Dr Lindsay McMillan, lead researcher for Reventure’s campaign “A future that works” joined David Koch on Business Builders to talk about workplace challenges organisations will face in this coming year.
As another financial year ends, workplaces around the nation have taken stock, organised their accounts and started planning for the financial year ahead.
But, as financial planning and reporting takes centre stage, Australian workplaces are also being encouraged to review and refresh their workplace practices and culture.
8 July 2017
Adelaide Advertiser Newspaper, Adelaide
Section: Careers • Article type : News Item
MILLENNIALS would prefer to do meaningful work than have a job that just pays the bills or has fun perks.
Global think tank Reventure research shows 77 per cent of millennials want a job with great purpose and meaning.
Lead researcher Dr Lindsay McMillan says business leaders may need to renew their workplace culture to retain their best young employees.
“More people are starting to consider work as a calling rather than an occupation and treating work as a contribution to our overall life goals – not just a pay cheque,” McMillan says.
“Purpose and meaning are critical parts of work because it helps employees understand that their day-to-day activities and their contributions are important and valued.”
With the start of the new financial year, many Australian organisations are in the midst of reviewing and refreshing their workplace practices and culture.
In response to this, global HR think-tank Reventure has devised five strategies that address the workplace challenges organisations will face this financial year.
1 Jul 2017
In The Black
Dr Lindsay McMillan
On face value, a four-day work week seems like the answer to Australia’s work-life balance struggle, but in practice it is more a passing fad than a sustainable solution.
A four-day work week may allow workers another day for family and “living”, but it does nothing to address the bigger issues occurring when workers are at work.
When your staff are engaged in the workplace they are happy – and equally as importantly, they are productive and motivated to perform. There is robust data supporting the business benefits of fostering an engaged workforce in small and large business. It pays to make it a priority. Gallup in 2012 found that organisations who ranked in the top quartile for engaged employees had a 22 per cent higher profitability and 10 per cent higher customer service rating than those in the bottom quartile.*
Conversely, the negative impact of unengaged staff on business is high. Aside from reduced productivity and customer service, it is estimated that the cost of replacing staff is between 16 per cent and 200 per cent percent of their annual salary depending upon their role and seniority.**
24 Jun 2017
The Australian
Section: Careers • Article type :
Human resources expert Lindsay McMillan has found the main reason employees seek counselling is a breakdown in relationships at work and home.
In his Renewing Australian Workplaces report, McMillan analysed more than 300,000 hours of counselling and found that with big shifts in workplaces affected by technological changes and the rise in part-time work, a greater focus on relationships was needed.
“Relationships are central to how people do their jobs, how people develop and how you can achieve sustainable workplace performance,” McMillan says.
The report highlights four healthy workplace principles to create healthy relationships: inclusion, development, engagement and life enhancement.
Details at: www.afuturethatworks.org.au.
Listen to Dr Lindsay McMillan, lead researcher at Reventure talk to Laura Bennett on meaning makers and why 75 per cent of millennials are looking for purpose and meaning at work.
17 Jun 2017
Adelaide Advertiser, Adelaide
Section: Careers • Article type :
Female workers respect their boss more than their male colleagues do – even though they are more likely to be paid significantly less by them.
Research by HR think tank Reventure finds 52 per cent of women have a lot of respect and admiration for their boss.
It compares with just 44 per cent of men, the 2016 Snapshot of the Australian Workplace report reveals.
Lead researcher Dr Lindsay McMillan says it is a surprising fact, as the gender pay gap is estimated at about 16 per cent. “One of the most significant issues in the workplace, and indeed in society, is the gender pay gap,” he says.
“The Snapshot tells us that female employees are more likely to feel respect for their boss, but other data also tells us that they are more likely to be paid less by that boss.
“There could be a variety of reasons for this . . . and we don’t know exactly how this plays into the gender pay gap, but it is clearly doing little to bridge the significant divide we continue to see.”
She says most companies will aim to use merit, experience and contribution to the company as the most important factors in awarding pay increases and promotions.
“However, gender differences in attitude and responses in the workplace contribute to unconscious bias and ways of defining merit and experience, which value the contributions of men more highly than those of women,” he says.
Cate Page, from Converge International discusses tips and advice on creating healthy workplace culture.
Leadership experts advise that part of managing major change within a business is drilling down to why your staff are there in the first place.
Head of workplace think tank Reventure Lindsay McMillan says businesses need to remember workers will jump ship if they don’t see a broader purpose to what they’re doing, which is a risk when companies are distracted by bigger challenges and ‘the bottom line’.
“Employees need to have a purpose or they will leave. A business that focuses solely on the bottom line will miss the bigger picture and will lose their most valuable employees to companies that understand the importance of creating a meaningful and fulfilling work environment,” he advises.
For many employees, a lack of purpose and meaning makes the work day a daily grind in which the only thing keeping them going is the prospect of returning home.
Indeed, a new report by global HR think-tank Reventure has found that 72% of Australians are looking for greater meaning in their work and almost 50% say they will be looking for a new job this year.
Released as part of Reventure’s workplace campaign a future that works, the report Delivering Purpose and Meaning proposes six strategies to deliver change in workplaces around Australia.
For many employees, a lack of purpose and meaning makes the work day a daily grind in which the only thing keeping them going is the prospect of returning home.
Indeed, a new report by global HR think-tank Reventure has found that 72% of Australians are looking for greater meaning in their work and almost 50% say they will be looking for a new job this year.
Released as part of Reventure’s workplace campaign a future that works, the report Delivering Purpose and Meaning proposes six strategies to deliver change in workplaces around Australia.
Smart Company: EMMA KOEHN
Director of workplace think-tank Reventure, Lindsay McMillan, says news of the perils of hot-desking are not so surprising given the concept was created not with workers in mind, but in the interests of conserving space.
“Hot-desking is a challenge — it was originally started when architects would say people would work out of the office, so if you have a staff of 50 but not actually 50 desks. The challenge for SMEs is often though, if not everyone is allowed to come and go, there’s a sense of, “Why do those people have the ability to come and go, and I don’t?”
In cases where your office setup and workplace practices make it hard for colleagues to see who is at work and when, emotions can run high.
“It’s a truism that resentment can emerge,” McMillan says, highlighting the need for any office setup to be decided in consultation with the people who will be working there — and giving them the most choice possible.
A leading academic has spoken out about the risks of technology after it was revealed that one Swedish company has microchipped more than 100 of its employees.
“This is a concerning result of the increased role technology is playing in the workplace, especially for younger people,” said Dr Lindsay McMillan, lead researcher at HR think-tank Reventure.
“Whilst technology has undoubtedly increased productivity and connectedness, it seems to be having a troubling impact on work patterns and the ability of workers to switch off from their job.”
McMillan’s comments came after Epicentre – a digital firm based in Stockholm – confirmed it has microchipped approximately 150 willing employees since first launching the initiative in 2015.
According to Dr Lindsay McMillan, lead researcher at HR think-tank Reventure and campaign director of a future that works, this new workplace practice is a sign of how “unhealthy” workplaces could become in the future.
“This is the concerning result from the increasing role technology is playing in the workplace, especially for younger people,” Dr McMillan said.
“Whilst technology has undoubtedly increased productivity and connectedness, it seems to be having a troubling impact on work patterns and the ability of workers to switch off from their job.”
Inside Small Business
The five-day work week has been a permanent fixture in Australian workplaces, however, the Greens have suggested that a four-day work week could be feasible.
Dr Lindsay McMillan, from global HR think-tank Reventure and lead researcher of the national campaign to renew workplaces – a future that works welcomed the announcement as the start of a robust debate about changing entrenched work practices.
“The debate around the four-day work week and penalty rates signals Australia is coming in the right direction when it comes to workplace wellbeing and engagement,” Dr McMillan said. “However, these one-off conversations will not achieve genuine change – we need to take a holistic approach to our workplaces.”
After our recent post on Dr Fiona Kerr, and the discussion of the core elements of leadership that can rewire the brains of employees – including creating a sense of shared purpose – I was interested to see the new report Delivering Purpose and Meaning from Reventure’s workplace campaign a future that works, citing both the issues and their recommended solutions.
Telstra’s move to introduce a requirement that women make up at least 50% of recruitment and interview shortlists has prompted HR experts to encourage SMEs to think about ways they too can shake up their hiring processes.
In an announcement to coincide with International Women’s Day, Telstra chief executive Andy Penn unveiled a plan to build the telco’s “female talent pipeline” by requiring that interview shortlists for roles be made up of at least 50% women candidates, or 25% for roles in which there’s a known gender imbalance in available candidates in the job market.
For many employees, a lack of purpose and meaning makes the work day a daily grind in which the only thing keeping them going is the prospect of returning home.
Indeed, a new report by global HR think-tank Reventure has found that 72% of Australians are looking for greater meaning in their work and almost 50% say they will be looking for a new job this year.
Released as part of Reventure’s workplace campaign a future that works, the report Delivering Purpose and Meaning proposes six strategies to deliver change in workplaces around Australia.