MORE than 33 per cent of Australians believe casual Fridays have lowered the standard of overall workplace dress codes
MORE than 33 per cent of Australians believe casual Fridays have lowered the standard of overall workplace dress codes. Another 60 per cent of Australians take note of how their colleagues dress at work, while workers ruled out wearing the following to work on mufti days:
Thongs 77%
Ripped/rugged looking jeans 75%
Mini skirts/low hipster jeans 72%
Furthermore, 35 per cent of Australians believe workplace dress impacts the way they interact with their fellow workers.
Source: Linkme.com.au
Mining sector salaries on the increase
FIXED salaries for senior and executive managers in the minerals sector have increased by 21 per cent over the past two years. In comparison, salaries rose by only 15 per cent for the general industrial sector. In light of the fierce competition for talent in the minerals sector, more than 40 per cent of resource companies have lost engineers to competitors offering better career opportunities. In addition, graduate engineers are now being offered salaries in excess of $100,000, including allowances and incentive payments.
Source: Hay Group
Aussie workers suffer winter blues
MORE THAN two thirds of Australian workers have reported the thing they most hate about working in winter is travelling to and from work in the dark, cold wet. The survey of 498 people found ‘winter work blues’ affects women the most (49 per cent) while only 36 per cent of men admitted to suffering from the seasonal depression. Winter depression was also found to decrease motivation and productivity at work (64 per cent) and lessen patience in dealing with colleagues (16 per cent).
Source: Linkme.com.au
UK workers day dreaming
FORTY-SEVEN per cent of workers in the UKimagine their boss naked to get through boring meetings. Of the 4,000 adults surveyed, sex rated as the top subject for daydreaming, at 57 per cent. Furthermore, lawyers rated themselves as having very high levels of concentration in meetings (100 per cent), while those working in sales rated their concentration as poor (22 per cent).
Source: Sky TV - UK
Spot cash rewards for US employees
US EMPLOYEES are expecting salary increases of 3.7 per cent in 2006. A survey of 950 USemployers found the most common means of rewarding skilled employees were spot cash awards. These were particularly popular within:
IT 85%
Accounting & Finance 78%
HR 73%
Other emerging reward practices included formal career planning (28 per cent) as a means to continually develop internal talent and competency-based performance management (15 per cent).
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting
Small business slams WorkChoices
FORTY per cent of small businesses believe WorkChoices is unfair to many employees. As a result, only 9 per cent of small businesses plan to make any changes to their approach to employment, pay and conditions. Further, only 12 per cent of small businesses believe WorkChoices will lead to an increase in business productivity while a mere 5 per cent strongly believe the legislation will increase their intentions to hire new employees.
Source: MYOB
