Roll out a red carpet to women and mature age workers

Both government and business need to take real and practical steps to making more employment accessible to women and mature age workers, according to human capital partner, Lisa Barry

Both government and business need to take real and practical steps to making more employment accessible to women and mature age workers, according to human capital partner, Lisa Barry. Speaking in response to Treasurer Peter Costello’s address on the most recent Intergenerational Report, Barry said the Treasurer’s statement about making Australia the “most female friendly” is a bold statement. “What is needed is a material change in the architecture of our businesses. Businesses need to find a way to get part-time work (or 60 per cent of a standard working week) happening again and get rid of all the hollow myths that bring it down,” she said. “Accessing part-time mature age workers and women would arrest any crisis quite dramatically.”

Industry groups to share talent pools

By 2010 corporates will be recycling their pre-screened candidate database intelligence and sharing it with their industry peers, according to people management solutions firm PageUp. People will be moving jobs through networks and with them will follow artificial intelligence about them which will be automatically updated and found in an inter-industry password controlled central system. Large corporations are struggling to find quality talent and will have no choice but to act laterally to find it, said PageUp chief executive, Karen Cariss. “Tapping into networks to find or be recommended for jobs is not a new concept, but talking about it openly will be, and will have to be, if companies want to remain competitive. With employees shortening tenure, people will move to other opportunities, so better to facilitate this with companies that can provide reciprocal talent in return.”

Best practice in addressing skills shortages

The Human Resources 2007: Best practice and strategies for addressing the skills shortage conference will be held in Melbourne from 14 to 16 May 2007 and in Sydney from 16 to 18 May 2007. Presented by Human Resources magazine and organised by LexisNexis Professional Development, the conference will look at issues such as combating the ageing workforce, cultural change and developing employee engagement, workforce planning and the latest trends in talent management. Speakers include Megan Nettleton, VP HR for GE Commercial Finance Australia/NZ, Trish Cook, manager strategic organisational change, Australia Post and Erik Lucis, HR director for Fujifilm. For more information call 1800 772 772, email [email protected] or visit the conferences page at www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au.

Global Corporate Challenge 2007 launches

A world-first corporate health initiative, Global Corporate Challenge (GCC) is a unique program aimed at encouraging corporate employees to get active and healthy. Participants wear step-counting pedometers to record their daily walking activities, and participants in the 2006 GCC have indicated profound medical and weight loss benefits for participants. GCC 2007 begins in earnest on 24 May and runs until 25 September. For a limited time, Human Resources magazine is offering subscriptions for a discounted rate of $99 for a one year subscription. Plus, all new subscribers will receive one free entry for a team of seven people in the 2007 Global Corporate Challenge, worth $99 per person.

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