The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) recently announced the winners of its 2005 Employer of Choice for Women citations. 115 organisations were recognised for creating work cultures that support and advance women
The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) recently announced the winners of its 2005 Employer of Choice for Women citations. 115 organisations were recognised for creating work cultures that support and advance women. Winners included: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group; Westpac; IBM Australia; McDonald’s Australia; Hewlett-Packard Australia; Australian National Credit Union; Insurance Australia Group; Henry Davis York; Agilent Technologies and Holden. Winners provide a positive and flexible environment for all staff which leads to improvements in the bottom line, according to EOWA.
Planning for and managing the ageing workforce
The ageing of Australia’s population brings with it a number of challenges for both organisations and their HR professionals. marcusevans has organised the ‘Managing the ageing workforce: planning for succession and the optimisation of the ageing workforce’ conference on 6–7 April at the Sydney Harbour Mariott. The conference is designed to assist HR professionals in understanding changing Australian demographics and re-engineering HR practices and policies in order to optimise the talents of the ageing workforce. Speakers include Sam Mercer, director of the UK Employers Forum on Age and Colin Pitt, general manager Corporate Performance HR for St George Bank. For more information call 02 9223 2137 or email [email protected].
BT extends HR outsourcing contract
BT recently renewed their HR outsourcing and transformation contract with Accenture HR Services, which will provide HR services to nearly 180,000 BT pensioners in the UK and 97,000 BT employees in 38 countries. The ten-year contract, worth £306 ($734) million, significantly expands the geographic reach of services that Accenture has been providing to BT under a previous five-year contract. The services to be provided under the new contract include customer contact/call centre, recruitment, pension administration, payroll and benefits administration, performance management administration, health and safety and HR advisory and information services. The new contract takes effect from August 2005.
Work-fusion is the new work/life balance
Seventy-two per cent of Australian employees would love to achieve work-fusion allowing for a more integrated way of life, according to a Talent2 survey of more than 1,200 workers. Work-fusion is about finding the right career and passionately loving what you do, according to Mark Brayan of Talent2. “It’s about loving what you do so much that you do not see your work as ‘work’ but rather something you enjoy as much as your ‘play’,” he said. “For a while, the trend has been not to work at a job for the sake of a job and a wage, but to find a career that is fulfilling, adds to the life experience and provides a deep level of satisfaction. However, work-fusion is that one step more. For individuals, Brayan said they need to understand themselves and find the job that helps them meet professional and life goals.
Executive remuneration conference set for Sydney
Executive remuneration has been a hot topic for both boards and HR professionals over the past few years. Informa has organised the ‘Executive remuneration: trends, issues and the challenge of governance and compliance’conference on the 14–15 March at the Four Points by Sheraton in Darling Harbour Sydney. The conference will cover topics such as valuing options for directors and executives, aligning remuneration with performance and how to manage stakeholder expectations and will feature speakers such as Greg Pound, chief accountant, Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Kim Neuhold, head of reward consulting, Hay Group. For more information call 02 9080 4480 or email [email protected].
AIRC takes action over Alcoa sex toy
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) recently resolved a dispute at Alcoa sparked off by a male fitter’s gift of a vibrator and a pair of crotchless panties to a female employee. Around 400 workers went on strike at two of Alcoa’s Western Australia refineries after the male, who had been employed by the company for 15 years, was sacked for gross misconduct and breaching its harassment policy. The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) said the industrial standoff would continue until he was reinstated because Alcoa had overreacted. Following the AIRC hearing Alcoa withdrew the termination notice, but will not return to work until an investigation into the incident is completed. The AMWU said the items were given to the woman as a Christmas gift and the vibrator was a massage tool.
