business owner or manager seeking to elevate their HR strategy, reduce risks, and ultimately succeed in building high-performing, compliant, and motivated teams.

Order your copy today and start transforming your approach to employee management with Natasha’s trusted guidance!

Testimonials

❝There is no doubt that managing people is the hardest part of running a small business. It is complicated, challenging and changing. Natasha Hawker has written a book to demystify managing people, and delivered it in a way that makes sense, it is hugely practical and a must read for any business owner.❞
Andrew Griffiths, Australia’s #1 Small Business & Entrepreneurial Author

❝From Hire to Fire and Everything in Between should come with your ABN, as a handout, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see well-worn copies on the desk of many employers. I wish this book was around when I started in business, it would have saved me a lot of heartache.❞
Angela Vithoulkas, CEO Vivo Café Group - Small Business Owner & Advocate

❝From Hire to Fire and Everything in Between should come with your ABN, as a handout, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see well-worn copies on the desk of many employers. I wish this book was around when I started in business, it would have saved me a lot of heartache.❞
Angela Vithoulkas, CEO Vivo Café Group

❝We have worked with over 4500 small- and medium-sized businesses within Australia and overseas. There is not one of those businesses that either has not had, or is not currently having, some form of team issues. The Hire to Fire and Everything in Between book is the only book of its kind that truly gives owners and managers of businesses not only the practical and simple steps of what to do, but also the confidence and certainty that they are making the right moves.

This book is a reference book that should be within reach of every business owner/mid-market Leader as it is a reference for them to consistently refer to, to make sure they are on track, doing the right things and are compliant. This is a must have tool that owners and leaders should have at the ready.❞
David Dugan – Abundance Global

"To help every business owner see their employees as valuable assets ..."

Natasha Hawker wrote From Hire to Fire & Everything in Between to address a crucial gap in the knowledge of business owners and managers across Australia. Often, passionate entrepreneurs and small business leaders find themselves struggling with the complexities of hiring, managing, and exiting employees—a process that involves navigating a myriad of legal obligations, maintaining employee well-being, and fostering productivity.

For many, these skills haven’t been taught or are only learned through costly mistakes and challenging Fair Work claims. This reference guide is designed to simplify the employee relations framework, giving business owners a practical and easy-to-follow resource that not only helps them avoid compliance issues but also builds stronger, more productive teams.

Natasha’s goal? To help every business owner see their employees as valuable assets, manage their potential, and avoid costly errors that could impact the future of their businesses.

Let's talk

Request a meeting to learn how we can help you maximise profitability, sustainability and productivity through your employees:


Alternatively, call us on (02) 8021 4206 to speak with one of our friendly employee experts or drop us a line via our contact page.

Why choose Employee Matters?

Employee Matters helps your organisation maximise profitability, sustainability and productivity through your employees.

We understand that every organisation is unique, so we analyse your unique pain points and provide Training, HR and Recruitment solutions with an unrivalled level of tailored services and expertise. We offer:

Cost-effective HR services
without compromising on quality

Flexibility - solutions tailor made
to your requirements and budget

A clear HR strategy that delivers
real business results

A Senior HR Manager who understands
your specific business needs

We embed in your business
and are invested in your success

HR best-practice education
for your people leaders

Testimonials

Since engaging Employee Matters with Morgan as our dedicated Expert, we have made major improvements to our policies across the board that benefit both the company and our employees. We went from having virtually no policies to almost all that we require within months, and improved our processes at the same time. Overall Morgan saves us time when issues arise, her sound advice always leads us in the right direction. She is a trusted adviser

Matthew Grove

CEO
We were referred to Employee Matters by our business coach, to provide coaching and support for our management team, make sure we were compliant with our HR responsibilities, and build on some of the structure that we already had in place. Employee Matters and the team were knowledgeable, responsive, flexible to the needs of our business, and Nardia became an integral part of our team. Employee Matters will continue to be part of Technium as we grow, and I'd recommend anyone who has employees to not wait for a problem, but to take a proactive approach and engage with Employee Matters sooner rather than later.

Simon Pilkington

Managing Director
The prospect of an employment dispute is terrifying to me, despite 40 years of legal experience, mainly in large firms. Now that I am the principal of a boutique planning and environmental law practice, employing 7 people, my salvation has been Natasha Hawker's book 'From Hire to Fire & Everything in Between'. It is a gem: well written and practical, it nicely balances my need for simplicity with sufficient detail to make it useful. The book is empowering in that it helps me identify the issues and questions I need to have in mind when analysing and addressing a problem. Thank you Natasha, you have literally improved the quality of my life by reducing my stress when it comes to dealing with employment matters.

Glen McLeod

Principal
As a US based business with employees in Australia, I was looking for assistance in managing our Australian arm, as well as helping me to navigate the Australian employment landscape. I have been using Employee Matters and Catherine for a while now, and have been really impressed how Catherine has helped me manage the team in Australia and has kept me abreast of HR, Fair Work and other legislative developments. Catherine’s guidance and advice has been so beneficial and I really appreciate all the extra support.

Ana Apostolescu

Director of HR & Operations
“I had the pleasure of having Natasha involved in our 2nd annual Workforce Analytics Summit in Sydney in 2020. Natasha was very well-prepared, highly professional, and an engaging panel moderator. She knew her topics well and engaged with the speakers prior to the event to be fully prepared for an outstanding session. Looking forward to working with her again in future!”

Nick Kenny

Conference Producer – Australia, New Zealand & Asia
Natasha was engaged to develop and facilitate a half day training session as part of our annual global conference. The brief was to educate our people leaders on hiring excellence and optimising team performance. As a fast growing small company, we were looking for someone to train our relatively new people leaders from both commercial and technical backgrounds (and multiple geographies). Natasha was willing to understand our organisation and particular needs, and tailor the content and workshop accordingly. She also set up an expectations model in advance so we could reflect on the desired outcomes and we debriefed against this model after the event. The training session itself was very well run, with a nice mix of theory, discussion and practice sessions for behavioural interviewing in small groups. Natasha's experience as well as her passion and enthusiasm for effectively recruiting and managing people is impressive. The session was very highly rated by our people leaders and we frequently hear people talking about Natasha's interviewing techniques. We would happily recommend Natasha to organisations seeking to invest in their recruiting and people-management capability.

Stuart FitzRoy

Chief Product & Engineering Officer, Rokt
Natasha did a fantastic job of both presenting key information in a pre-planned structure that was informative and easy to understand, and dealing with the many questions that came thick and fast from Q and A. It was really great to get the opportunity to speak to an expert who could help with any challenges a company is facing in the HR space no matter how big or small. I particularly liked that Natasha’s focus wasn’t just advice on how to stay on the right side of employment law, but also how to build a company with great culture and a happy, motivated and cohesive workforce. Great Job Natasha, looking forward to learning more from you in the future.

Drew Alexander

Director, XAM Consulting Pty. Limited.
"In 2017, my company launched its first group coaching program, designed to provide small business owners in their early years with the knowledge and support they need to grow, whilst effectively managing commercial risk. Employees and contractors are such a high-risk area for business owners, specifically those who cannot afford – or do not know where to find – reliable advice. I met Natasha in 2015 when she was delivering a presentation to a group of small business owners. With years of experience of my own in HR, within corporate organisations, it was obvious Natasha knew her subject matter inside-out. She was engaging, relevant and it was obvious that she cared. Upon launching my group coaching program, Natasha was an obvious choice to deliver a workshop on recruitment and employee engagement. Natasha was – as usual – engaging, and the content of the presentation was very relevant to the audience. As was evident from our surveys, my clients were extremely satisfied with the workshop – they felt that Natasha was the “right balance between knowledgeable and approachable”, and that the workshop resulted in increased awareness relating to HR matters which are relevant to them, and the confidence to expand their business through more clarity on the hiring process and employee engagement strategies. Since then, all the clients who attended the workshop have hired employees and they have found the strategies they learned to be extremely useful. I recommend Natasha to all my clients who currently, or plan to, employ staff, and I hope Natasha will continue to facilitate the HR workshop for our future group coaching programs."

Kathryn Kavanagh

Director, Momentum Lab
"I was very fortunate to meet Natasha Hawker at a Conference and felt so inspired by her enthusiasm that I got hold of her book “From Hire to Fire”. I found it to be an excellent summation of events that occur every day in the workplace with ready tips in how to deal with these situations. Natasha’s goal in writing the book was for it to sit "doggy eared" on managers desk and being referred to as a guide when these situations arise unannounced. This objective has been achieved and I would recommend any small business owner who is unfamiliar with managing staff to get hold of the book as it is a great knowledge base to deal with these situations".

Brian Doughty

Founder and Director, The Outsourced CFO

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Alternatively, call us on (02) 8021 4206
or drop us a note via our contact page.