Industry is failing to develop proactive approaches for keeping Australia’s baby boomers in the workforce, despite the Federal Government pushing for greater participation of older workers in the labour market
Industry is failing to develop proactive approaches for keeping Australia’s baby boomers in the workforce, despite the Federal Government pushing for greater participation of older workers in the labour market. “Businesses need to employ the broad-based business experiences of baby boomers to foster and transfer cross-generational knowledge,” said Glennis Hanley, from Monash University’s Department of Management. Speaking at a forum hosted by Monash University’s Australian Centre for Research in Employment and Work, she said mature age workers were being forced to retire involuntarily, with around 44 per cent of men aged 45 and over retiring as a result of redundancy. Tui McKeown, also of Monash University’s Department of Management, predicted that by 2020, 50 per cent of the current workforce will retire.
Christmas can cut FBT
It is possible to save on fringe benefits tax (FBT) by holding your office Christmas party in-house, according to KPMG. “When organising your office Christmas party, it pays to bear in mind ways to control your FBT and after-tax costs, otherwise you might discover you have an expensive hangover. With Christmas parties there are some interesting distinctions between activities that attract FBT and are tax deductible,” said Andrew Purdon, KPMG tax partner. If you are considering a lavish Christmas party for your employees or top clients, he said you may be better off hosting the party on your business premises on a working day, rather than at a restaurant or reception centre, as the costs as they relate to current employees won’t attract FBT.
Majority of employees on the job hunt
Sixty-five percent of American HR professionals are concerned about the level of voluntary resignations at their organisations. The 2005 US job recovery and retention survey released by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and CareerJournal.com found 76 per cent of employees are looking for new employment opportunities. To prevent a mass exodus, the percentage of organisations implementing special retention processes had increased to 49 per cent in 2005 compared with 35 per cent in 2004. Among the best employee retention strategies were competitive salary, career development opportunities, promoting qualified employees and flexible work schedules.
Police checks on the increase
The number of police checks conducted per annum by Australian employers has risen 4,500 per cent in the past decade. In Victoria alone they have risen to a staggering 220,000 checks per annum. However, many employers are conducting these police checks in the mistaken belief that they are going to eliminate fraud amongst their prospective employees. The PRM Group’s Geoff Stockton warned that relying solely on police checks could be as disastrous as not checking at all. He advised that proper pre-employment screening must encompass a wide range of checks designed to elicit the suitability of an employee for an organisation. Only a small proportion of people who may commit some form of fraud or deception against a company actually have a criminal past or a past work history that will render the person unfit for employment within a particular organisation.
Generation Y more unethical
Many young Australians born between 1978-1994 (Generation Y) have a very different view of what is common property and what is not, both inside and outside the workplace. Further, an increasing number of this “entitlement generation” are helping themselves to copyrighted materials and other people’s intellectual property online, according to Peter Sheahan, an expert on Generation Y. He believes the proliferation of the internet has driven a change in mindset in regards to the value of information. Generation Y believe that something must be free if it is in electronic form. Sheahan says this view is unlikely to change anytime soon and is already spreading from home to the office.
IR changes unlikely to be revolutionary
If Australia’s new IR legislation led to a mass review of HR, payroll and payment systems, it would be considered revolutionary, according to HR software solutions firm Aurion. “Despite the hype, a payroll manager’s world will not be that much different the morning after the government’s new IR legislation becomes law,” said Silvano Basso, Aurion Corporation managing director. Employers and employees won’t suddenly abandon employment entitlement and benefits that have been built up over the years either. “Existing arrangements, for all their shortcomings, provide certainty and represent an agreed position,” he said. Ultimately market forces such as a chronic labour shortage will absorb any short-term impact and employers will not want to give their employees any more reason to look elsewhere, he said.
