The Workplace Briefcase

The COVID recession hit women much harder than men, and will compound women’s lifetime economic disadvantage. They lost more jobs than men – almost 8 per cent at the peak of the crisis, compared to 4 per cent for men; They shouldered more of the increase in unpaid work – including supervising children learning remotely – taking on an extra hour each day more than men, on top of their existing heavier load; and they were less likely to get government support – JobKeeper excluded short-term casuals, who in the hardest-hit industries are mostly women. These concerning figures were recently exposed in a report provided by the Grattan Institute, and in this episode I talk Grattan CEO Danielle Wood, to uncover the true impact of Covid restrictions on women in the Australian workplace. We specifically discuss the "Women’s work: The impact of the COVID crisis on Australian women" report and what needs to be done at a corporate and government level to help women transition back into the workplace.

Australia is in the midst of an Industrial Relations revolution and Enterprise Bargaining is facing a possible corporate extinction. The Hon Graeme Watson joins us with over 40 years’ experience in workplace and industrial relations to discuss IR reform, the slow death of enterprise bargaining, and the fundamental changes required for business productivity through bargaining on the other side of Covid.

Graeme shares his advice, his suggestions, and ideas on how businesses need to adjust when crafting their EA bargaining strategies. The AFR’s ‘Workplace Warrior’ has been involved, and settled, some of the biggest and most publicised industrial relations cases in Australian workplace history.

We discuss his earliest days as a lawyer, the big wheels of passing legislation in Federal Government and his experiences in the court room which have formed, and continue to form, one of the greatest carers in Australian IR history.

The appropriately named “HR Thought Leader of the Decade”, Dave Ulrich, joined us to discuss his unique observations of how the global pandemic has impacted HR professionals across the world and in Australia. In a world where working from home is the new norm and travel rarely exists, how does the most recognizable HR facilitator adapt to working from the confines from his home office? Dave discusses how he has adapted both personally and professionally whilst taking us on an intimate one-on-one tour of his home office!

We dive deep into some recent research and data trends which sit behind a recent article published by Dave “How HR must rise to today’s Opportunity”. It was in this article were Dave references a fascinating trend of a current decline in required competencies for HR professionals. Up till 2020 that competency evolution was trending upward, and now, a sudden decline – why?

LinkedIn has recently created a breeding ground for a new wave of HR philosophers, management mavericks and a whole range of new HR theorists. We asked Dave for his views on these new models and theories, particularly models that are not supported by research or data. Specifically, Dave’s traditional models have come into question on LinkedIn by a new way of thinking – we sought Dave’s views on having his models challenged on LinkedIn and his fascination with these new ideas. The year 2021 and beyond brings a whole new way the Australian workplace operates in terms of HR and Dave shares some of the best advice yet on overcoming uncertainty and using that uncertainty to lift the lid on where to next for HR professionals