WITH many business owners opting to have their employees return to the office full-time following months of working from home, the risk of employee burnout has never been greater.

This sentiment isn’t lost on Australian employees, as new data from Employsure’s advice line for small business owners shows a 40 percent increase in employee management calls since the start of the year. While some employers  are choosing a hybrid work model, there is talk about the possibility of a four-day work as an alternative to combat burnout.

A number of countries have recently trialled a four-day work week this year, including Spain and Iceland.

Similar trials have taken place within private companies across the world over the past few years, most notably at Unilever and Perpetual Guardian in New Zealand. Perpetual Guardian made the four-day work week a permanent option for all full-time workers, after it reportedly recorded a 20 percent increase in staff productivity.

As measures such as working from home, or limited office contact days, have become more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, employees are showing they are able to be productive when given the right tools and environments to work in.

“In Australia, the pandemic has shaken up our perception of a typical work week. With more people working, or preferring to work from home post-lockdown, the argument for a four-day work week has never been stronger,” Employsure business partner Emma Dawson said.

“According to academics who observed the four-day work week trial at Perpetual Guardian, staff had a higher level of job satisfaction, which resulted in lower stress levels, greater productivity, and an improved sense of work-life balance.

“A way of recording this with already existing measures in Australia is to look at the several weeks in a year that have a public holiday in them. Anyone who has ever been part of a team who know they have an extra day off in the week will agree the mood is more positive. In an office environment, employees buckle down, cram their work for the week into four days, and then relax knowing they won’t have to do look at a computer screen again for several days.

“If this applied to workers all year, they would essentially get 50 extra days in the year to better handle their work-life balance. Parents would be able to spend more time with their children, work on projects around the house, travel to more places on the weekend. By the time the work week comes back around, they would be more rested and rejuvenated to take on the next four days of work.

“A fully paid four-day work week would be one employees would get on board with, assuming they are paid at the same rate as a 40-hour work week. While the fantasy of only working four days a week is enticing, a large number of workers would most likely reject it if it meant a decrease in wages.”

The realities of a four-day work week however would ultimately have its drawbacks. As employers have seen over the past nearly two years with employees working from home instead of heading into their workplace, it has a knock-on effect for surrounding businesses. For every worker that stays home, that’s one less coffee potentially sold at the local café, one less meal, one less beer.

There would also be many barriers if a four-day work week were to be introduced into Australia; the most obvious being financial. If employees were paid a full week for four days of work, the question of who pays for that fifth day remains.

If a trial was to be implemented in Australia, it would realistically be similar to those held in New Zealand where the company holding the trial foots the bill. If employers were to trial a four-day work week in their own business, they would need to budget for this.

Employers would also have to give workers the option to opt into a trial first.

At Perpetual Guardian, employees were given the option on whether or not to take part. Those who chose not to were still offered flexible working options such as starting or finishing early.

“Employee satisfaction and boosted productivity sounds appealing, but can the benefits outweigh the cost? Employers must be pragmatic and analyse whether four days of work will still generate them five days’ worth of profit,” Ms Dawson said.

“While a post-Covid world is an ideal time to shake up the typical work week formula, ultimately it comes down to cost. If a four-day work week is something that could work in Australia, it can realistically only be achieved once businesses and the Federal Government have fully recovered from the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.”

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THE Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $1.5 million in funding to support a feasibility study into the development of a 40 MW hydrogen hub located at Port of Newcastle in New South Wales.

The $3 million study will be led by Port of Newcastle and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group and supported by project partners Idemitsu, Keolis Downer, Lake Macquarie, Snowy Hydro, Jemena and project collaborators Macquarie Agriculture and University of Newcastle. It will determine a broad and comprehensive range of potential use cases for green hydrogen, including customer-led studies into mobility, bunkering, energy production, and industrial applications such as renewable ammonia at scale for domestic fertiliser use.

The project will benefit from the deep expertise of the joint developers, project partners, collaborators and globally recognised specialist consultants. The study will ultimately determine the optimal site within the Port for the hub as a springboard for renewable hydrogen to flow within the region and future export.

The study will also investigate the potential to scale up hydrogen production for export, leveraging the Port of Newcastle’s existing domestic and international supply chain links. While stage one of the project is underpinned by a 40 MW electrolyser, the study will also consider the future staged scale up of an electrolyser to around 1 GW with the ability to produce up to 150,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year for domestic and export use.

Port of Newcastle is the largest port on Australia’s east coast and currently handles about 4,400 ship movements and over 160 million tonnes of cargo annually while utilising less than 50 percent of its channel capacity. Newcastle is an ideal location for a hydrogen hub due to the existing industries, infrastructure, access to a deep-water port, and a highly skilled workforce. Port of Newcastle's existing export routes to Japan and Korea represent potential renewable hydrogen export markets in the future.

Since the release of Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy by the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) Energy Council in November 2019, the Australian Government has been advancing international collaborations, undertaking national coordination and supporting priority industry projects to grow a clean, innovative, safe and competitive hydrogen industry.

The development of clean hydrogen is one of the key stretch goals outlined in the Australian Government’s Low Emissions Technology Statement. The stretch goal is to produce hydrogen for less than $2 per kg, or ‘H2 under 2’, which is the price where hydrogen is expected to become competitive with other energy sources for industry and transport.

ARENA has also recently launched its new 2021 Investment Plan with the project strongly aligned with the strategic priority of commercialising clean hydrogen, which aims to support a viable domestic and international clean hydrogen economy. 

ARENA CEO Darren Miller said if the study proved the project to be feasible, it could enable Newcastle to become a major player in producing clean hydrogen.

“We’re excited to be a part of this feasibility study which presents an opportunity to accelerate the diversification of Port of Newcastle which is crucial as Australia starts its journey to net zero by 2050," Mr Miller said.

"Newcastle is an ideal location for this project due to existing infrastructure and skilled workforce, both of which will be so important as we scale up. With the backing of Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, Newcastle could become a hub for the production and use of hydrogen for domestic and export opportunities for Australia.”

ARENA recently approved $103 million in funding to support three 10 MW electrolyser projects through the Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round. Since 2018, ARENA has also invested $60 million to support pre-commercial activities across 36 projects, including a number of feasibility studies focusing on smaller scale deployments with domestic end-use cases. 

The project represents ARENA’s second feasibility study for a large-scale hydrogen production project. With funding previously announced for Stanwell to complete a feasibility study for a proposed hydrogen export market located in Gladstone, Queensland.

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VETERANS finding themselves unable to transition from the military to civilian careers can now access free training and some of the most sought-after technology jobs in Australia.

WithYouWithMe (WYWM) has partnered with Commonwealth Bank to provide customers who are veterans with access to free courses in some of today’s most in-demand technology skills. Accessible through the Benefits finder feature in the CommBank app, veteran customers will be able to explore new careers in highly sought-after fields including cyber security, digital project management, robotic process automation and software development.

The WYWM Potential website offers military-grade online testing to identify the courses most suited to the user’s aptitude and abilities, in addition to jobs and new careers available upon finishing their selected course.

WYWM chief executive officer, Tom Moore, said the training and software company was excited to be collaborating with Commonwealth Bank to help veterans gain access to new digital skills and technology careers.

“We at WithYouWithMe know that many veterans struggle to find meaningful employment which just isn’t right; and we want to do something about it. We’re proud to be partnering with Commonwealth Bank to enable more veterans to gain access to our high-quality aptitude testing, technology training courses, and career opportunities,” Mr Moore said.

CBA’s head of financial wellbeing, Ben Grauer, said the bank was proud to collaborate with WYWM to connect customers who are veterans with WYWM’s services.

“At the bank we’re always thinking about what we can do to help improve financial wellbeing and Benefits finder helps customers access and claim benefits and rebates they may not know about and be entitled to. By including benefits that are available from WYWM in the CommBank app feature we’re able to offer personalised support to help more veterans upskill and prepare them for the next stage of their career and beyond,” he said.

Access to the WYWM platform will be available to Commonwealth Bank customers through Benefits finder from November 15.

For further information contact: Jay Munro, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +61 401 510 703

About WithYouWithMe

WithYouWithMe (WYWM) is a social impact software and technology company, focused on solving underemployment and building the technology workforce of the future. Offering free training in some of the most in-demand technology fields, WYWM aims to assist underrepresented communities in building their new skills and careers in just weeks rather than years; then facilitating recruitment and hiring of newly job-ready technologists with some of the world’s leading org anisations. With a presence in Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, WYWM has already helped more than 20,000 veterans and others with their technology career transitions. www.withyouwithme.com

About Benefits finder

The Benefits finder feature can be accessed via the CommBank app and NetBank. Customers are asked to answer five simple questions, with answers determining what benefits or rebates they may be eligible to claim. Customers are provided with details on each benefit or rebate, including how much they may be able to claim and instructions on how to claim, and are then directed to the relevant website to start the claim. The Benefits finder feature was developed as part of the ongoing collaboration between CBA and Harvard University’s STAR (Sustainability, Transparency and Accountability Research) Lab. www.commbank.com.au/digital-banking/benefits-finder.

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THE Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) has welcomed the release of guidelines for the $150 million community infrastructure component of the Commonwealth’s $600 million Preparing Australian Program.

The program is focused on disaster preparedness and responds to recommendations of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements aimed at better preparing communities for more severe and frequent disasters.

The release of the funding guidelines comes 13 months after the Royal Commission’s report.

Under the 'Preparing Australian Communities – Local' component of the program, local governments and communities can apply for grants from $20,000 to $10 million for projects that will help them better prepare for future disasters and lessen their impacts.

ALGA president Linda Scott said the opportunity to enhance the resilience of essential local infrastructure and boost post-COVID economic recovery would be welcomed by all communities.

“Investing in betterment funding saves communities and governments millions of dollars in the long term by ensuring that our community infrastructure can better withstand natural disasters,” Cr Scott said.

“By funding local governments, the Federal Government is investing in our communities who receive additional benefits through the creation of new jobs, local economic growth, lower insurance premiums, and faster reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”

Cr Scott said consultation with ALGA and its members was an excellent example of the Commonwealth and the sector working together to ensure maximum impact for local governments and their communities.

Grants will be open to all local government areas at high risk of disasters (not just the 110 disaster-declared ones) and the Commonwealth has reduced co-contribution requirements. 

Projects under $100,000 will require no co-contribution, nor will planning and awareness-raising projects. For infrastructure projects over $100,000, local government’s co-contribution can be in kind.

“There is a mismatch between the amount of local government infrastructure exposed to climate change risks, and the resources we have to effectively manage these risks,” Cr Scott said. 

“Preparing for natural disaster events is a shared responsibility, and we look forward to working with all stakeholders to ensure the Royal Commission’s disaster risk reduction recommendations are fully implemented.” 

www.alga.asn.au

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THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson is proud to support this year’s Outstanding Western Sydney Women Awards to be hosted on November 16, 2021, with a stellar line-up of finalists announced.

“I’m encouraged to see so many exceptional women-owned and women-led businesses recognised at this premier event,” Mr Billson said. 

“The pandemic has generated a new era of enterprising women who are trailblazing their own paths to success.

“They’re community leaders, entrepreneurs and tradies – and they deserve this recognition for the brilliant work they do.

“My office is honoured to get behind the awards and the efforts of Western Sydney Women, which aims to help women in the region advance their businesses and career paths and provide a network of support for each other," Mr Billson said.

“Our Small Business Counts report shows more than 35 percent of Australian small businesses are female-led. In fact, two-thirds of new businesses formed are led by women. That has been rising steadily since the 1990s but certainly more can be done to support women in business.

“Research tell us that the most successful start-ups are created by those who have a network or mentors for support.

“That’s why organisations such as Western Sydney Women are so important in creating a critical mass of female entrepreneurial role models.

“I look forward to celebrating the achievements of these outstanding Western Sydney Women on 16 November.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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KEY PRIVATE INVESTORS, small to medium enterprise groups, and government departments will be among the final bodies to appear as part of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities infrastructure procurement inquiry, in a series of videoconference public hearings on Wednesday November 10, Tuesday November 16 and Thursday November 18.

The committee will examine the enormous opportunities and challenges presented by the Australian Government’s $110 billion commitment to major infrastructure projects over the next decade, and the central role this pipeline will play in Australia’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

Committee Chair John Alexander OAM MP said, "These nation-building infrastructure projects will be challenging to deliver given their scale, so it’s critical that we’re smart in sequencing and coordinating our capital investment. We also need to get more innovative in our project and contract management to ensure that small to medium Australian businesses have the opportunity not just to contribute but to thrive in delivering infrastructure. That’s why we’ll be focusing on investors and small to medium business groups in these hearings.

"And finally, it’s vital that we also hear from Infrastructure Australia and key government departments to test the ideas generated so far by this inquiry."

Groups appearing on November 10 include IFM Investors, Plenary Group Holdings Pty Ltd, and Hughes et al, while the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman and Apricity Finance Group Pty Ltd will feature in an afternoon panel discussion on 'Small and Medium Enterprises'.

Taking centre stage on November 16 will be the Business Council of Australia, JNT Consulting, Mace Group, the Australian Institute of Building, and North Projects, followed by a panel discussion on ‘Sustainability and renewables’ involving the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia, the Green Building Council of Australia, and Tindo Solar.

On November 18, the committee will hear from Infrastructure Australia, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, and the Department of Finance.

The terms of reference and submissions received are available on the committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Time: 11am to 3.15pm
Location: Videoconference

Date: Tuesday, 16 November 2021
Time: 9.15am to 3.30pm
Location: Videoconference

Date: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Time: 10.00am to 4.15pm
Location: Videoconference

Programs for the hearings are available on the Committee’s website.

Due to health and safety concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, this hearing is not currently scheduled to be open for public attendance. Interested members of the public will be able to view proceedings via the live webcast at aph.gov.au/live.

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HOW the corporate sector establishes models of best practice to foster better engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers will be the focus of a new inquiry by the House Indigenous Affairs Committee.

Recent major corporate scandals in relation to the treatment of Indigenous people including organisations such as Rio Tinto, Telstra, and Woolworths, indicate that corporate Australia needs to walk the walk and talk the talk in relation to reconciliation.

The committee will be looking at the role played by corporate Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) in assisting with these engagements and practices.

"Reconciliation Australia has done a great job with their reconciliation plan process," Committee Chair Julian Leeser MP said. "The purpose of this inquiry is to look at ways in which these kinds of plans can be strengthened and ways in which a greater corporate commitment to reconciliation can be achieved.

“There have been some shocking high profile examples of major Australian companies failing to meet expected standards when dealing with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The $50 million dollar penalty imposed on Telstra earlier this year for unconscionable sales of unaffordable mobile phone plans to vulnerable Indigenous customers is one such example.

"This and other cases indicate that significant gaps still remain in the corporate sector’s understanding of the needs of Indigenous people and the barriers that many of them face. This is true even among businesses that have a RAP in place and have done some good things in relation to Indigenous engagement," Mr Leeser said.

The Committee will report by March 31, 2022.

For more information about this inquiry, including its terms of reference, details of upcoming public hearings, and instructions on making a submission, visit the Inquiry webpage. Track the committee to receive email updates on the inquiry by clicking the blue ‘Track Committee’ button.

The terms of reference of the inquiry are:

1. The way the corporate sector supports meaningful engagement with Indigenous consumers.
2. How to strengthen corporate sector cultural understanding, and how this is demonstrated through their engagement with Indigenous consumers.
3. The impact of Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) in developing targeted approaches on engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through such actions.
4. Other matters as required.

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A RECENT email from an employer group obtained by the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) confirms the union’s fears that the Federal Government's new Ag Visa scheme "will flood regional Australia with poorly paid foreign workers at the expense of local jobs, especially among young women".

AWU national secretary Dan Walton said the email was proof that the Shearing Contractors Association of Australia, "in cahoots with the National Farmers Federation", is basically saying, “Let’s get in on the chance for cheap labour.”

The Ag Visa scheme, hastily announced in the wake of the new Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement signed at the G7, targets vulnerable workers from South East Asia.

In the email to its members, the Shearing Contractors Association of Australia (SCAA) said it envisaged members “accessing some of the 700 ‘Non-skilled’ workers from an ASEAN country -- most likely Indonesia but that is to be confirmed -- who will arrive over summer”.

“The workers will be paid Shed Hand Award wages (not the higher rates),” the letter said. “This is not the only opportunity to engage overseas workers, just the first opportunity. Once the system is established, it’s likely you can engage the workers directly and therefore at a lower cost.”

Mr Walton said what the AWU has feared – that the Ag Visa will simply be used as a way for unscrupulous employers to cut wages and conditions – is now happening.

“This email is just like an order form: How many cheap workers do you want? Put in your request now so you can pay them a much lower rate,” Mr Walton said.

Stef Mackey, a roustabout and shed hand working in a contracting team near Young, NSW, said more than 80 percent of the nation’s roustabouts were young women.

“These Ag Visas will not only take jobs from young Australians in regional towns with high unemployment, they will also target young women and deny them a foot in the door of the shearing industry,” Ms Mackey said.

“And every single shearer on our team started out rousting, so if they don’t get that opportunity because it's no longer there, we’ll soon run out of shearers.”

Mr Walton said he could not see how the Federal Government, NFF and SCAA could justify claims of a shearing-industry labour shortage.

“What shortage? We have had two years of pandemic, wool prices are up, total wool production is up and the flock was shorn, even though they said it couldn’t possibly be done without overseas workers,” he said.

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