Recent Articles
Does promising a future of less reliable employment pass the pub test?
Jenny Brice / January 16, 2018
“What lies between most people and destitution is their job” Irrespective of Age
Jenny Brice / July 3, 2017
Conscious capitalism
Conscious capitalism. The business model of the future.
The world is on the cusp of the biggest employment disrupter it has ever known. It has been brought about by the technological revolution and will be accelerated with the world of robotics and artificial intelligence.
The old model of business primarily driven by short term thinking, short term shareholder value, and short term management remuneration systems is not sustainable. The acute focus on reducing labour costs, the largest expense for most businesses, will not create enough jobs to sustain the working population.
With the dawn of the technological revolution, a new model of doing business needs to be created which must include societal value. What is the alternative?
As William Beverage a social policy thinker famously said we need to organize our society that the market is the servant not the master.
What men fear most about women at work?
An anecdotal story.
There were very few women in corporate Australia, in senior positions in the 1990’s. I know because I was one of that minority. At the time I became intrigued about why there were so few women in business. Over time almost through osmosis, I decided to do my own anecdotal research as to why. I must stress I am aware that the data and my conclusions have no academic validity. The insights I gained however helped me navigate my career, helped me avoid some unspoken career traps and helped guide other women with their careers.
I have spoken to many men over many years and I asked one simple question. What did men fear most about women in business? Obviously the question wasn’t delivered cold. It was asked once rapport was built with my male colleagues and conversations were mostly had in informal settings. Most men took the question very seriously, though some were confronted at first, they genuinely explored the question within themselves.
Shadow talk
In their hearts many Australians know there is a looming employment problem in Australia. It is now almost laughable that the government puts out unemployment statistics that tell the masses that the unemployment rate is falling.
If you look behind the magic number, the fall in the unemployment rate is driven by the drop in participation rate. People have given up looking for work. Creating the illusion that part time work equates to full time work is just that, an illusion, disguising an underlying rising underemployment problem.
“Australia has a hidden unemployment group of 8%, combine this with unemployment you have 1 in 8 people who do not have enough work”.
Professor John Buchannan
You only have to be employed one hour a week to be considered employed.
HR the Next Generation.
HR like many other functions will be impacted by the changing world of work. For the function to remain strategically relevant and add the value that is required there is no room for complacency.
There is a real opportunity for HR to “seize the day”. By being well informed about the technological and demographic trends, they will be able to constructively and proactively help the business shape the future of their workforces and provide a competitive advantage.
To enable HR to capitalise on this opportunity they firstly must maintain their position of influence and report directly to the CEO. The function’s influence is automatically diminished in most instances, if reporting lines change to report into finance or operations.
The Bullet Train – The changing landscape of the Australian workplace.
Have you ever sat in a fast bullet train going at three hundred kilometres an hour? If you have you will have noticed that the landscape flashes past at such a speed that it is often hard to distinguish what you are observing. Time just flashes by and three hundred kilometres fades into insignificance, almost unnoticed. Normalised within an instant.
The Australian work environment is like that bullet train. Everything is happening so fast it is hard to recognise the changes let alone keeping pace with those changes. For example, the deconstruction of the traditional domestic relationship, of mum dad and the two kids with the mother being the primary caregiver now only makes up 18% of an average street in Melbourne.
Technology and the employment revolution.
The impact of the employment revolution cannot be understated. It is happening faster than previous revolutions with the advent of modern technology. Ironically businesses in the Silicon Valley, which is the home of the largest high tech corporations, are funding research exploring the potential consequences to society, if technology takes over most occupations.
Research Projects:
One research project being funded is a base salary for everyone. They are conducting a pilot program in a city in America where 100 people get a minimum wage of $1,000 to $2,000 per month. There are no strings attached.
The study states it “will test payment methods and data collection, as well as whether the money meets people’s core needs, and how it affects people’s happiness, well-being, financial health, as well as how people spend their time.”
Toxic stress the modern day grim reaper
One hundred and twenty thousand excess workplace deaths are caused by toxic stress in the workplace according to research done at Stanford University. This means that workplace stress is the fifth largest cause of death above diabetes and Alzheimer’s in the USA.
Chronic workplace stress is toxic and it is becoming pervasive. It is killing and maiming our workforce and distorting people’s lives. It is the modern day grim reaper. Public sentiment still considers stress a form of individual weakness, so like our dirty washing; we keep it behind closed doors. It is a secret only to be shared with people we trust.
Working at the top level of the Human Resources industry in this country, and now as an Executive Coach I have witnessed and am witnessing first hand the impact and escalation of chronic stress. However the trend can be changed.
It’s all about employment
The collective pulse of our nation is steadily increasing; pushed upwards as Australians are becoming anxious about their ability to gain and maintain the level of employment required to ensure their own economic stability.
It is not just a matter of having a job but having sufficient employment. You may have a job but not enough hours or dollars to pay the bills.
The distinction is critical. Jobs and growth slogans just don’t cut it. This is highlighted every month as full time jobs are being replaced by part time or casual employment.
Remuneration
Incentives for Corporate Executives (ICE) acts like a drug that can’t be satisfied.
Unhappily for the Big Banks, they find themselves in the firing line, under attack to ‘fix’ a culture gone wrong, a greedy culture that has paid scant regard to both clients and good governance.
But is there another conversation about an equally greedy and distorting culture that we’re not prepared to have?
I’m talking about Incentives for Corporate Executives – or ICE. And like that other drug that is threatening our sense of community and family, ICE is an addiction that is corrupting our corporate culture.
Working at the top level of the Human Resources industry in this country, I have seen it first hand.
The Glass Trapdoor
Breaking through the glass ceiling is relatively easy. I did it almost 20 years ago. But no one told me about the glass trapdoor – that was the shock nothing in my stellar career had prepared me for. At 50 my corporate stiletto slipped on the glass ceiling and I went head first through the glass trapdoor with a silent thud. My greatest strategic career failure was I did not understand 50 was considered old. In case I was in any doubt, an executive recruiter looked me straight in the eye and told me I was too old. At least he was honest, I guess.
This is not a unique story. The tentacles of age discrimination reach into every facet of Australian society and nothing we are currently doing is working. The government bribing companies by paying $10,000 per older employee has been a dismal failure. Less than 3000 people are involved in a scheme that hoped to attract 32,000.
Recent Articles
Does promising a future of less reliable employment pass the pub test?
Jenny Brice / January 16, 2018
“What lies between most people and destitution is their job” Irrespective of Age
Jenny Brice / July 3, 2017