July 08 Newsletter

Hard working Aussies are taking less holidays

Australia is the second worst country to take annual leave following America. The annual “Vacation Deprivation” report conducted by the online travel company Expedia.com has revealed that 38% of Australians skip their holidays.

More Australians are choosing to work rather than holiday due to tougher economic times (26%), higher work commitments (34%) and guilt with taking time off (11%). A small portion fear their job security if they take annual leave.

Other leading countries including England, Germany, Spain and France have more time off annually. The average Australian takes just 18 days per year for their holidays.

The French lead with an average of 37 days of vacation per year compared to our 18 days. Throughout the six years that the survey was conducted by Expedia.com, America held the lead for the worst holiday habits.

values

Values, not skills, make for the best candidate fit

Hiring people whose values align with the company's is always more important than finding the right skill set.

Speaking at a recent series of RCSA corporate lunches, SEEK's CEO and co-founder Paul Bassat said that SEEK's strategy with its internal recruiting was to focus on the values of the individual, rather than their skills.

"We think it's much easier for an IT developer to learn a new programming language on the one hand, than it is for that same person to learn a 'can do' mentality, or a higher degree of teamwork.

"Similarly we think it's much easier for a new member of a sales team to learn about a new industry or learn about a new product, than it is for them to learn about integrity.

He said SEEK had "learned the hard way" to avoid hiring mistakes that were "due to a bad process".

Many times when hiring - especially with a limited budget or working against a tight timeframe - he thought, "I'm not sure that this person's that strong" or "I'm not sure that this person's a great fit, but they're the best of the people available and we need to fill this role immediately".

"And eight times out of ten, that approach would end in tears."

While skills and experience continue to be important, research and practice increasingly point to organisational fit and particularly culture fit as a key differentiator in the selection process. Research shows that individuals selected on the basis of culture fit will contribute faster, perform better and stay longer

When assessing for company/culture/team fit consider the following facts:

1. Assessing for cultural fit helps increase employee satisfaction, which leads to better performance and productivity and longer employment.

2. Getting it right the first time ensures business continuity.

3. Getting it right the first time also avoids the considerable costs associated with repeat recruitment.

4. Poor hires impact negatively on staff morale, performance and productivity.

salary

Salary Website

A new salary comparison and job ad distribution website has been launched for Australian workers - LiveSalary.com.

The free website allows the user to check and compare their salary. The site started by marketing company Quinntessential now has up to 150 salary figures and is growing daily.

The website factors in company size, gender, location, industry, years of experience and number of direct reports for the outcome.

Founder of Quintessential and LiveSalary Paul Quinn has said that there is no need to artificially inflate the results; “Our content is totally user generated and there is total transparency between the salary data entered and the salary reports generated from these contributions”.

world

World Youth Day

World Youth Day celebrations are going to affect many areas of the city and CBD. Hyde Park, The Domain, Sydney Opera House, Darling Harbour and Randwick Race Course are just few of the locations that will be disrupted during the July festivities.

‘Journey of the Cross and Icon’, ‘Papal Motorcade’ and ‘Pilgrimage Route’ are some of the events that are happening during World Youth Day. Due to the celebrations there are a number of road closures and detours for the special event. Extra trains and buses are being put on to enable visitors to attend the religious celebrations.

To ensure a smooth journey to work and avoid the traffic congestion for the “week” of World Youth Day, details for the road closures and special clearways are available on the RTA website.

Western Sydney the New ‘Job Centre’

Western Sydney has been labelled the 'job centre' with the boost of a $140 billion state-wide fund available for infrastructure over the next decade. The funding will result in a quick release of land, opening up hundreds of job possibilities within the development.

NSW is expected to gain an extra 600,000 people by 2018 according to treasurer Michael Costa, 70 percent of the figure is expected to reside in Sydney and the Central Coast. The expansion of the population will create a boom in infrastructure.

The introduction of the State Infrastructure Strategy aims to improve the metro rail system, desalination plant, upgrading of roads as well as providing funding for new hospitals, schools, TAFEs and police stations. As a result the employment market will provide more opportunities and jobs through the creation of new facilities.

july

What’s on in July

July School Holidays at the Library - Monday 7th - Friday 25th July

World Youth Day 08 - Tuesday 15th - Sunday 20th July 2008

National Tree Day - Sunday 27th July