Almost eight years ago, we wrote about some lessons that could be taken from The Simpsons episode ‘King-Size Homer’ (first broadcast in 1995). You will remember that Homer is so lazy that he sets up a “drinking bird” to...more
In our previous post celebrating the firm’s decade in Australia, our partners shared their insights into the most significant changes in employment and safety law that have affected leading employers. This post further...more
Seyfarth just celebrated ten years of service to leading employers in Australia. To mark the occasion, we invited some of our partners to share insights on the evolution of employment, industrial relations and workplace...more
The High Court of Australia’s decision in the Qantas outsourcing case has been widely reported. But both the scope of the decision and the key takeaway have potentially been misunderstood. ...more
Most recent commentary on the recent High Court decisions in Jamsek and Personnel Contracting suggests that the Court has confirmed the primacy to be given to the terms of the written contract when determining the nature of...more
Whether there will be a “Great Resignation” in Australia has been fiercely debated for weeks. But whatever the different viewpoints, stabilisation, recovery, and growth in 2022 will be critical for most businesses. Timing is...more
The Prime Minister has recently made an announcement about the process of “re-opening” the Australian economy, and a critical part of that being retraining and investment in skills development....more
Recently a number of stoushes about the enforcement of post-employment restraints of trade – including one that captivated the legal industry for many months last year – have played out publicly....more
Employers will need to be prepared for close scrutiny of enterprise agreements that use a “small group” or “seed group” approach, following a number of recent developments in enterprise bargaining. The recent Federal Court...more
Yesterday, the Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Brendan O’Connor foreshadowed amending the bargaining regime in the Fair Work Act to outlaw so-called “sham agreements”....more
The gig economy is only one of the reasons that workers of the future will not have close connections with one employer or business – another is the movement towards arranging their life so that they spend substantial periods...more
We have been watching with close interest the exponential expansion of crypto-currencies. These instruments, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, are methods of secure, electronic transfer of value between individuals...more
One of the more interesting recent developments in relation to work has been the continual rise and development of the gig economy – that is, workers developing niche areas of specialist expertise, but having careers...more
Technological advances in monitoring and surveillance call to mind the lyrics of The Police’s widely misinterpreted hit, Every Breath You Take. But how will this emerging new frontier play out in workplaces and work...more
There are lessons to be learnt about the future of work in one of my favourite episodes of The Simpsons titled ‘King-size Homer’, from the seventh season which aired over 20 years ago.
As you may recall, Mr Burns tries...more
What will work look like in the future and what lessons can employers take from that? Two recent reports have identified the trends in the way in which we will work in Australia over the next 20 to 40 years....more
Are we in the beginnings of a cyclical upswing in industrial action in Australia? And if so, what does it mean for those involved in competitive tender processes?
Data from the ABS indicates that the last spike in...more
Scott Morrison’s first Federal Budget announced the creation of the ‘Youth Jobs PaTH’ (Prepare-Trial-Hire) program – a program designed to encourage up to 120,000 unemployed youth into the workforce through skills training...more
When does a person who works within a business, but isn’t on the ‘books’ of the business owner, become an employee? This issue has been litigated many times in Australia but, to date, courts have been reluctant to embrace the...more
Retail, like other industries, is facing challenging times. As we mentioned in our recent ‘HR Now’ blog, employers are facing a world characterised by:
- continuous change – including rapid digitisation and globalisation...more
10/20/2015
/ Australia ,
Brand ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Customer Service Standard ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Enterprise Agreements ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Internet Retailers ,
Retailers ,
Social Media ,
Supply Chain ,
Terms and Conditions
We recently attended the Health, Safety, Environment and Community Conference convened by the NSW Minerals Council. The Conference drew together participants from across the mining industry in NSW to look at what miners are...more
There were many important take-aways for employers in the aviation industry from the CAPA Asia-Pacific Aviation Summit that we recently attended. A couple are worth highlighting, as they also apply more broadly to Australian...more
In our article about the 7 lessons for successful bargaining, we wrote that successful bargainers seek to control the bargaining agenda. They do so with a view to achieving their ultimate goals. But we also wrote that...more
Last year, we wrote about the 7 lessons for successful bargaining which highlighted that “tit for tat” communications rarely lead to a successful bargaining outcome. We regularly see that leading the communication agenda...more