If you sponsor a migrant employee, and they have leave coming up over the summer, encourage them to travel and explore. Australia is an enormous land. As a result, it has a lot of different environments, and a huge number of experiences waiting to be had. Here are 5 Top Tips you can give your employees as they start to plan their holidays.
1. Driving is great fun, with great responsibility.
Australia is a great country to drive through. It also has very long distances between towns, making fatigue a real problem. Teach your employees about the adventure, as well as the dangers. Australia has some blood-thirsty roads; make sure your staff members are going to be safe.
2. Prepare city employees for language in the bush
There is nothing worse than not being able to understand people, who all apparently speak English. If your sponsored employee intends to head out into the country, at least make sure you’ve prepared them for Aussie slang. Give them the basics of greetings, food, exclamations. And maybe explain that ‘carked it’, ‘stuffed’, ‘and ‘buggered’ all mean the same thing when it comes to a malfunctioning vehicle.
3. Help them plan itineraries
It is all well and good to fly to Adelaide and expect to visit everywhere from Goolwa to Port Augusta in one week. While distances in Australia look small on a map, they can be deceiving. Give your employees some advice about keeping their holidays straight-forward and simple, and not to try and cram too many things into a short space of time, especially if driving is also a factor.
4. Bushfire is a real threat in summer
As we’ve seen with the Sydney fires again recently, fire is a real element in Australia. For those planning trips through forested areas, it’s a good idea to make sure that your newly migrated are aware of fire danger ratings, what to do and what not to do in fire-prone areas.
5. Peel, baby, peel
If nothing else, if this is your employee’s first summer in Australia, teach them to slip, slop, and slap. Severe sunburn is not just uncomfortable, it’s also a health risk. Give them some pointers on keeping safe from the harsh Aussie sunlight, and tips on things like the best times to go to the beach (i.e. before 9 am and after 3 pm).
Summer is an exciting time in Australia. If you employ migrant workers, do them a favour and help them to have a good time, especially if they’re new to the country. It can make all the difference to a holiday experience.
