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Posts Tagged ‘employment’

There Has Been An Increase of Businesses Not Including Salary Details When Advertising A Job Vacancy

Posted by Emily Ridley

It has been reported that employers are increasingly not including salary details in jobs ads. As a result of this it is likely that they might be missing out on the best applicants.

Omitting salary details is also a surprising move for a business to make considering that the current unemployment rate is at 4.2 percent thus creating a shortage of available workers in many industries.

As a consequence of this Australian businesses are scrambling to attract the skills they need to grow.
As a result of the dwindling pool of available resources in the job market, vacancies are proving harder to fill for many employers.

A recent survey conducted by Indeed which included the responses of over 2,000 working Australians found that “65 percent of job seekers say a role’s salary is important to include in a job ad”.

However, according to the same survey “Only 9 percent of employers will always advertise a role with a salary”

Katie Furvey who works for Indeed says that there are a number of reasons for the disconnect.

“Our survey findings may reflect that employers want to appeal to applicants who are attracted to the role and the company, rather than those focused primarily on salary,” says Katie Furvey.

It is therefore understandable that employers are wary of applicants only applying for a role to achieve a rise in salary.

The reason many firms give for this is that if remuneration is the sole driver of an employee, they are more likely to leave in future when another organisation offers them more again.

It is also important to consider that other applicants may be deterred from applying if no salary is listed, especially in the candidate short market Australia is currently in the midst of.

Katie Furey agrees, suggesting that, “Being upfront about remuneration can work in everyone’s favour – greater transparency engenders confidence and trust from candidates and helps avoid surprise rejections when an offer is made,” says Ms. Furey.

However, from the perspective of an employer the large majority of businesses who choose not to disclose remuneration on a job advertisement will disclose it at the interview stage, so the latter point about surprise rejections may be a moot one.

Another possibility and reason for not advertising a salary is that displaying salaries for new hires may create issues with existing employees, especially if the renumeration offered is higher than what these employees are currently earning.

The last thing employers will want to do is create reasons for valuable existing employees to leave, especially if the war for talent is expected to intensify.

However, although the interview stage may be the safest option for employers to disclose pay details, in the current job market this option runs the risk of not attracting the required calibre of applicant in the first place.

Employers must tread a fine line in the current climate, but it appears inevitable that companies will be reviewing their strategies on how to attract new hires.

“If the last 18 months have demonstrated anything, it’s that the way we work is changing, so it follows that how job advertisements are structured can, and should, also evolve,” Says Katie Furey.

As with most things in the past two years, the pandemic has driven a lot of the change.

How employers navigate this change will go a long way to determining how successful they will be attracting the right candidates to apply for their advertised job.

Tips For Boosting Employee Retention in A Post-Pandemic World

Posted by Emily Ridley

The covid-19 pandemic has changed the way the world works in so many different ways. Covid has changed the way we travel, the way we socialise and one of the biggest changes is the rise in popularity of flexible working options for employees.

Now that more people are working from home and ultimately the employee has more power in a post-covid world when compared to before covid. As a result of this employers are having trouble retaining some of their most valuable employees. Here are some tips to help employers boost employee retention in a post covid world.

Understand The Importance of Having Flexible Working As An Option For Your Employees

Although most people are able to return to the office now if they want to, there is also a large number of employees who are resisting the everyday commute becoming the norm again. A survey showed that 95 percent of workers say they prefer working from home in some capacity. This illustrates that there is a clear expectation for flexible work arrangements to continue post covid-19.

Furthermore, 62 percent of employees say they wouldn’t even consider a new employer who doesn’t have a flexible working policy. 81 percent of people surveyed said that a company that allows for flexible working is really important to them when looking at future roles. 

Offer Your Employees Practical Support

Navigating the post-covid world and negotiating a hybrid working balance that is beneficial to both employers and employees is now an important consideration for all businesses. Those who don’t support staff in their desire to maintain a flexible work situation will find themselves at risk of losing some of their most talented employees. 

However, just agreeing to your employees working flexibly isn’t enough; it’s about supporting them to work effectively and productively from anywhere. Research shows that both employers and employees get the best out of hybrid working when their home office reflects the ergonomics of a traditional office environment. 

Be A Leader for Your Employees Not a Boss

Very few people want to be leaders, but everyone wants to be the boss. Remember, though, that people follow leaders, while they abandon bosses. A boss is a dime a dozen while leaders are rare.

It is important to make sure you have a clear direction towards the future. Good leaders let employees know where the company is headed. Bosses don’t share information and leave employees wondering if there’s good or bad coming down the pipe and if they should be concerned.

A leader also believes in the importance of people. A great leader considers employees their most important asset. Bosses are more focused on numbers.

A great leader also Inspires confidence in his employees. Good leaders make employees feel confident about their ability to lead them to a good place. Bosses on the other hand have a tendency to inspire passive-aggressive frustration as employees question the decisions that have been made that have affected them negatively.

Realise That Counteroffers Don’t Always Lead To Retention

Attempts made by businesses trying to retain employees by making a counteroffer are falling short. Recently published research has discovered that of the 50 percent who do accept the counteroffer will resign from their position of employment within the next 12 months.

According to the research, 82 percent of business leaders surveyed are concerned about retaining employees in 2021. 

To fight the issue, many are finding themselves extending counteroffers in an attempt to retain employees. Despite this, 52 percent of employees who accept a counteroffer leave in a year or less. Of these employees who leave one in five leaves in less than six months.

Counteroffers are more often a tool to assist the employer. Particularly in a competitive market, it can be tempting to make counteroffers in order to retain institutional knowledge and avoid the resource-intensive exercise of recruiting, onboarding and training a new employee.

The fact that a counteroffer is designed as a tool for the employer, rather than the employee, is the major reasons why counteroffers are an ineffective retention strategy.

Although offering a salary increase may seem like a cost-saving initiative, a counteroffer doesn’t necessarily advance the career of the employee, so in most cases, the employer is still left with a dissatisfied employee who was motivated to leave the organisation in the first place.

Rather than being reliant on reactive counteroffers to address staff retention, business should be looking at their existing retention strategies as a proactive mechanism to ensure employees feel satisfied, valued, and therefore less likely to court competing offers.

Some more effective strategies could include conducting regular salary reviews to ensure their compensation is competitive, establishing clear career paths with individual employees to help their progression and reduce the appeal of a competing title change, and offer flexible working arrangements to support employee work/life balance.

Tips For Making More Money in The Share Economy

Posted by Emily Ridley

Thanks to the advancements of digital technology having multiple sources of income and having a number of different side hustles to support yourself has never been easier. The share economy is allowing people from all over the world to make extra money on top of their normal 9 to 5 job. Here are some ways Australians can take advantage of the share economy and make extra money.

Airbnb

Airbnb is a significantly popular way for Australians to make additional income on the side. With this in mind it is important to think about and look out for a number of tax implications associated with Airbnb.

Airbnb provides Australians with a fantastic opportunity to rent out that spare room without the long-term commitment. It can also be a handy way to lease a holiday home that would be quiet for much of the year.

Rent Out Your Pool

Making sure that your pool remains sparkling and algae-free certainly isn’t a cheap process however there’s a way to get these backyard swimming spots earning their keep.

Some people are making anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000 a month or $30,000 a year by letting people rent out their pool on a platform called Swimply.

Rent out Your Garage or Shed

Empty sheds or garages can also be rented out via a platform called Spacer. Help a hoarder out and earn around $400 a month, or potentially around $4,800 a year.

Spacer can be best described as is an online marketplace for self-storage. The platform was founded in 2015 and based in Sydney. Spacer allows people to rent excess space to other people. Spacer has similar features to Airbnb and ride-sharing apps.

Uber and Other Rideshare Apps

Uber has become a popular way for Australians to earn additional income. However, drivers can find themselves potentially getting into serious tax related problems unless they do it right.

The concept of being an Uber driver is unique and gives drivers a flexible opportunity to earn additional income for anyone who owns a good quality car.

Other popular Rideshare apps available in Australia include; Didi and Ola.

There is also a rideshare app called Shebah. Shebah brands itself as the only all-woman rideshare company in Australia. The purpose of Shebah is to offer safe and secure rides for women by women. Women, women with children, and men travelling with kids are permitted to ride. Men aren’t allowed to ride shotgun via Shebah.

Rent Out Undercover Car Spots

For the past 12 months, Charlotte Ward has been renting out two undercover car spots at her home in Bondi Junction in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for $240 a month via a platform called Parkhound.

She says that the extra $480 she makes each motnhs month allowed her and her housemate, who both don’t drive, to leverage the extra earnings they made through Parkhound to snag a better rental than they would otherwise have been able to afford.

It can be revealed that people renting out their empty car spaces on the app earn on average $300 a month, or $3,600 a year.

Ward is no stranger to the sharing economy. Back in the days of overseas travel, she used to rent out her room on Airbnb to help fund her trips.

“I think people can make extra money just from the existing assets that they have that they might not realise,” says Charlotte Ward.

Take Care of Someone’s Dog or Cat

Another way to make money via the share economy is to look after someone’s pet dog or cat when they are on holidays.

This can be done by signing up to a service called Mad Paws. Mad Paws can be best described as a Pet Sitting service through which a pet care professional minds your dog, cat, puppy, bird, or other pet.

All depending on the preferences of the Pet Owner, Pet Sitting can occur either at the owner’s house or at the sitter’s house.

In the case of the former, pet sitters can offer pet house sitting, by which they mind your home and your pet. Pet sitting can span for as long as the pet owner needs, from overnight to months at a time. Pet Sitting is also sometimes known as Dog Boarding, Cat Boarding, or Pet Boarding.

Australian Businesses Are Offering Employees Massive Incentives to Combat The Great Resignation

Posted by Emily Ridley

Millions of Australian workers are preparing to quit their jobs in the upcoming months. To try and entice workers from quitting, employers are making an effort to offer a number of incentives to try and convince their workers to stay.

One Australian organisation offer $6,000 to all of their 200 employees to spend on anything they want in order to prevent a mass exodus of employees as the Great Resignation looms in Australia.

The Great Resignation has been occurring in America with everyone from frontline workers to senior executives quitting their jobs as people seek out flexibility, work that aligns with their values and companies that treat them as humans.

Linktree is a social media start-up that has the backing of billionaire Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar, is offering an annual $6000 reward for staff to spend across four pillars, including wellness, personal growth, lifestyle and impact.

Linktree is working in a fiercely competitive space for employees with a crippling shortage in the industry, as Deloitte Access Economics estimates Australia will need to upskill an extra 200,000 tech workers over the next few years.

A Linktree employee named Hannah has said that she is very impressed with the rewards program and she describes the $6,000 incentive as a “pay rise but with more intention”.

She plans to spend the money on personal growth courses that will help her with her wellbeing and also spend the money on a gym membership and massages.

She is also planning to spend the money to help the environment. “I have always wanted to get solar power for the house and I will use some of this to go towards powering it. It’s a big investment but the rewards program is giving me the opportunity to do it sooner,” says Hannah.

Hannah says it is the best employee incentive she has ever heard of and ever received from an employer.

“It definitely highlights how much that Linktree actually cares about its employees mental and physical health, both in and outside of work. One of the pillars that we could select to spend benefits on was priorities outside of work like cleaning, which I thought was really cool as people’s priorities are really different, and there’s the flexibility there,” says Hannah.

Defying the ordinary was one of the core values of Linktree, said its head of people operations Emily Moore, and implementing the rewards program was a fantastic feeling for employees after a tough few years with Covid.

“Right now many people are re-evaluating what is really important to them and making changes in their lives they may have been putting off prior to the pandemic. We want our employees to be able to bring their best ‘whole selves’ to work and truly believe in creating policies and initiatives that enable them to achieve just that,” says Emily Moore.

Other employers have been scrambling to offer their employees some major perks to stand out from the crowd and entice newcomers or keep current employees.

Some of the incentives range from heartbreak leave, time off for cultural celebrations, free cooking classes, shares in the company and more time out when having a child.

Fintech company Finder introduced five days paid leave for life’s big events on top of its annual and sick leave entitlements.

The $56 billion Aussie design company Canva introduced a vibe and thrive allowance for all workers, which can be spent on everything from gym memberships, home office set ups, social celebrations, wellbeing and education.

Financial technology company, Iress, has introduced more leave for staff, who will be able to take up to six long weekends each year, with no impact on their current annual leave balance or pay.

9,000 Tourism Jobs Have Been Lost In Cairns During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Posted by Emily Ridley

It has been reported that 9,000 tourism jobs have been lost in Cairns since the start of the covid-19. The total number of lost jobs make up for half of the local industry’s workforce.

Prior to the covid-19 pandemic the tourism industry in the Cairns region was more 2.5 billion annually.

Mark Olsen the chief executive of Tourism Tropical North Queensland has said that the regions tourism industry employed 15,750 full and parttime works before the covid-19 pandemic began.

However, as a result of the discontinuation of the federal government’s JobKeeper program, many workers have had no choice but to leave the tourism industry for good in hopes of finding a higher paying and more reliable job.

“Without international visitation, we’ve lost about 9,000 staff over the last 22 months. At first it was the frontline staff, those on the part-time and casual roles, but as the pandemic extended on, we started losing highly skilled staff,” says Mark Olsen the chief executive of Tourism Tropical North Queensland.

“Even in the last few weeks, we’ve seen businesses have to stand down some of their most senior staff because the cash flow is so tight. We’ve lost a lot of skill and experience that has guided the region, which has been one of the most successful tourism destinations, over the last 30 years,” continued Mr. Olsen.

On Saturday 22nd January, the Queensland Government introduced quarantine-free international travel for fully-vaccinated tourists who were wanting to visit Queensland.

However, it is expected that a huge influx of international tourists will not become a common occurrence for at least the next few months. This is due to the Australian Government’s decision to limit the number of overseas arrivals to mainly just to returning Australian residents, working visa holidays and international students.

Cairns restaurant owner Craig Squire says that the recent Christmas holiday period wasn’t very busy for his business as he had a number of workers unable to work due to covid-19.

“The first week of January, we had five staff out waiting on test results, so that really put a dampener on what would have been a quite a successful trading week. We had to close for several days because we just didn’t have enough staff to operate the business. It’s been a terrible January, there’s big losses,” says Craig Squire.

Mr. Squire has highlighted that the vaccination mandate has been frustrating to enforce and having to turn away unvaccinated customers has meant that he has lost even more money.

“The concept that the unvaccinated can’t go to restaurants and cafes but can go to gyms and hairdressers and food courts, even licensed food courts, it just doesn’t stick. It basically started as a coercive measure to get more people vaccinated, we’re at 90 percent fully vaccinated in Cairns now so surely, we can let go of that. It’s not stopping the spread of covid,” says Cairns restaurant owner Craig Squire.

Restaurants Across Australia Are Fighting Over Workers To Keep Their Businesses Running

Some restaurants across Australia have resorted in poaching workers from rival hospitality venues by offering them a higher pay rise to keep their business operating. Furthermore, a number of hospitality establishments across Australia have been forced to close temporarily for the first time since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.

The fast-spreading Omicron variant has left many industries, especially the hospitality industry in economic disarray as thousands of workers have either tested positive to covid-19 or been required to isolate as a result of being a close contact of a positive case.

A trickle of international students and temporary workers back into the country after border closures has also exacerbated staff shortages for a number of businesses, while others that manage to stay open are operating on a knife edge.

For a number of venues who have been had a large percentage of their employees being unavailable to work due to covid-19 isolation requirements, the trading hours of many hospitality venues is dependent on how many people are available to work at that given time of day or night.

Furthermore, many hospitality venues are noticing an increase in rude customers who are complaining about the wait times for them to receive their meals as there are less employees available to work in the kitchen. As a result of this meals are taking longer than usual to be made for customers.

“That’s why I always ask the customers before they order food if they don’t mind waiting as we catch up with orders due to staff shortages. Please be kind with the hospitality industry right now. We are trying our best to serve you,” says Hana Tania, owner of Indonesian restaurant Ayam Ria Penyet.

Hana Tania reveals that some restaurants had also resorted to poaching staff with offers of better pay.

“Let’s say we were already offering a rate based on the standard award, but a fine-dining restaurant could offer them $35 an hour to wash dishes. Many restaurant owners that I know told me that they can’t compete with them. A couple of restaurant owners have even offered to give their staff a few hundred bucks extra if they can refer and bring their friends to work,” says Hana Tania.

245,600 Jobs Across Australia Were Advertised Online in December 2021

Posted by Emily Ridley

The current demand for jobs in farming, animal and planet specialists is at a record high in Australia. CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman outlined that the unusually high summer rainfall in regional areas had boosted employment openings.

‘With the end of the drought, significant rainfall, improved seasonal growing conditions, elevated soft commodity prices and strong global demand for food and beverages, demand for farmers, skilled animal and horticultural workers have all surged with job ads at record highs, says CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman.

There were over 250 farmer related jobs advertised on the internet last month. This is a record for jobs advertised online since stats were first complied in January 2006.

Records were also set for skilled animal and horticultural workers with 1,606 jobs advertised, and jewellers, arts and other trades 1,157 jobs advertised.

Australian workers are also needed to care for others, with the current demand at record levels for health and welfare support workers at 2,095 ads and carers and aides with 11,905 ads.

The hospitality sector is also in desperate need of staff with 9,847 ads for hospitality workers and another 3,462 jobs currently available for food preparation assistants.

The major reason for so many new job positions being advertised is because restaurants and cafes had hired staff since the Delta outbreak lockdowns, and consumers began to show more desire to dine out again despite the spread of Omicron.

“’Australia’s labour market is tightening, despite recent disruptions caused by the surge in Covid-19 Omicron virus variant infections,” says Ryan Felsman.

In December 2021, 245,600 jobs were advertised online, marking a 46 percent increase when compared with the number of jobs advertised in February 2020 before the pandemic. 

In 2021, job advertisements climbed by 37.4 percent or 66,900, with the Nationals Skills Commission compiling data from employment site Seek. 

Australia’s Unemployment Rate Drops to The Lowest Level Since 2008

The unemployment rate in Australia has surprisingly dropped to 4.2 percent in December 2021 from the figures of 4.6 percent recorded in the previous month. The drop means that Australia is currently experiencing it’s lowest recorded levels of unemployment since 2008.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that 64,800 people joined the workforce in December 2021 in a further recovery from last year’s Covid-19 lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

“Recovery in NSW and Victoria continued to have a large influence on the national figures, with employment in these two states increasing by 32,000 and 25,000 people between November and December,” says ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis.

These figures takes employment back to where it was in May 2021 for these two states.

Bjorn Jarvis said the latest report provides an indication of the state of the labour market in the first two weeks of December, before the large increase in virus cases later in the month.

BIS Oxford Economics chief economist Sarah Hunter believes that based on the economic experiences of overseas nations it is suggested that the impact of the Omicron variant will be significant but short-lived, and less economically damaging than previous waves.

“Overall, the unemployment rate is set to remain below 4.5 per cent this year, and with businesses still looking to add staff this will create further upward pressure on wages and domestic inflationary pressure. Today’s data reinforces our view that the RBA will tighten the cash rate much earlier than they are currently signalling,” says Sarah Hunter.

4.2 percent is the lowest since August 2008 which was recorded just prior to the start of the global financial crisis when records were 4.0 percent.

EFX Accountants and Advisors