WGEA has announced that 31st August is Equal Pay Day for 2021. This is the date on which the average wage for women In Australia reaches the level attained by men at the end of the past financial year. Put differently, Australian women need to work, on average for 14 months to accrue the same …
Symmetra is finding with its clients across the globe that many more are recognising the imperative to proactively address employees’ mental well-being- an obligation heightened by the pandemic. An OECD brief found that pre-COVID mental health conditions in 15 member-countries, including Australia, UK, New Zealand, and the USA, had been largely unchanged for decades. However, from March …
The High Court ‘s landmark ruling in Comcare v Banerji, last week affirmed that Comcare was justified in dismissing the employee for breaching the Australian Public Service (APS) code of conduct. The Code required employees to uphold APS values, including the obligation to maintain an apolitical public service at all times. While employed by the …
Transcript: – Well, we’re all aware of the Royal Banking Commission’s findings. Widespread cultural failings and misconduct, which has eroded the trust of the public in banking and financial services. And it’s not surprising that when Deloitte launched their Trust Index in 2018, and surveyed over 2,000 customers in Australia, less than one in …
Trust in Banks has been weakened The implicit trust which many Australians had in their banks and the belief that financial institutions would generally do the right thing has been rudely shattered. The final report of the Royal Commission into misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry laid bare the sorry state of …
Women in Australia face almost no legal barriers in pursuing their careers or other economic activity. The just-released report by the World Bank: Women, Business and the Law, 2019: a decade of reform measures the level of gender equality across 187 economies – with specific reference to economic activity. The areas measured are: going places; managing assets; getting …
By Gary P. Pisano (Harvard Business Review, Jan 2019) ABSTRACT: This article offers some important insights as to why some companies are successful in pursuing innovation while others fail at it. The proposition advanced by the author is that the nature of innovative cultures is misunderstood. He seeks to dispel five common misconceptions about how …
(Boston Consulting Group, Jan 2019, by M. Kretz and others) ABSTRACT: This article begins with the observation that while many companies and their leaders recognise the benefits that diversity brings and have instituted various kinds of diversity initiatives, across the board the reality is that progress has been slow. (The authors are, of course not …
Symmetra has long advocated objectively rating and benchmarking the salient features of a diverse and inclusive workplace. One of the most important indicators of the level of inclusivity in a workplace is whether employees have a positive sense of belonging. Belonging advances employee engagement, motivation, identification with the goals of the business and collaboration. It is pleasing …
Sexual harassment in the workplace has been described often as an “intractable problem”. Despite legislation designed to combat it which has been in place in Australia for decades, and despite corporate leaders proclaiming that there will be zero tolerance for acts of sexual violence or harassment, evidence is that its occurrence has not come down. …