Staff

Staff retention is not an exact science and different employees will respond to different incentives. But losing good staff is sometimes a reality and that’s where succession planning is key.

Fair Work Australia will introduce amendments to minimum working hours for students on July 1, with the General Retail Industry Award to allow full-time school students to work a minimum 1.5 hours casual after-school work.

Australian employees are showing a keen interest in making their workplaces sustainable, but want senior managers to drive the shift to sustainability, a survey has found.

For the fourth consecutive year, NetApp has ranked on the BRW ‘50 Best Places to Work’ list, taking out the third spot this year.

Data breaches are becoming a major concern for businesses, with a recent survey by Check Point Technologies and Ponemon Institute finding 77 percent of organisations have experienced data loss in the last 12 months.

Servcorp is offering a 50 percent discount on its Virtual Office package to travellers affected by the disruption of flights in and out of various Australian cities, caused by the volcanic ash cloud.

One under-performing member can spoil the work of a whole team, according to a study by UNSW researcher Benjamin Walker, in which he tested the conscientiousness of team members, and proved ‘one bad apple’ at work can indeed ‘spoil the barrel’.

As an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano once again forces the cancellation of flights in, out of and around Australia, many small businesses will need to re-assess their business contingency plans.

According to a new survey, technology has contributed significantly to Australian office workers becoming more productive – largely at the expense of their personal time, however.

Small businesses look set to face an ongoing struggle to contain wages in 2011, according to the 2011 Australian Institute of Management (AIM) National Salary Survey.

An expansion in part time employment is expected to take effect between 2014 and 2016, as Baby Boomers choose to work part time when they reach retirement age.

Earlier this year a comprehensive research study was carried out to identify the issues most affecting Australian businesses today. In particular, it sought to identify current business confidence levels, attitudes to business and employment issues, investment priorities, major business challenges of the past 12 months and anticipated challenges for the year ahead. What no one expected was that a division based on the participants’ gender would deliver clear-cut differences in business practices and expectations.

For a SMB’s, social networking sites like Facebook can provide a real dilemma. Do you allow your employees access and open a potential Pandora’s Box of problems such as unintended security breaches? Or should you impose a blanket ban and risk losing a valuable channel of communication and collaboration?

99 percent of small business owners making use of the Government’s Superannuation Clearing House have reported being satisfied with the service, and said they’d recommend it to other small businesses.

The second annual Dream Employers survey was launched by RedBalloon and Insync Surveys this week, giving the public an opportunity to again cast their vote for the most desirable employers in Australia and New Zealand.

Just 26% of Australian businesses expect to increase hiring in the next three months, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which found the Retail and Manufacturing sectors are holding back the rest of the employment market.

Organisations without clearly defined mobile phone usage policies and monitoring systems leave themselves open to financial, reputation, legal and security risks, a Stratatel leadership paper has found.

Alycia Edgar of Bookzkeeper blogs about those stressful moments in an entrepreneur’s career and how to cope.

“Get out of your environment. Sometimes just getting out of your office, factory, shop etc can be just what your mind needs to solve your problem.”

There is no doubt that technology is changing the way we work. With the rise of mobile gadgets, Australian employers increasingly expect their staff to be on call outside of work hours, and even when they’re on holiday.

Email is being used by bosses and employees to avoid blame, look busy and make random demands; a trend that’s damaging communication in Australian workplaces.