Fall Back in Love with Your Job

The word ‘love’ is not a word most of us associate with ‘work’, as work is about function, purpose and necessity, while love is a blissful emotion associated with immense happiness. But like the personal relationships we have in our lives, our relationship with our job can often present the same challenges and play the same role in influencing our day-to-day happiness.

Fiona Webster, Head of Career Coaching & Outplacement at recruitment & HR services company, Randstad, believes we need to treat work more like a relationship to see its positive benefits.

If you were asked to rate ‘love’ and ‘work’ on life’s happiness barometer, it would be rare to find them on the same scale, but think about the 168 hours there are in a week and how many of those you spend working. So learning to love your day job is vital to achieving a happy balance both at and away from the office.

It takes two
Like love, work is a two-way street, if you don’t feel satisfied about what you’re getting out of your role, then it might pay to give more to your day-to-day activities. Sometimes, ‘you only get out what you put in’ and thinking of ways to improve your basic daily tasks can give you more satisfaction and provide more value to those around you. In the same way, contributing more to your team or getting involved in social activities at work might hold the key to a healthier two-way relationship in 2010. Read more

Employers will not hire mature workers

Hi There, I always enjoy the AWO magazine and feel it offers intelligent articles for intelligent women,and I thank you.On reading the articles on jobs and vacancies I wanted to make this comment…

The government in its wisdom has raised the retirement age, I am retired already so it does not affect me. However, I have many friends over 60, competent women and men who cannot get jobs! It does not matter what the government says, employers will NOT employ older staff – its just a fact of life!

They will not hire older workers and yet they complain about the young ones not working correctly while they do not even give an older worker the opportunity to work. If older people cannot get work then they may as well have left the retirement age at 60, as those who of that age – and there are 100’s – are surviving on New Start and working 15hrs a week in op shops! They may as well be on a pension and put our employment figures where they should really be.

Submitted by: Barbara-Louisa Walker

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EOWA announces winners of Equal Opportunity Awards 2009

The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) has recognised employers and individuals that are leading by example in creating workplaces that support working women in Australia.

The finalists and the eight winners were honoured at a ceremony in Sydney yesterday, attended by the Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek. The audience included CEOs from Australian businesses with Giam Swiegers, CEO of Deloitte, delivering the keynote address.

The eight winners and their initiatives are:

Professor Ross Milbourne, Vice Chancellor of UTS, for driving the University’s Gender Equity Grants and Women in Engineering Programs to improve representation and career progression for women in non-traditional fields of study and employment. Read more

Equal Pay Day – Gender Pay Gap Widens in 2009

The gender pay gap has reached its highest level since the mid 1990s and the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) is using Equal Pay Day (1 September) to call on Australian businesses to investigate pay inequity in their workplaces.

Equal Pay Day illustrates the number of extra days that women have to work after the end of the financial year to earn the same as men, because women – on average – earn more than 17% less than men. The widening gap means that Equal Pay Day has moved to 1 September¹, five days later than it was in 2008 when it was marked for the first time. It will now take working women in Australia an extra 63 days to earn the same as men earned over a year. Read more

Adjusting to a New Boss

The market is changing, many companies are reassessing headcount and as a result we’ve seen mass redundancies in recent months.

With redundancy comes opportunity, many professionals will secure new work and will need to learn once again how to shine as the ‘new recruit’. James Nicholson, Managing Director of Robert Walters Australia offers some advice on how to survive a new job and inevitably, a new boss.

One of the most exciting challenges in a professional’s career is starting a new job but this can also be a very stressful and demanding time. Professionals must realise that the job will never be exactly as they expected although if you anticipate the challenges ahead, your transition can be much smoother. A new job means new relationships, new ways of doing things and new expectations.

Not only has your workplace changed but so has your boss. Many professionals will say that adjusting to a new boss is the hardest part about starting a new job; others will feel it to be the easiest. In order to ensure your new role starts well, it’s important that you let go of your old boss and accept that your new boss will have new priorities, a new focus and almost certainly, a new way of doing things.

It is important to figure out the communication style of your new boss, find out how they like to work and how they like things done. Be proactive and initiate a meeting with your new boss to discuss how they like to work and then adapt. This will help you get an understanding of what is expected of you and help set clear expectations.

Working under a new boss can be challenging, however it is an experience that should be embraced. Learn everything you can from the experience, try and empathise with the boss’ situation, this will ease the transition for you both. Ultimately it is just as important for you to manage your new boss, as it is for them to manage you. And remember – it’s up to the both of you to make the relationship work.

Robert Walters is a leading global recruitment consultancy, specialising in placing high calibre professionals into permanent, contract and temporary positions at all levels. For more information visit the website www.robertwalters.com.au

Source: Robert Walters

Federal Government Announces Plans to Introduce a Paid Parental Leave Scheme

The federal government has announced that paid parental leave will be included in Tuesday’s budget, with a commencement date of 1 January 2011.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, said it was an historic day for women and parents in Australia.

“The implementation of a paid parental leave scheme in Australia is a major triumph for not only mothers and parents, but for our community,” said Commissioner Broderick. “Not only does it send a strong message that women matter in Australian workplaces, but it is a critical piece of social infrastructure that will help deliver stronger economic outcomes for families, businesses, the economy and our community as a whole.”

The Commissioner said the scheme would assist women to maintain skills and income by encouraging workplace attachment for workers who have historically been forced to downgrade in both areas when they have a child. It would also benefit businesses, and therefore the economy, through the preservation of corporate intelligence and skills.

Ms Broderick emphasised that Paid Parental Leave is a workplace entitlement and should be available to all women, not just those earning less than $150,000.

Commissioner Broderick also thanked the many organisations that had advocated so hard over the last three decades and particularly, in the lead-up to this budget. She said their tenacity was one of the main reasons we are now seeing implementation of a paid parental leave scheme.

Acting Director of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA), Mairi Steele, said, “When I came to Australia from the UK 15 years ago I was really shocked to find out that Australia didn’t have a government funded paid maternity leave scheme in place. Yesterday’s announcement has been long awaited by women and men in this country and marks a significant step forward for working parents.”

The EOWA says there has been some discussion about what employers with schemes will do once a government scheme is introduced. Annually around 3,000 non-government organisations report to EOWA on their programs to promote equal opportunities for women. Of those organisations, just over 50% already have paid parental leave schemes in place and there is no evidence that these organisations will be withdrawing their schemes once a Government scheme is introduced.

“I don’t see why employers who already have schemes in place would get rid of them”, said Ms Steele. “By combining the Government scheme with their own scheme, employers will be in a much better position to hold onto valued staff and to attract people to work for them.”