General
Forty percent of jobseekers have turned down a job due to a bad interview experience. Recruitment Solutions explains companies need to realise they too are being interviewed. Gone are the days when employers could enter an interview room with the attitude that they are in the seat of power. As the war for talent escalates […]
Australian businesses are disconnected from their workplace culture goals. According to a Human Synergists report, the culture that 95 percent of businesses want to achieve is greatly different from what employees actually experience. “Despite all the talk about managing Gen Y and culture being on the agenda in most boardrooms, we are still seeing a […]
Former Liberal MP Paul Zammit has announced his support of Labor’s industrial relations policy. In a letter submitted to the Sydney Morning Herald, Zammit, currently a long-serving company director, says Labor’s policy balances employer and employee interests. "For the past 10 years, I have strived to get the appropriate balance in my own company, so […]
A Sensis Business Index report has noted a significant drop in business confidence, attributed to the upcoming election. Report author Christena Singh says that the report is due to uncertainty about Australia’s next leader. "Small businesses are telling us that their confidence has been impacted quite dramatically in the lead up to the election," she […]
Small businesses have been warned, by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, about signing bundled phone deals. "Typically, a bundled deal will offer a contract for call costs at the same price or less than what a business is currently paying," says Simon Cleary, Deputy Ombudsman. "The business is commonly offered a handset, plasma TV, laptop or […]
Labor leader Kevin Rudd has declared open season on government accountability should his party win the election this Saturday. Rudd said he would hold cabinet meetings once a month in regional areas, followed by a press conference. “I will be accountable to the Australian people for the commitments I have made to them at this […]
Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce has entered the WorkChoices fray by saying he would consider Labor’s rollback of WorkChoices if Labor won the election. "Anyone who says you vote something out without looking at it is disgracing the Senate. I’m saying I’ll look at it,” said Joyce. “The last thing that anybody should do is to […]
The future of business leaders is in question, with 75 percent of executives worldwide worrying about the leadership of their companies. Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce, a global human capital study by IBM, found the danger to growth strategies is from experienced personnel retiring, during growth in emerging markets. "In today's business environment, […]
Prime Minister John Howard denied that the Coalition would take WorkChoices further if re-elected but is backing the controversial industrial relations policy as an election winner. Channel Seven yesterday lost a battle to publicise the contents of a 2005 draft, which the TV station says provides the blueprint for further reforms. The documents were withheld […]
Making false statements on credit applications is becoming a habit, with 2.7 million Australians admitting they’re guilty. A Veda Advantage study found Australians underestimate expenses and credit commitments, exaggerate work history, and overestimate their assets. Interestingly, men are twice as likely as women to tell fibs on their credit applications.Now with credit repayment struggles increasing, […]
Full-fee university courses for local students will be phased out by 2009 according to a Labor Party pledge. Labor’s education spokesman Stephen Smith estimated it would cost $300-$400 million to compensate universities for the loss of fees but said it would address the increasing cost of tertiary education and the skills shortage. Under its policy, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Labor leader Kevin Rudd has pounced upon comments by Coalition Minister for Finance Nick Minchin stating that Australia does not have a skills shortage. Rudd announced that the Coalition cannot manage inflation because of internal disagreement as to its cause. "We have Senator Minchin saying there is no skills shortage – one week ago we […]
Energy has been identified as the “biggest cost increase” by businesses. A global survey conducted by IBM found most businesses are concerned by the cost of energy, and are working towards reducing costs for their business, and for the environment. Of those surveyed, 55 percent of SMEs are moving towards a greener IT system. But […]
