Event Details
AFR Workforce Summit 2024
Join business leaders, policymakers and stakeholder groups to dissect the profound shifts facing workforce and driving forces in the new realm of work.
Workforce Summit - Final release registration
Join the Financial Review Workforce Summit to dissect the profound transformation facing workforce and strategies businesses can implement to get the most out of it.
Featured
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Why the work from home debate is entering a new phase
Australia’s top CEOs have accepted flexible work is here to stay. But almost four years on from the pandemic, there are growing questions about productivity, culture and career development.
- Updated
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Workplace culture
Culture clash as Baby Boomers and Gen Z stop talking at work
Male managers are so terrified of getting “cancelled” that some are avoiding conversations with their young colleagues altogether.
- Lucy Burton
In central London, a big bet on a return to the office
Developers expect a forecast jump in jobs in London’s financial heart will support demand for office space regardless of whether hybrid work remains the norm.
- Eshe Nelson
Firms aren’t ready for a wave of new sexual harassment rules
Fewer than half of directors are confident their companies will be able to meet to new workplace sexual harassment rules when they come into force next week.
- Sally Patten
‘Frivolous’ flexible work claims a drain on business: retailer
E-commerce retailer New Aim was forced to defend court action from a recent hire who wanted to work remotely from New Zealand where her partner lived.
- David Marin-Guzman
This Month
The $100,000 question at the heart of the gender pay gap
The gender pay gap isn’t just caused by bias and discrimination. And not everyone agrees about what we should do about it.
- Euan Black
LinkedIn is rotting our leaders, says Alan Joyce’s former speechwriter
Lucinda Holdforth reckons executives should focus on delivering results and ditch the bubble talk about authenticity and vulnerability.
- Myriam Robin
Has working from home made people passive-aggressive?
The strategy is fast becoming commonplace in cases where more direct expressions of frustration and resentment would be considered unprofessional.
- Josh Cohen
Meet the ex-Deloitte partner overhauling the IR system
Ex-Deloitte partner Natalie James doesn’t plan to emulate a consulting firm at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, but she refuses to give up some habits.
- Ronald Mizen
November
Don’t politicise migration, business warns politicians
Australia is set to rely on foreign workers to fill 880,000 roles in industries including health, housing, engineering and technology.
- Tom McIlroy
- Exclusive
- Industrial relations
Managers ‘stripped of $100,000 entitlements’ in Whitehaven-BHP deal
The case could wipe out $30 million in entitlements accrued to senior workers transferring to Whitehaven Coal under its deal to buy BHP mines in Queensland.
- David Marin-Guzman
Calls to add Seek and LinkedIn to government employment services
Australia’s $7.1 billion employment services system no longer represents a coherent or efficient mechanism to help job seekers find work, a review has found.
- Updated
- Tom McIlroy
Feel overworked and underpaid? You’re not the only one
Insufficient recognition, poor change management and inappropriate workloads are the biggest risks for employee wellbeing, a study has found.
- Euan Black
Greens IR deal would ‘radically reshape’ bargaining: business
Employers are urging Senate crossbenchers to oppose a Labor deal with the Greens on workplace laws.
- David Marin-Guzman
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
Why AREEA didn’t go with the herd on the IR bill
We had two choices: join the ‘kill the bill’ crowd or accept political reality and consult on getting some key changes.
- Steve Knott
- Opinion
- Working from home
Managers worry staff have a second job on the sly
I’ve never imagined I could take advantage of the freedom to work remotely to get another full-time job on the sly. But apparently it’s a thing.
- Pilita Clark
IKEA, Big W boost staff holidays to five weeks a year
The two big brands have joined major retailers like Apple and Bunnings in increasing annual leave to 25 days, as the retail union pushes for a new holiday standard.
- David Marin-Guzman
Work from home frays workplace connections
Endeavour CFO Kate Beattie worries that remoteness may hinder collaboration as leading chief financial officers say bringing people together drives innovation.
- Jemima Whyte
Billabong exposed as penalty rates dodger
One of Australia’s best-known surf labels has been forced to pay hundreds of retail staff penalty rates for the first time in eight years as the retail union targets a new wave of zombie deals.
- David Marin-Guzman
- Exclusive
- Industrial relations
Fears of ‘drastic’ market distortions trigger more IR changes
The Albanese government will amend its ‘same job, same pay’ rules following business concerns of hidden liabilities that could distort companies’ market value.
- David Marin-Guzman
Aynur’s boss said return to the office. She found a new job instead
Low unemployment is making it easier for workers who don’t want to follow return-to-office rules to find alternative employment, and experts warn holdouts are getting more rights to push back.
- Euan Black and David Marin-Guzman
Fair Work Ombudsman staff strike to protest union-backed pay offer
A leftist union faction has used the strike to attack the Community and Public Sector Union leadership and push for rejection of the pay deal.
- David Marin-Guzman
Amazon tells staff: come into the office if you want a promotion
Amazon Australia employees who work less than three days a week in the office cannot get a promotion without additional leadership approval.
- Euan Black
Sacking WFH lawyer for seven hours of online surfing ruled unfair
A law firm has failed to appreciate the mix of work and personal time in “the modern digitally connected era”, Fair Work has ruled.
- David Marin-Guzman
Labor told to fund three days childcare for all families
The Productivity Commission has recommended a $2.5 billion increase in spending on care for children under five, as part of the promised universal system.
- Tom McIlroy
