Mountains of empirical evidence show that Best Employer companies achieve on average four times the profit growth of other organisations. They perform three times better when it comes to comparative stock market returns. The reality is that profits don’t create great workplaces – it’s the other way around.
The first time I realised that the way I thought about training was very different to many business owners came in a conversation I had with a neighbour some years ago. I told Mick, the owner of a large maintenance business that I’d spent the morning running a seminar. ‘Feeding the chooks you mean,’ he …
Effective Up-Skilling – Not Just Feeding The Chooks! Read More »
Last weekend my husband was lying on the couch reading the newspaper (yes, he’s still one of those people that actually reads them) when he drew my attention to a full-page colour hiring ad seeking workers to build the new AUKUS nuclear submarines. He knows I love talking about recruitment, so this was either some …
The Hiring Ad That Shocked An Electrical Company Read More »
When Victorian dairy farmers, Jim and Nancy, attended one of my masterclasses last year they were close to giving up their business. The 70-year-olds owned one of Australia’s largest herds, and were exhausted. Chronic staff shortages meant that after years of running a highly successful business, the couple were now milking every day and hadn’t …
What is the difference between an organisation that increases its profits by 80% in one year and one that loses 140 -180 employees every month? The answer often lies in attitude. Consider these 2 business case studies – one where management operate like Big Brother, and the other with a more inclusive, benevolent approach. The …
As manager of a retail store many years ago, I started employing temporary and casual workers to fill in for absent employees. The trend caught on and soon my organization, global travel retailer Flight Centre, was employing ‘temps’ across the globe. The practice became so entrenched that one enterprising employee even started her own temp …
It’s a constant refrain of employers: Employees are becoming more demanding with those pesky Gen Zs expecting beanbags, upmarket coffee machines and free fruit, of all things! Yet take away the surface perks and what staff are asking for is not new. They’ve always wanted fun, purpose, autonomy, flexibility, and fair pay. The ‘new’ is …
Business Innovations To Snaffle The Best Recruits Read More »
Easter holiday travellers are facing travel chaos at Australian airports as a 30% staff shortage leads to three-hour long queues at security screening. People are sleeping on floors, families have missed flights and many planes have been cancelled due to the issue. So what is the cause? According to Sydney airport CEO, Geoff Culbert it’s …
In my early twenties I had the dubious fortune of becoming the leader of a travel agency chain’s worst- performing national store. It was a place where staff had stand-up arguments, took constant sick days, alienated clients and often quit. Twelve months later, the perpetually loss-making store was profitable and the staff had won five …
Leaders often believe that success means working themselves to the bone and wear busy-ness almost as a badge of honour. Yet all the evidence contradicts this way of thinking. As a Stanford University study showed: ‘Output falls sharply after a 50-hour work-week, and falls off a cliff after 55 hours – so much so that …