Most employers are forced from time to time to slow hiring, freeze headcounts or make layoffs, but "mature-class" organisations never stop nurturing their talent pools, according to HR analysts.
The diversity agenda of major Australian employers has weathered the impact of the GFC better than expected, according to the Diversity Council Australia.
With only three months to go until the "right to request flexibility" kicks off with the other National Employment Standards, more than four in every five employers are under-prepared and at risk of failing to comply with the new rules, a survey reveals.
The Australian human rights law framework doesn't cater for employees who have been wronged at work, according to high-profile discrimination claimant Christina Rich. She says corporate and individual leaders can play a role in reforming workplace culture, but the broader system needs to change.
Employers in Denmark have embraced flexible working hours arrangements, but some are finding it hard to overcome "flexitime jealousy", according to a visiting academic.
HR and recruitment managers should bear in mind "what a judge would think" before blithely rejecting job applicants who "fail" inherent requirements tests, a workplace relations lawyer says.
The low prevalence of paid maternity leave in female-dominated industries shows "there is more work to be done" on gender equality in Australia, says Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick.
Employers that fail to make "reasonable adjustments" for stress-affected employees returning to work could face discrimination claims, an employment lawyer warns, and improving communication streams, according to a business lecturer, is pivotal.
A new Australian Standard of Employment Rights gives employers and workers a benchmark against which to measure the industrial relations health of their workplace, says University of Sydney professor of labour law, Ron McCallum.
Policies prohibiting workplace love are untenable, an organisational psychologist says, but employers can take steps to prevent romantic relationships from stifling productivity or ending in a harassment claim.
