RTA workers high on stress leave

NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) staff have one of the highest rates of stress leave and workers compensation payouts – on par with other workers such as prison officers, police, nurses and firefighters. Mental stress, physical stress and injury are the primary causes of leave among RTA workers. The NSW Government pays public servants $54 million a year in workers’ compensation, and the average cost of claims is $1,117 per employee at the RTA per year. NSW opposition leader Peter Debnam said RTA bureaucrats should get another job if they were stressed.

End mature age workforce scaremongering: Aurion

Despite reports to the contrary, Australian companies won’t face large-scale employee losses due to the so-called baby boomer effect, according to HRMS software firm Aurion. Reports of large-scale losses as staff born after World War II reach retirement age were exaggerated and misleading, said Aurion managing director Silvano Basso. “Baby boomers have a greater life expectancy and have to fund a longer retirement. Governments worldwide now encourage people to work longer and to self-fund their retirement through superannuation,” he said.

Outplacement programs outdated

HR professionals have called for greater flexibility, accountability and variety in outplacement programs, according to HR consulting firm Beilby. It recently consulted 50 HR practitioners on their requirements for outplacement services and found the top criticisms of current programs were: they lacked flexibility; they needed to be tailored so that the candidate could choose the best option; the price of the program needed to be a function of what was delivered; and they placed too much emphasis on getting a job rather than a career-focused approach.

Australia considered the land of employment opportunity

Twenty-nine per cent of Australians believe the country offers the most opportunities for employees. However, they don’t think they are happy staying where they are, with 35 per cent of companies experiencing a higher rate of resignations than usual, according to a survey from Talent2. A survey of more than 500 Australian employees found that 28 per cent believe they live in the land of the opportunity due to the fact the population offers huge growth potential, and a further 18 per cent believe there is so much opportunity because we are a developing nation.

Dealing with violent and aggressive workplaces

Violent incidents in the workplace and inappropriate workplace behaviour between co-workers and customers are on the increase, according to Fraser Duff, co-founder and owner of CARM, a consulting firm that specialises in assisting companies with workplace violence training. Many such incidents can be avoided, according to Duff, but most employees do not know what to look for or how to respond in potentially violent encounters. CARM stands for Counter Aggression Response Model, which teaches how to determine risks, defuse situations, and disengage when needed.