Governments should offer incentives, for businesses to encourage staff working from home, believe 87 percent of Australians. Reducing the number of people driving to work would also reduce thousands of tons of pollution each year, found the LinkMe survey. Currently 68 percent of full-time workers drive to work, and more than 30 percent of drivers […]
Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has admitted that the Coalition’s WorkChoices laws have eroded worker’s rights but says that due to the deregulated labour market it should be easy for workers to get a new job. "I accept that certain protections, in inverted commas, are not what they were,” he said. "[Finding alternative employment] is […]
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has launched an investigation into the controversial custom of domain tasting. Domain tasting permits businesses and other users to register domain names, to test whether they increase online traffic, and then allows them to cancel the registration before any fees can be charged. The realisation that […]
Economists have warned that public spending will fuel higher inflation. With less than ten days to go until the election, both the Coalition and the Labor Party spent yesterday playing down the dollar value of their respective policy announcements to convince voters that they were sound economic managers. Labor leader Kevin Rudd unveiled a modest […]
While it’s important to take a close look at the mechanics of your business, to keep improving you also need to be aware of what’s going on in the industries around you and how to improve your foothold in the marketplace. Barry Urquhart shows us some keys to innovation, even offering lessons on what businesses […]
Most SMEs would find it difficult to match the incentives many corporate companies are offering employees—cars for their spouses, nine-day fortnights, subsidised gym memberships, yearly train tickets, rainwater tanks and iPods—all in the name of recruiting good staff and keeping them. But as Charisse Gray reveals, small businesses can compete with the bottomless pockets of […]
Ironically, start-up businesses are often prepared for success on many levels but not on one of the most important: leadership. James Michael explains the principles of his three-e style of leadership training. From innovator to entrepreneur to marketer and employer, and then, inexorably, to manager and leader. What a journey! And for many small to […]
Apprentice wages have come under scrutiny following a report that an apprentice wage is only marginally above the dole, putting trainees below the poverty line. The survey, undertaken by Group Training Australia, shows first-year apprentices could not afford an adequate living standard unless their award provided them generous allowances. Federal Vocational and Further Education Minister […]
John Howard has put $9.5 billion on the table, $800 a year for parents with school-aged children. Kevin Rudd was less thrifty with $2.4 billion, offering a means-tested $750 rebate that excluded school fees. Howard denied that high spending would increase the pressure on rising inflation and interest rates, saying that as long as the […]
Working parents can breathe a sigh of relief following childcare policies released by both the Coalition and Labor. Labor campaigned early for childcare relief, including offering a 50 percent rebate—up to $7,500—paid quarterly to parents, a plan to build 260 new centres to cut waiting lists and a proposal to provide 15 hours a week […]
