September 09 Newsletter

Beaumont News

It’s been a frantic month in the Chatswood office and I’m not sure where to start as so much has happened!

We are very pleased that Julian Fellows; an experienced and specialist IT&T Consultant has joined the team. Julian is looking forward to developing relationships across our entire North Shore client base. His areas of expertise and technical knowledge span from Solutions Architects, Network Design and Implementation Engineers across to Sales, Mid Management to Senior/Executive Level. We feel very lucky to have found him!

Our 2nd annual conference took place at the beginning of the month and we were very happy to celebrate the success of our lovely temp consultant Nicole, as she was awarded our yearly Service Excellence Award. Other achievers for the year within the team included Kate and Tara – so well done to them as well!

On the Not for Profit side of the business Helen has been busy filling both temporary and permanent roles, as the demand for her services on the North Shore increases by the week! She has also been kept busy after hours completing the City to Surf and recently attended Networking for Charities, with the evening donating over $500 towards Dad’s in Distress (fantastic charity).

The Event of the Year occured this week – our charity Trivia night in aid of Sister2sister was incredibly successful with everyone attending having a great evening and even better, we raised $4000 for the charity. We had a number of very generous prizes donated from Sothys, Brown Foreman, The Prospect Shop, Global Sanctuary, Shirlaws Coaching, The Blonde Fox, Flat out Bear to name a few and would like to thank everyone who donated.

Helen also attended the book launch of the “Australian Standard of Employment Rights” written by Rhodes Scholar Joanna Howe and edited by Professor Joellen Riley. The event was hosted by the Australian Institute of Employment Rights, along with Harmers Workplace Lawyers. The book provides a jargon free “how-to guide” for Australian employers, employees and workplace participants on improving workplace environment and culture. Also speaking at the launch was Professor Gordon Parker from Black Dog Institute, Professor Ron McCallum OA, Sydney University and Rebecca Casey, National Learning and Development Manager from Roche who reminded us all that if a company genuinely invests in the dignity and worth of their working people, it will equate to competitiveness in business as well as employee attraction and retention.

So from the North Shore have a good month, and don’t forget National NewFeeling Day on 1st day of Spring.

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Soft economy keeps lid on wages expectations

A Melbourne Institute Wages report released in August found total pay rose 4.1 per cent in the 12 months to August, up 0.8 percentage points from the last survey in May. Basic hourly rates for wages - which omits bonuses and overtime pay - also rose by 4.1 per cent in the year to August.

Melbourne Institute research fellow Edda Claus said the soft jobs market continued to dampen prospects for growth in wages over the coming year. "As observed in the 12 months to May 2009, total pay and hourly wage rates have again risen at similar rates," Dr Claus said in a statement. "This is consistent with a continued dull labour market." The report said the same growth rate in total pay and basic hourly wages suggested less overtime and bonuses were being paid in the softer economic conditions.

Respondents said they expected their pay to grow by 3.2 per cent during the next 12 months, up from 2.6 per cent in the posted in the May survey. "This is also consistent with weak employment growth," the report said. The survey of 1200 households revealed the Australian Capital Territory had the strongest growth in total pay, up 6.4 per cent in the year to August, while Victoria had the weakest increase, 2.4 per cent.
Australia's unemployment rate was 5.7 per cent in July, steady from June.

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Continuing recognition in recession

Rewarding and recognising performance is especially important in a downturn. The economic downturn has impacted on companies and their approach to reward and recognition in a variety of ways. Some companies have actually increased their spend and efforts in a bid to boost performance, some have kept their investment in such programs steady, while others have rationalised their spend as part of cost-cutting programs across the entire organisation.

Alan Heyward, general manager of Accumulate, says that most companies have maintained their commitment to rewards and recognition, despite others cutting back. “Still, companies realise that recognition, maybe less so reward, is an integral part of business. Despite economic conditions, companies still realise that they need to commit to this,” he says.

There are people who have missed out on bonuses or who are missing out on pay rises as a result of a pay freeze, but one thing companies can do is to continue to recognise their people. The authenticity of how an acknowledgement is made is really important – much more so than an award that someone gets just because they’ve spent so many years with a company.

Sue Jackson, executive chairman of Solterbeck, says that improving discretionary performance is important in an economic downturn – a particularly good time to make a strategic investment in performance improvement. “When employees perform better, the company performs better,” she says. “While there has been some affect on non-sales generating areas, companies are still recognising that the people generating income need to be motivated. Those sorts of programs haven’t been affected either on the incentive or rewards side.”

Return on investment

Return on investment in reward and recognition programs is being scrutinised more closely in the downturn.

Jackson says that the ROI on an incentive program is obvious: low fixed cost element and a high variable cost element, so that when people generate revenue, such programs pay for themselves because people are hitting their targets. “It doesn’t really matter what the budget is, however, with a smaller budget you have to be more clever about how you put the elements of the program together,” she says.

Boosting discretionary effort is vital in tough times, and companies need to think about the “loyalty mirror”. The more the workforce is engaged, the higher the customer loyalty, and this absolutely goes to profit and the bottom line. Engaged employees deliver 27 per cent higher profit, 50 per cent higher sales and 50 per cent higher customer loyalty, according to Gallup.

Reward and recognition trends

Only a third of Australian companies currently have any formal recognition program at all, however, this is likely increase to 75 per cent over the coming years. Recognition will become more important and people will not hang around if they’re not noticed and if they’re not recognised.

The trend towards non-cash rewards will continue. Cash-based incentives and commissions are expected as part of compensation and entitlement, he says, and often cash gets spent very quickly and the link between their performance and the reward is forgotten quickly.

Elements of successful reward and recognition

Everyone should have access to the reward and recognition program - not just high achievers or sales professionals. Reward behaviour as well as performance, because behaviours such as exhibiting company values or excelling in customer service contribute to outcomes.

Increase frequency of rewards and recognition to reinforce positive performance and behaviour.

Secure strong executive support, so a company's leaders own and drive the program, and not just HR.
Article from HR Leader

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Stand up!

A recent Australian study has found that too much sitting down has health repercussions.

After conducting a study, University of Queensland researchers came to the conclusion that excessive inactivity has a negative effect on levels of both blood pressure and blood sugar, which in turn can lead to heart attacks, cancer and type 2 diabetes.

The amount of television that people watched was found to be related to blood cholesterol and blood glucose, even after taking into consideration the effect of their physical activity levels and the effect they may have experienced from being overweight or obese. This means that even active people who also spend long periods of time in a sedentary position could suffer health problems as a consequence.

Did you know that many Australians spend between 22 and 23 hours each day either sitting or lying down? No wonder our backs ache and no wonder we’re getting larger.

By standing up for part of the day you will improve your:
• back health,
• energy expenditure,
• alertness,
• overall health,
• posture,
• circulation, and
• core strength
So whenever you can, STAND UP and move around.

Try these 3 examples next week and see how much better you will feel:
• When talking on the telephone get off your chair and stroll while you chat.
• Don’t use intranet – go and speak to the other human in your office!
• Move the printer away from your desk so you have to get up to retrieve those documents.

Thank you Heidi for your great advice. Heidi is the Director of Jump Start Outdoor Training. Visit their website to find out more!

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Temp of the Month

Once again we are so pleased to have such lovely comments about our temps. This month the winner is Megan Michelle and this is what her employer had to say about her: “Megan is THE BEST temp that we have been sent by Beaumont Consulting. She is a delight to work with and her positive attitude in a pressure cooker environment is commendable.Megan takes pride in her job and extends herself beyond the scope of the role willingly. She loves learning new skills and has attracted positive comments from permanent staff members and colleagues.” Brilliant, thanks so much Megan.

We would also like to say thank you to Brendan Spratt. Brendan has worked with Beaumont for just a short amount of time but has made a great impression. Brendan has displayed great initiative and always goes above and beyond the expectations of his role. Thanks Brendan, we look forward to working with you again in the future.

Finally, we must say a MASSIVE thank you to Dee Nguyen. Dee has taken on countless assignments for us over the last 6 months and has impressed every time! She is flexible, quick thinking, happy and confident and is a pleasure to work with. We have now placed Dee in a permanent role; she will be greatly missed by the City Temp Team but we wish her all the luck in the world in her new role and can’t wait to hear how she gets on, keep in touch Dee!

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Whats on

4th Sydney Latin American Film Festival – 2nd – 13th Sep

Comedy Night – Autism Spectrum Australia – 2nd Sep

Animania Festival 09 – 5th - 6th Sep

Fathers Day – 6th Sep

National Blood Donor Week - 7th Sep – 13th Sep

Festival of the Winds - 13th Sep

Second hand Saturday – 19th Sep

Italian Film Festival – 23rd Sep – 12th Oct

City of Sydney Spring Cycle – 27th Sep