This Week in Talent (11th November)

Sydney has a strange buzz… could it be that everyone is still riding on the #ATC2022 (sky) High? Absolutely LOVED the content on LinkedIn the past few days! The team sent me some Day 1 photos so I thought I’d share some of them… Definitely feeling major #FOMO!

So last week I shared a few posts on employment benefits that are working, and those that are not. This week, we saw a few keynote changes that may impact how we think of work and flexibility. I personally believe that flexibility and inclusive hiring go hand in hand. How can you commit to a diverse workforce without having the framework and ability to offer flexibility working to you employees? Followed by intent – if your organisation is dedicated and committed to inclusivity, then this must be addressed at all levels, from candidate attraction, candidate journey, and employee engagement.

To give you a raw example, I was offered my current role and also found out that I was pregnant simultaneously. Before I was able to accept the role, I needed to understand what the parental leave was, is there minimum tenure, do they offer a competitive paid parent leave? I can only imagine how many candidates I have spoken to, engaged with or had interview that may have also been in the same predicament. Why are we excluding potentially half of our workforce by not having this accessible?

In the push for gender diversity in Tech and equitable offerings, how far are organisations really willing to commit, why have we not seen systematic change and how far are they really willing to adapt their current policies?

I was thankfully one of the lucky ones – my company offered paid parental leave with no minimum tenure, so my decision was purely down to what was the best fit for me, not what was the best fit for Pregnant me.

So long for now and next week’s will be a doozy!

Unilever to extend four-day working week trial to Australia | Financial Times (ft.com)

This one has me jumping up and down, its finally here in Australia! Delivery without additional hours or compressed week showed an increase of quality and production and time management, fewer meetings and emails. Are they paving the way and will we see this being adopted in the near future ?

Quiz: which flexible working arrangement best suits you? – WORK180

While flexible working may suit working parents, how does it enable the rest of your workforce? Flexibility to study, connect with animals, follow hobbies allows employees to be engaged, motivated and feel as they can balance work/life.

How Technology Can Improve Flexible Working Arrangements (businessinsider.com)

Flexibility is a key component to overall employee well being,as well adapting workplace practices, how  do organisations digitally gear themselves to make this accessible?

Going Back To Work? Here Is How To Negotiate Flexible Working Hours | BellyBelly

Understanding what questions candidates are wanting answers to and how your Talent team can address flexibility in the candidate journey.  

Flexible working threatened by global economic uncertainty (msn.com)

Will the current global macro economic position push are back further into the dark ages? I cant ever see a traditional 5 day a week 9-5 ever being our normal again, I do think a shift will happen and hope that we can persevere and continue to support and change.

How the UAE is taking the lead globally in flexible working with weekend change (thenationalnews.com)

Almost a year since the UAE committed to a 4.5 day working week, how this change addressed the appeal and attraction to a global talent pool, and now ranked as the 13^th preferred destination for foreign nationals.