HUMAN CAPITAL – AUSTRALIA

Workplace laws reset for AI job losses: union

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 11-Mar-26

The Australian Services Union has urged a "fundamental reset of workplace laws to protect workers’ time". The ASU has used its submission to an inquiry into the National Employment Standards to call for employees who lose their job due to artificial intelligence to be given at least six months’ paid notice; it contends that this would give them time to upskill, train for new roles within their organisation or look for a new job. The union has also called for the maximum working week to be set at 30.4 hours over four days, with no loss of pay.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SERVICES UNION

Unions demand five weeks of annual leave

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 4-Mar-26

The ACTU will lobby the federal government to increase full-time workers’ annual leave entitlements to five weeks a year. ACTU secretary Sally McManus contends that Australians already do an average of 4.5 weeks of unpaid work every year, and getting back one of these weeks will result in a better rested and happier workforce. She adds that the current standard of four weeks’ annual leave for full-time workers has not changed since it was introduced in 1974. The ACTU also wants regular shift workers’ annual leave to be increased from five weeks to six, and an increase in the casual loading from 25 per cent to 27.5 per cent to compensate people who do not receive annual leave.

CORPORATES
ACTU

Employers using internal transfers to retain staff

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Original article by Euan Black
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 30-Oct-24

Research by Mercer has found that seven per cent of Australian employers now regularly use internal secondment and job rotation programs for their staff, compared with just three per cent in 2020. Cynthia Cottrell from Mercer says internal mobility programs create a strong culture and increase employee engagement, which can in turn boost productivity. Cottrell adds that more employers are prioritising these programs as they shift their focus from recruiting staff to retaining their top performers. CSL and Afterpay’s parent Block are amongst the companies that have such programs.

CORPORATES
MERCER CONSULTING GROUP INCORPORATED, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, AFTERPAY LIMITED, BLOCK INCORPORATED – ASX SQ2

Medibank to trial four-day work week

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Original article by Jessica Yun
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 23-Oct-23

Health insurer Medibank Private will shortly commence a six-month trial of the 100:80:100 model, whereby employees retain 100 per cent of their salary for 80 per cent of their time, in exchange for a commitment productivity of 100 per cent. Some 250 employees will participate in the four-day working week trial, with a view to eventually rolling it out across the company. Professor Bronwen Dalton from the University of Technology, Sydney has praised Medibank’s initiative, but she believes that the length of the trial and the number of participants should be increased.

CORPORATES
MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY

Private firms too tough on sickies

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 22-Jan-18

Federal public servants each took an average of 11.4 days of sick leave in the year to June 2017, compared with 11.5 in the previous year. In contrast, employees in the private sector take an average of 9.5 days of unscheduled leave each year. Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd says some private sector companies foster a culture in which employees are reluctant to take sick leave even if they are genuinely ill, adding that he does not want to see this in the public service. Business leader Tony Shepherd rejects Lloyd’s claims, and attributes the higher levels of unscheduled leave in the public service to poor culture and management.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, DIRECT HEALTH SOLUTIONS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL COMMISSION OF AUDIT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNION, COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA, ABORIGINAL HOSTELS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PESTICIDES AND VETERINARY MEDICINES AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. FISHERIES MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

Casual hours to count in redundancy

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 23 : 17-Aug-16

The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has ruled that permanent employees who were initially hired as casual staff should have the latter period of service recognised in a termination payout. The FWC had ruled earlier in 2016 that redundancy payments at engineering and shipbuilding firm Forgacs should be based only on an employee’s period of permanent employment. However, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has succeeded in having the ruling overturned on appeal.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, FORGACS ENGINEERING PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, ASC PTY LTD

Over-55s could add $78b in GDP

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Original article by Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 25-Jul-16

A new study by PwC shows that Australia is ranked 16th among OECD nations in terms of retaining older employees in the workforce. The PwC Golden Age Index estimates that the nation’s GDP could be boosted by 4.7 per cent by ensuring that more older people – particularly the 55+ age group – remain in the workforce. This would equate to an annual increase in GDP of about $A78bn. Jeremy Thorpe of PwC warns that it would take about 10 years to achieve such an increase in GDP via measures aimed at lifting workforce participation among older age groups.

CORPORATES
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. CENTRELINK, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Workers clocking off mentally, study claims

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Original article by Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 15-Jul-16

Many Australian employees are mentally detached from their work. Recruitment firm Robert Half conducted a study of 300 CFOs and finance directors which shows that 49 per cent of small to medium businesses detected “inner resignation” among employees. Large organisations reported up to 54 per cent of workers being in this category. Robert Half Asia Pacific senior MD David Jones advises companies to take steps to re-engage workers, as poor morale has a negative impact on productivity.

CORPORATES
ROBERT HALF AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RESOURCES INSTITUTE, ERNST AND YOUNG, GALLUP INTERNATIONAL

Insurance jobs under threat from technology

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Original article by Ruth Liew
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 8-Dec-15

Suncorp Group executive Darren O’Connell notes that the growing use of automation in the insurance sector has resulted in the elimination of entry-level jobs in the underwriting industry. He says this will result in a dearth of underwriters with expertise across the industry as older staff retire and their skills and knowledge are lost. O’Connell argues in a research paper that technology can never completely replace people in the underwriting industry, and insurers should reconsider their recruitment procedures.

CORPORATES
SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, SWISS RE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, IBM CORPORATION

Victims earn paid leave from work

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Original article by Jessica Marszalek
The Courier-Mail – Page: 12 : 26-Nov-15

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says national domestic violence leave is being examined by the Productivity Commission in its review of the Fair Work Act. Turnbull is also open to considering an Australian Labor Party proposal for all workers to have access to five days of family violence leave. However, Small Business Minister Kelly O’Dwyer is concerned that such leave may deter employers from hiring women. The Queensland Government plans to offer 10 days of domestic violence leave to all public servants.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL, GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY