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Women of the West EOFY Newsletter - July 2023
State of the Nation – An Update – Urszula Lusk
It's become quite clear from our conversations with clients and candidates that there's a lot of uncertainty and confusion floating around on various topics. Here are some of the things that have been keeping all of us awake at night:
- Finding effective solutions for hybrid working environments, which seems to be on everyone's mind.
- Dealing with the mental fatigue that has accumulated over the past four years and finding ways to manage it.
- Training our teams on psychosocial hazards and ensuring their well-being.
- The pressure of inflation and its wide-ranging implications on individuals, their families, and businesses.
- The ongoing challenge of attracting and retaining talented staff.
- The unpredictability of seasonal sickness, coupled with our ever-present companion, Covid.
As always, we're here to navigate these challenges together and find the best strategies to address them head-on. Let's keep the lines of communication open and continue supporting one another.
And what about the economic and labour market landscape?
There's also been a lot of chatter recently about what that will look like in the coming year.
We are dealing with:
- Inflation which has been persistently high
- 12 interest rate increases since May of last year and future ones to come.
- An unemployment rate that hasn't started to climb yet. In VIC and QLD, we're starting to see a slight increase in unemployment, while we're yet to witness the same trend in NSW.
According to the latest data from the ABS in May 2023, there were 128,000 jobs in NSW, with 112,000 of them in the private sector. Although this number is slightly below the peak levels we saw in August 2022 (151,000 jobs), there haven't been any solid indications of a significant downturn just yet.
To put things into perspective, the number of jobs reported in NSW for May 2023 is over 1.5 times the number reported (71,000 jobs) before the pandemic started in early February 2020.
In May 2023, ABS reported unemployment rate in NSW stood at 3% (compared to the national rate of 3.5% in the same month), whereas back in February 2020, the unemployment rate for NSW was 5%.
To give some context and meaning to these numbers. There are 135,000 unemployed people looking for either full time or part time work and with 128,000 vacancies across NSW. Therefore, the ratio of people looking for work to job vacancies in NSW is approximately 1.055:1.
For hiring managers who have been hesitating to make decisions without a clear basis for comparison, these numbers serve as a stark reality check.
On a different note, I wanted to share an interesting table with you that shows the breakdown of gender and the split between those seeking full-time and part-time employment. I would be keen to get your thoughts on this data?
Data and graph sourced through ABS
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Good News Story:
I'm thrilled to share that our Women of the West group have teamed up with The Australian Skin Cancer Foundation as our Charity Partner. This cause holds a special place in my heart, having lost a dear friend to Melanoma recently. Hayley's passion for #getaskincheck lives on through our efforts.
Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer worldwide, especially among individuals aged 15 to 39. Shockingly, someone is affected by this disease every 30 minutes, and tragically, an Australian loses their life to melanoma every 5 hours. Regular skin checks are vital for early detection and saving lives. Prioritise your well-being and seek peace of mind through proactive skin monitoring. Act now by making skin checks a priority and practicing sun-safe habits.
Congratulations to The Australian Skin Cancer Foundation on launching Australia's first-ever Skin Check Truck!
Member in the Spotlight:
Lyndahl Riley
Senior Human Resources Manager including Safety, Risk, Compliance, and IT - Brady Australia
What have you enjoyed about the Women of the West events?
The topics, the team at Veritas and the network of those that attend. Meeting new people and obtaining different perspectives, learning, and sharing as there are those little ‘uh ha’ moments that could work for us and being able to take those ideas and implement.
What has been your favourite topic to date?
Really hard to select one as many of the topics have truly resonate. It was great though to get back together for a face-to-face session last year around “Attraction and Attrition” and the challenges that we faced but also the opportunities that we all had.
Share your biggest achievement either professional or personal in the last 12 months.
Enhancing our people experience, embedding our EVP of fostering a safe and inclusive workplace which resulted in our employee engagement score increasing by double digits.
From a personal perspective, seeing the resilience my two girls have demonstrated when faced with adversity.
What are your goals for 2023?
To continue to lead from the front as the next challenge for HR Professionals continues with the changing IR landscape and challenging economy whilst growing and developing our people with skills of the future capturing their “hearts and minds”.
What is one topic/theme you would like to see covered in upcoming events?
Is AI a true impact on our workforce from an employment landscape perspective?
Learning/sharing how others are preparing their workforce with skills of the future.
Final Note
We had a fantastic webinar on Conscious Leadership & Psychological Safety with Alex Terrey from the Mentoring Effect who reminded us that a good culture lays the foundation for psychological safety in the workplace.
If you missed the webinar, reach out to me for a recording.
Stay tuned for an exciting announcement about our September Breakfast event!
Keryn Drew
Associate Director
Tune into our socials and join our Women of the West LinkedIn group to stay up to date with the latest news and announcements!
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