June 05 Newsletter

Work Life Balance vs Work Life Conflict

In order to remain competitive, companies must stop viewing Work-Life Balance as a “perk”

According to a Queensland Academic, Dr Paula McDonald, clear bottom line benefits are achieved by companies who introduce and practice work-life balance policies.

Employee burnout is on the rise in Australia and the opposite of work-life balance is work-life conflict, a condition that can have serious health consequences. Dr McDonald examined research from around the world and found people suffering from work-life conflict were;

30 times more likely to suffer from mood disorders including depression
10 times more likely to have anxiety
11 times more likely to have substance abuse dependence

Companies who don’t take action to introduce work-life balance policies could see the best available talent shun them in favour of other employers that do. In such a candidate short market can you afford to be losing that perfect candidate to a competitor?

Flexible work practises have been shown to have a positive impact on a company’s bottom line and future competitiveness. Benefits include lower staff turnover, increased output and higher levels of employee engagement.

Companies need to look at the demographics of their workforce and find out what the needs are of particular staff rather than introduce a blanket policy. This will ensure both parties have buy in and are working towards a common goal.

Where’s Nikki been?

I've just returned from a 4 week trip to Peru to trek in one of the remotest parts of the Central Andes, the Cordillera Huayhuash, made famous by the fairly recent movie Touching the Void, a true story about a couple of climbers attempt at the summit of Siula Grande (alt 20,808 feet) that goes terribly wrong...

The trek itself took just under 3 weeks travelling an average distance of 15km a day, not that far at sea level but far enough considering that our starting altitude was 11,398 feet. To put some perspective on this, our highest mountain in Australia is Mount Kosciuszko at 7,307 feet. Over the course of the trek we climbed a number of peaks and high passes, reaching the dizzying altitude of 18,368 feet at our highest point. Just 2,000 feet lower than the summit of the Siula Grande. I did struggle a little bit with altitude sickness, you know... head aches, nose bleeds, nausea, shortness of breath, feeling of exhaustion, upset stomach, and a cold for 2 of the 3 weeks... just the normal stuff most people tend to go through, I took medication for it which helped enormously as well drinking litres of the local coca tea (made from the leaves of the coca (cocaine) plant!).

Our guide Val Pitkethly is a personal friend who I'd trekked to Everest base camp with some years ago and an expert having climbed in this part of the Andes for over 20 years. Joining us were 5 other trekkers, all Canadians and 6 local Peruvian trek crew. We had 22 donkeys and 5 horses to carry our gear, 6 live chickens and 3 sheep, the chickens and sheep obviously weren't with us for the whole trip, we seemed to loose one every other day or so........ Now this may seem like a lot of gear for 6 trekkers but the main point of the trip was to take some solar lights to one of the most remote villages, so half of the donkeys were carrying lights. This area is so remote, there are no shops, there’s nothing to buy, so we had to take all our own food for the entire trek. The only food we could catch on the way was trout out of the rivers and lakes, pretty yummy actually.

The highlight of the trip was taking the lights to the village and taking gifts and school supplies for the children. This part of Peru has 12 hours of darkness a day, from 6pm to 6am, so even just one solar lantern per family made a huge difference to the quality of their lives and their health. The locals usually burn wood or dung for heat and lighting, which in an enclosed space causes serious lung/ breathing problems as well as not being readily available. The solar lights were designed by Anthony Harkam (one of the trekkers) and funded by Anthony and his wife Faith as well as the other trekkers. The village we were donating the lights to, Tupac, had been told they were getting the lights some months before and had planned a huge reception to welcome us and thank us for the gifts. It was an amazing experience I shall never forget, throughout the merriment, singing and dancing I even somehow managed to get a marriage proposal from one of the locals who owned 6 sheep yet no teeth! Nice!

We’re on the up and up……….

It only seems like yesterday that we moved into our brand spanking new offices and already one of us is looking to move out! Tara is off to pastures new, well, she’s looking to open up another Beaumont office in Chatswood anyway. We’ve been helping so many clients find star performers on the North Shore that we need to expand in that direction.

As a result, we're currently looking for an experienced Recruitment Consultant to join our NEW Chatswood office. Based initially in the city office they’ll be responsible for further developing new business in the North Shore, moving to the new Chatswood office soon after. The position will develop into a 360 degree recruitment role across Office Support and Finance both temporary and permanent.

Why are we telling you this?

Well, if you happen to work with any Recruiters who you know are looking around, please feel free to pass Tara’s details on to them. Tara Robinson, Manager of Chatswood on 9279 2777 or email your resume to tara@beaumontconsulting.com.au

Temp of the Month

We appreciate and acknowledge outstanding performance from the amazing temps that are currently working for us.

Our June Temp of the Month award goes to Caroline Gubbins. Caroline has received consistently excellent feedback with clients saying she is “very pleasant, enthusiastic and helpful” which is why we wanted her to receive the Temp of the Month Award.

Caroline is pictured here with our Louise Guilfoyle, whilst on assignment at Challenger. Well done Caroline.

What’s your employer reputation?

AHRI (Australian Human Resources Institute) are holding an excellent breakfast workshop “What is your employer reputation” on 27th of next month. This sounds like a fantastic topic and I’m sure many of you would find it both interesting and enlightening.

What is employer reputation?

Employer reputation is the set of factors determined by your employees (and potential employees) which act positively or negatively on employee engagement, retention and/or attraction.

Your employees are employer ‘reputation ambassadors’, on a daily basis they live the promise and delivery of the employer reputation and inform others of their experience, whether positive or negative.

Your employer reputation is the reason why people choose to stay, leave or join your organisation right now.

What are your employer reputation strengths and weaknesses? What parts of your employer reputation increase or decrease the discretionary effort of your employees; what makes them stay and what makes them leave?

Join Andrew Miedler, Director, Employer Branding and Craig Hooley, Group Human Resources Manager, Mirvac Hotels & Resorts as they discuss this topic.

Date: Wednesday 27 July, 2005

Time: 7:00am Registrations
7:30am – 9:00am Presentation (including breakfast)

Venue: Tattersalls Club, 181 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000

Retention of good employees is becoming critical in our current climate. We thought it would be worthwhile to highlight this workshop so that you could contact AHRI if you wish to attend.

For more details or to register please click here

Quote of the month

“Things do not happen. They are made to happen.” (rather ironically - John F Kennedy)