tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/workplace-relations-804/articlesWorkplace relations – The Conversation2024-02-22T19:21:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2240762024-02-22T19:21:05Z2024-02-22T19:21:05ZThe secret sauce of Coles’ and Woolworths’ profits: high-tech surveillance and control<p>Coles and Woolworths, the supermarket chains that together control <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-20/woolworths-coles-supermarket-tactics-grocery-four-corners/103405054">almost two-thirds</a> of the Australian grocery market, are facing unprecedented scrutiny. </p>
<p>One recent inquiry, commissioned by the Australian Council of Trade Unions and led by former Australian Consumer and Competition Commission chair Allan Fels, found the pair engaged in unfair pricing practices; an ongoing <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Supermarket_Prices/SupermarketPrices">Senate inquiry into food prices</a> is looking at how these practices are linked to inflation; and the ACCC has just begun <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/inquiries-and-consultations/supermarkets-inquiry-2024-25">a government-directed inquiry</a> into potentially anti-competitive behaviour in Australia’s supermarkets. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/8-ways-woolworths-and-coles-squeeze-their-suppliers-and-their-customers-223857">8 ways Woolworths and Coles squeeze their suppliers and their customers</a>
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<p>Earlier this week, the two companies also came under the gaze of the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-19/super-power-the-cost-of-living-with-coles-and-woolworths/103486508">ABC current affairs program Four Corners</a>. Their respective chief executives each gave somewhat prickly interviews, and Woolworths chief Brad Banducci <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-21/woolworths-ceo-brad-banducci-retirement-four-corners/103493418">announced his retirement</a> two days after the program aired.</p>
<p>A focus on the power of the supermarket duopoly is long overdue. However, one aspect of how Coles and Woolworths exercise their power has received relatively little attention: a growing high-tech infrastructure of surveillance and control that pervades retail stores, warehouses, delivery systems and beyond.</p>
<h2>Every customer a potential thief</h2>
<p>As the largest private-sector employers and providers of essential household goods, the supermarkets play an outsized role in public life. Indeed, they are such familiar places that technological developments there may fly under the radar of public attention.</p>
<p>Coles and Woolworths are both implementing technologies that treat the supermarket as a “problem space” in which workers are controlled, customers are tracked and profits boosted.</p>
<p>For example, in response to a purported spike in shoplifting, a raft of customer surveillance measures have been introduced that treat every customer as a potential thief. This includes <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/eat/coles-introducing-new-technology-which-will-track-shoppers-every-move/news-story/86ea8d330f76df87f2235eeda4d1136e">ceiling cameras</a> which assign a digital ID to individuals and track them through the store, and <a href="https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/finance/consumer/2023/08/16/smart-gate-technology">“smart” exit gates</a> that remain closed until a purchase is made. Some customers have reported being “<a href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/coles-supermarketshoppers-dramatic-checkout-experience-goes-viral-i-was-trapped-c-12977760">trapped</a>” by the gate despite paying for their items, causing significant embarrassment.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577235/original/file-20240222-22-8d21o0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A grainy security camera image from above a self-checkout area showing areas outlined in yellow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577235/original/file-20240222-22-8d21o0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577235/original/file-20240222-22-8d21o0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577235/original/file-20240222-22-8d21o0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577235/original/file-20240222-22-8d21o0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577235/original/file-20240222-22-8d21o0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577235/original/file-20240222-22-8d21o0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577235/original/file-20240222-22-8d21o0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Woolworths surveillance cameras monitor the self-checkout area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Woolworths</span></span>
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<p>At least one Woolworths store has <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/woolies-in-wetherill-park-fitted-with-500-tiny-cameras-to-monitor-stock-levels/news-story/585de8c741ae9f520adcc4005f2a736a">installed 500 mini cameras</a> on product shelves. The cameras monitor real-time stock levels, and Woolworths says customers captured in photos will be silhouetted for privacy.</p>
<p>A Woolworths spokesperson <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/up-to-70-cameras-watch-you-buy-groceries-what-happens-to-that-footage-20230819-p5dxtp.html">explained</a> the shelf cameras were part of “a number of initiatives, both covert and overt, to minimise instances of retail crime”. It is unclear whether the cameras are for inventory management, surveillance, or both.</p>
<p>Workers themselves are being fitted with body-worn cameras and wearable alarms. Such measures may protect against customer aggression, which is a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-22/retail-union-staff-abuse-cost-of-living-christmas/103117014">serious problem facing workers</a>. Biometric data collected this way could also be used to discipline staff in what scholars Karen Levy and Solon Barocas refer to as “<a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/7041">refractive surveillance</a>” – a process whereby surveillance measures intended for one group can also impact another.</p>
<h2>Predicting crime</h2>
<p>At the same time as the supermarkets ramp up the amount of data they collect on staff and shoppers, they are also investing in data-driven “crime intelligence” software. Both supermarkets have <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/industries/information-technology/grocery-chains-surveillance-tech-auror/">partnered with New Zealand start-up Auror</a>, which shares a name with the magic police from the Harry Potter books and claims it can <a href="https://www.auror.co/retail-crime-intelligence#What-is-Retail-Crime-Intelligence">predict crime before it happens</a>.</p>
<p>Coles also recently began a partnership with Palantir, a global data-driven surveillance company that takes its name from magical crystal balls in The Lord of the Rings.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/solving-the-supermarket-why-coles-just-hired-us-defence-contractor-palantir-222883">Solving the supermarket: why Coles just hired US defence contractor Palantir</a>
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<p>These heavy-handed measures seek to make self-service checkouts more secure without increasing staff numbers. This leads to something of a vicious cycle, as under-staffing, self-checkouts, and high prices are often <a href="https://www.aap.com.au/news/retail-workers-facing-increased-violence-and-abuse/">causes of customer aggression</a> to begin with. </p>
<p>Many staff are similarly frustrated by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/05/coles-woolworths-court-accused-of-underpaying-workers">historical wage theft by the supermarkets</a> that totals hundreds of millions of dollars. </p>
<h2>From community employment to gig work</h2>
<p>Both supermarkets have brought the gig economy squarely <a href="https://theconversation.com/coles-uber-eats-deal-brings-the-gig-economy-inside-the-traditional-workplace-204353">inside the traditional workplace</a>. Uber and Doordash drivers are now part of the infrastructure of home delivery, in an attempt to push last-mile delivery costs onto gig workers. </p>
<p>The precarious working conditions of the gig economy are well known. Customers may not be aware, however, that Coles recently increased Uber Eats and Doordash prices by at least 10%, and will <a href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/shoppers-slam-coles-over-major-change-to-half-price-buys-that-will-affect-millions-c-12860556">no longer match in-store promotions</a>. Drivers have been instructed to dispose of the shopping receipt and should no longer place it in the customer’s bag at drop-off. </p>
<p>In addition to higher prices, customers also pay service and delivery fees for the convenience of on-demand delivery. Despite the price increases to customers, drivers I have interviewed in my ongoing research report they are earning less and less through the apps, often well below Australia’s minimum wage.</p>
<p>Viewed as a whole, Coles’ and Woolworths’ high-tech measures paint a picture of surveillance and control that exerts pressures on both customers and workers. While issues of market competition, price gouging, and power asymmetries with suppliers must be scrutinised, issues of worker and customer surveillance are the other side of the same coin – and they too must be reckoned with.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224076/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Kate Kelly receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. She works with United Workers Union which has members across the supermarket supply chain.</span></em></p>The hidden side of the supermarket giants’ quest for profits is an increasingly elaborate system for monitoring and managing shoppers and workers.Lauren Kate Kelly, PhD Candidate, ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2138732023-09-25T20:07:12Z2023-09-25T20:07:12ZWorkplace loneliness is the modern pandemic damaging lives and hurting businesses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549928/original/file-20230925-25-gxo5ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=164%2C0%2C4812%2C3023&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/people-on-square-537148285">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Loneliness is a much discussed <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2018/09/01/loneliness-is-a-serious-public-health-problem">social issue</a>, but it is rarely considered to be a workplace problem that needs to be managed like other health issues at work.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://lonelinessawarenessweek.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/state-of-nation-social-connection-2023.pdf">Social Connection in Australia 2023 report</a> acknowledges loneliness hurts businesses, as it causes employee absenteeism and reduced productivity.</p>
<p>However, people are often unaware particular work roles, environments, responsibilities and work-related relocation is often what causes loneliness.</p>
<p>These work conditions may cause social isolation, distort interpersonal relationships, and prevent employees from developing or maintaining social connections – all of which are a catalyst for loneliness. </p>
<p>The expression “it is lonely at the top” suggests senior managers or chief executives are especially likely to suffer from loneliness.</p>
<p>Their position and associated power makes authentic workplace relationships rare because they are socially and psychologically distanced from most people in their organisation.</p>
<p>As leaders, they are held responsible for making significant decisions. Having nobody to share the risks and responsibilities with is an implicit social deficiency that increases workplace loneliness.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549931/original/file-20230925-19-tn3g8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Silhouette of a businesswoman standing alone in an office" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549931/original/file-20230925-19-tn3g8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549931/original/file-20230925-19-tn3g8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549931/original/file-20230925-19-tn3g8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549931/original/file-20230925-19-tn3g8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549931/original/file-20230925-19-tn3g8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549931/original/file-20230925-19-tn3g8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549931/original/file-20230925-19-tn3g8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Chief executives can find often find themselves distanced from their employees.</span>
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<p>Similarly, loneliness is also a classic occupational hazard for business entrepreneurs who are prepared to take risks in pursuit of goals developing their own businesses. In 2019 and 2022, we surveyed 363 entrepreneurs <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235267342200066X">in Indonesia and the United Kingdom</a>, and found 50% reported they sometimes or always experienced loneliness.</p>
<p>This rate was consistent with an article published in Harvard Business Review in 1984 written by D. E. Gumpert and D. P. Boyd titled, The loneliness of the small-business owner. Their research found 52% of the business owners researched frequently experienced loneliness.</p>
<p>It appears that loneliness experienced by entrepreneurs has not changed over 40 years. Entrepreneurs’ responsibilities for running and developing their businesses substantially reduce the time they can share with families and friends. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-australian-employers-stop-you-working-from-home-heres-what-the-law-says-211339">Can Australian employers stop you working from home? Here's what the law says</a>
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<p>Entrepreneurs may also have to withhold negative information about the business and pose a strong and positive image to others in order to retain resources and support for their companies. The nature of this line of work turns them into “lone wolves”.</p>
<p>Loneliness is also found among employees relocated overseas by their multinational corporations. It is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20170111-how-do-you-make-friends-in-a-new-country">common among expatriates</a> separated from their social networks, to find it difficult to develop new connections because of cultural differences, language barriers or insufficient social resources.</p>
<p>Remote work accelerated by the COVID pandemic has given people the flexibility to work from home but it has also worsened social isolation as a result of fewer opportunities for informal chats and face-to-face bonding with colleagues and managers.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549944/original/file-20230925-23-gxo5ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women chatting in the workplace" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549944/original/file-20230925-23-gxo5ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549944/original/file-20230925-23-gxo5ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549944/original/file-20230925-23-gxo5ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549944/original/file-20230925-23-gxo5ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549944/original/file-20230925-23-gxo5ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549944/original/file-20230925-23-gxo5ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549944/original/file-20230925-23-gxo5ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Remote work has reduced the opportunity for casual catch-ups in the office.</span>
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<p>Although most companies are keen to see workers return to offices, the continuation of hybrid forms of working creates challenges in addressing work-related loneliness as many people continue to work partly from home.</p>
<p>Similarly, digital technology has created another modern work phenomenon, gig work. While gig workers may enjoy flexible schedules, the nature of their work provides few opportunities to develop deep relationships with colleagues.</p>
<p>Given the pervasiveness of workplace loneliness and the challenges it poses, it is surprising that there is little public awareness of how to deal with it.</p>
<p>To stimulate more interest in this topic and to help ease this modern pandemic, our research, soon to be released,proposes resource-based solutions to combat loneliness. We also identify strategies for both individuals and organisations to deal with loneliness: </p>
<h2>Strategies for individuals</h2>
<p>• <strong>Understand your desired level of social goals.</strong> </p>
<p>Loneliness arises when desired social relations are not satisfied by actual relations. People need to be clear about their social needs at work. Some may be happy with a few strong relationships, some may prefer broad but weak social connections. Understanding personal social goals helps employees notice when they might need to develop appropriate strategies to battle loneliness.</p>
<p>• <strong>Evaluate personal resources that make developing social connections difficult.</strong><br>
Employees need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of personal factors and change them if they are preventing social connections. For instance, is the lack of contact caused by our personality, lack of social skills, or low social motivation? As individuals, we cultivate our social connections, so we are the key to shaping them.</p>
<p>• <strong>Do not waste daily resources.</strong> Time, energy and mood are also resources, but they fluctuate daily. They can also be used to achieve social goals. We all have regular feelings of being time-poor, tired, not wanting to talk to people or to be social. This causes daily opportunities to develop connections to be wasted. Desired social relations are developed gradually, and we need work on this regularly to achieve our desired level of connection. </p>
<h2>Strategies for companies</h2>
<p>• <strong>Audit work practices and identify what causes social isolation.</strong> Organisations need to acknowledge that work practices can cause loneliness for employees and find creative solutions. For example, they could reduce work intensity and give employees time to socialise; they could help expatriates maintain old social bonds and develop new connections in their new work location. </p>
<p>• <strong>Remove social barriers for employees by cultivating an inclusive work environment.</strong> An inclusive environment is especially beneficial for demographically diverse employees. Organisations have the power to promote and normalise inclusion, shape employees’ social behaviours and help minority groups to develop desired social ties in the workplace.</p>
<p>• <strong>Provide opportunities for employees to have occasional and repeated face-to-face interactions.</strong> Organisations can offer a variety of socialising opportunities. These might include mentoring and support programs, social events, holiday celebrations, coffee breaks and team-building activities.</p>
<p>Of course, employees must be proactive and take charge of overcoming their loneliness. They can begin this by developing or expanding their repertoire of personal resources and by taking up opportunities offered by their employer.</p>
<p>These investments in alleviating workplace loneliness will result in employees having a stronger sense of belonging to organisations and being more productive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>COVID lockdowns and the rise of the gig economy have led to loneliness becoming an issue in the workplace.Shea X. Fan, Senior Lecturer in International Business, School of Management, RMIT UniversityFei Zhu, Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship, University of NottinghamMargaret A. Shaffer, Chair of International Business, University of OklahomaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113392023-08-10T19:59:50Z2023-08-10T19:59:50ZCan employers stop you working from home? Here’s what the law says<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542057/original/file-20230810-29-k9dewx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7940%2C3773&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Zoom, the videoconferencing company whose fortunes soared with the pandemic-driven shift to working from home, has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/aug/07/zoom-tells-staff-to-come-into-the-office-at-least-two-days-a-week">reportedly</a> told its staff to get back to the office – for at least two days a week, if the commute is no more than 80 kilometres. </p>
<p>It’s part of a trend of employers winding back the work-from-home flexibility that enabled most to keep operating through the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.</p>
<p>In Australia, close to 90% of employers have implemented mandatory in-office days, according to <a href="https://www.roberthalf.com.au/press/87-australian-companies-have-implemented-mandatory-office-days-staff">a survey of 300 hiring managers</a> commissioned by recruitment agency Robert Half. The survey shows 19% insisting on five days a week, 28% on four days, and 26% on three days. Almost a third of respondents reported at least one employee quitting in response.</p>
<p>Particularly for parents and younger workers, working from home is not something they will readily give up. </p>
<p>Which raises the question: can an employer, having first directed you to work from home, now turn around and mandate you don’t?</p>
<p>In many cases, the short answer is yes – though some people have a stronger case to argue for flexible work – and correct procedures must be followed. </p>
<h2>Is it a ‘lawful and reasonable’ direction?</h2>
<p>Whether you are employed permanently, as a casual or on a short-term contract, you are required to follow “lawful and reasonable” directions from your employer. Even if this isn’t stated specifically anywhere, Australian courts have ruled this requirement is “implied” in every employment contract. </p>
<p>A direction to return to the workplace will be lawful and reasonable except in extreme cases – for example, where it is contrary to a government directive or another law. </p>
<p>If you can perform your role at home and have a legitimate reason to do so – such as an underlying health issue – you may have grounds to argue a directive to return to the office is not reasonable.</p>
<p>But a detailed and considered plan requiring employees to return to the workplace safely will be lawful and reasonable. Failing to comply with this direction may be a valid reason for disciplinary action, including dismissal. </p>
<h2>Is consultation required?</h2>
<p>If your work is covered by an award or enterprise agreement, you can collectively assert your right to be consulted, on the basis that a return-to-work order constitutes a “major workplace change”. </p>
<p>The Fair Work Ombudsman <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/tools-and-resources/best-practice-guides/consultation-and-cooperation-in-the-workplace">says consultation</a> requires giving notice, discussing the proposed changes, providing written information and giving “prompt consideration” to any matters raised by employees and their representatives.</p>
<p>Even though the employer ultimately doesn’t need consent, the consultation still needs to be genuine and properly consider employees’ views, following the processes set down in the applicable award or agreement. </p>
<p>This is the issue in the dispute over the Commonwealth Bank of Australia directing employees to be in the office 50% of the time. The Finance Sector Union is challenging this in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/jul/12/commonwealth-bank-wfh-office-rule-union-dispute-work-from-home">Fair Work Commission</a>, arguing the bank breached its obligation to consult. So even if the commission agrees, the policy won’t necessarily change.</p>
<h2>What about flexible work arrangements?</h2>
<p>If your award, enterprise agreement or employment contract contains “workplace flexibility” provisions, you may have rights to work from home or to make a request. </p>
<p>In addition, the national employment standards under the Fair Work Act give employees the right to request “flexible work arrangements” if they’ve been with the employer for at least 12 months, and: </p>
<ul>
<li>are a parent or carer of a child of school age or younger </li>
<li>a carer<br></li>
<li>have a disability </li>
<li>are at least 55 years of age<br></li>
<li>are pregnant </li>
<li>are experiencing family or domestic violence, or caring or supporting an immediate family or household member experiencing family or domestic violence.<br></li>
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<p>Casual employees have similar rights if they have been working regularly and systematically for at least 12 months and have a reasonable expectation of continued work on the same basis. </p>
<p>Employers who get a request for flexible working arrangements need to respond in writing <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/flexibility-in-the-workplace/flexible-working-arrangements">within 21 days</a>.</p>
<p>An employer can only refuse a request on “reasonable business grounds”, and where they have genuinely tried to agree to alternative arrangements to accommodate the employee’s circumstances, and have considered the consequences for any refusal. </p>
<p>Reasonable business grounds include such factors as the size and nature of the business. These include the request being too costly and having a significant adverse effect on efficiency, productivity or customer service. </p>
<p>As of June 6 2023, employees have had a right of appeal to the Fair Work Commission, which has new, more expansive powers to resolve such disputes by mediation or conciliation, or by making a recommendation, and, if required, by arbitration. </p>
<h2>Reasonable adjustments for employees</h2>
<p>The right of review for flexible work arrangement requests, though limited to certain employee categories, could well become a hotly contested area.</p>
<p>If an organisation mandates their workers return to the workplace – whether exclusively or in part – the employer needs to provide clear guidelines. The “humane way” to introduce such a policy (regardless of any legal requirement) is to consult with employees over the change. </p>
<p>If an employee seeks a flexible work arrangement, the employer needs to actively engage with them and give them opportunities to provide supporting evidence regarding any special circumstances. That way, they can accommodate employees – so far as is practicable – and if required, make reasonable adjustments. </p>
<p>In sectors with persistent labour shortages, employees will have more leverage to have their views heard and negotiate and, in some cases, even request a review.</p>
<p><em>* If you’re an employee <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/flexibility-in-the-workplace#ways-to-request-flexible-working-arrangements">wanting to request</a> flexible working arrangements, such as working from home, or an employer wondering <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/flexibility-in-the-workplace/flexible-working-arrangements">how to handle</a> such requests, you can read more at <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/flexibility-in-the-workplace">the Fair Work Ombudsman</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211339/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Giuseppe Carabetta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If an organisation mandates their workers return to the workplace – whether exclusively or in part – it needs to provide clear guidelines.Giuseppe Carabetta, Associate Professor, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102592023-07-23T12:30:39Z2023-07-23T12:30:39ZAlbanese government to make it easier for casuals to become permanent employees<p>Casual workers will be given a new path to becoming permanent, with the security that brings, in industrial relations reforms Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke will introduce later this year. </p>
<p>Under the change, promised in Labor’s election campaign, there will be a new definition of when an employee can be classified as “casual”. </p>
<p>Eligible workers could then apply to change their status, which would mean they received benefits such as paid leave but lost the extra loading casuals have in lieu of entitlements. </p>
<p>Burke says the measure will potentially help more than 850,000 casuals who have regular work arrangements. </p>
<p>But he is anxious to reassure employers, as well as to stress that not all casuals will want to go down this path. </p>
<p>Business has been resisting a change to the arrangements affecting casuals, and in general criticising the government for a pro-union industrial relations agenda. </p>
<p>Burke, who will give more detail of his IR plan in a Monday speech to The Sydney Institute, said the government was keeping “much of the existing framework that unions and business groups agree should not change”. </p>
<p>This included current processes to offer eligible employees permanent work after a year.</p>
<p>The new measure will be prospective – people won’t be entitled to make claims for pay relating to past work. </p>
<p>Burke said many casuals, for example students, who worked irregularly and wanted the current extra loading, would not want to make the transition.</p>
<p>“No casual will be forced to lose their loading. No casual will be forced to become a permanent employee,” he said.</p>
<p>“But for those who desperately want security - and are being rostered as though they were permanent - for the first time job security will be in sight,” Burke said.</p>
<p>“There are casual workers who are trying to support households. They’re being used as though they’re permanent workers and the employer is double dipping - taking all the advantages of a reliable workforce and not providing any of the job security in return,” Burke said. “That loophole needs to be closed.”</p>
<p>Burke’s reassurances follow preemptive criticism from business. </p>
<p>Writing in the Weekend Australian Innes Willox, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, said: “The kinds of changes potentially under contemplation would inevitably increase business costs and risks, reduce investment and reduce employment”.</p>
<p>“Since it was elected, the government has implemented a series of unbalanced industrial relations changes that will do nothing to boost productivity or assist businesses to grow and increase employment. The changes so far have only looked to deliver on a wide range of longstanding union claims. Enough is enough. </p>
<p>"Current casual employment arrangements need to be preserved to prevent Australian businesses and their workforces losing the choices and agility they need to prosper.”</p>
<p>But ACTU secretary Sally McManus said in a statement in May: “Too many casuals are casual in name only. Too many jobs that are actually permanent jobs have been made casual, denying workers both pay and rights. </p>
<p>"The majority of casuals work regular hours, week in, week out and have been in their job for more than a year. Changes made by the Morrison Coalition Government in early 2021 made this erosion of job security completely lawful.</p>
<p>"Big business has used loopholes in our work laws to make what should be secure jobs into casualised, insecure work. It is a way of driving down wages and putting all the stress onto workers.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Under the change, promised in Labor’s election campaign, there will be a new definition of when an employee can be classified as “casual”.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2092102023-07-20T20:04:41Z2023-07-20T20:04:41ZManipulative, distrustful, self-serving: how to deal with a Machiavellian boss<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535948/original/file-20230706-23-jlmh7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C799%2C5168%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’ve been pressured to work overtime to finish a project. You won’t get paid for the extra hours but you’ve been assured there will be kudos from senior management. There is – but only for your boss, who takes the credit.</p>
<p>You’re a hard, efficient worker, but your manager closely monitors you, demanding you constantly account for your time and questioning your actions, as if you can’t be trusted. </p>
<p>You find out your boss is overclaiming on expenses. When you bring this to their attention, they ask you not tell anyone until they work it out. They then mention they’re considering recommending you for a promotion. </p>
<p>These are signs of Machiavellianism, the dark personality trait named after the 16th century Italian political theorist who wrote the first “how to” guide for rulers.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780121744502/studies-in-machiavellianism">Machiavellian</a> personality is self-serving, opportunistic and ambitious – traits that can help them attain positions of power and status. </p>
<p>Estimates of the prevalence of Machiavellianism are imprecise, but experts have good reason to believe it is at least as common in the workplace as psychopathy, which affects about 1% of the population but an estimated <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniesarkis/2019/10/27/senior-executives-are-more-likely-to-be-psychopaths/?sh=5e35d14d47c4">3.5% of executives</a>. </p>
<p>For example, US business author Lewis Schiff says 90% of the millionaires he surveyed for his book <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140501124102-3943659-are-you-machiavellian-here-s-how-and-why-to-find-out/">Business Brilliant: Surprising Lessons from the Greatest Self-Made Business Icons</a> agreed with the statement “it’s important in negotiations to exploit the weaknesses in others”, compared with just 24% of those with “middle-class” incomes. </p>
<p>Working for a Machiavellian boss is likely to be infuriating, stressful and bad for your mental health. By understanding what drives this personality, and how it differs from the other “dark personality traits”, you can limit the fallout. </p>
<h2>Origins of Machiavellianism</h2>
<p>Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) was a diplomat in Florence during a period of power struggle involving the powerful <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Prince.html?id=QQjt-rv_0jEC&redir_esc=y">Medici</a> family. When the Medicis returned to rule the city in 1512 after almost two decades in exile, he was briefly imprisoned and then banished. He then wrote <em>Il Principe</em> (The Prince) as a sort of job application.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A statue of Niccolo Machiavelli at the Uffizi art gallery in Florence." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538168/original/file-20230719-16-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538168/original/file-20230719-16-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538168/original/file-20230719-16-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538168/original/file-20230719-16-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538168/original/file-20230719-16-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538168/original/file-20230719-16-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538168/original/file-20230719-16-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A statue of Niccolo Machiavelli at the Uffizi art gallery in Florence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The book (not formally published till 1532, though copies circulated in the two decades before) is regarded as the first work of modern political philosophy. It advises rulers to be pragmatic, cunning and strategic. “The <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Prince.html?id=QQjt-rv_0jEC&redir_esc=y">lion cannot protect</a> himself from traps,” it says, “and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognise traps and a lion to frighten wolves.”</p>
<p>In 1970 two US psychologists, Richard Christie and Florence Geis, published <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780121744502/studies-in-machiavellianism">Studies in Machaivellianism</a>, using the term for a personality trait characterised by self-interest, manipulativeness, opportunism and deceitfulness.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/these-are-the-characteristics-of-people-most-likely-to-cut-corners-at-work-69630">These are the characteristics of people most likely to cut corners at work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Joining the ‘Dark Triad’</h2>
<p>Machiavellianism is now accepted as one of three antisocial personality types that comprise the “Dark Triad” – the other two being narcissism and psychopathy. However, while the three traits are lumped together due to their antisocial qualities, there are important differences.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dark Triad traits" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536752/original/file-20230711-21-fgafa9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536752/original/file-20230711-21-fgafa9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536752/original/file-20230711-21-fgafa9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536752/original/file-20230711-21-fgafa9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536752/original/file-20230711-21-fgafa9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536752/original/file-20230711-21-fgafa9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536752/original/file-20230711-21-fgafa9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Dark_Triad_Traits.svg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<hr>
<p>Narcissism is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-many-types-of-narcissist-are-there-a-psychology-expert-sets-the-record-straight-207610">a set of traits</a> as well as a personality disorder, characterised by egoism, self-absorption and the need to feel superior to others. Psychopathy is also a diagnosable <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/psychopathy">personality disorder</a>, defined by lack of empathy or conscience. Machiavellianism is not classified as a formal personality disorder. </p>
<p>A Machiavellian personality can be charismatic, like a narcissist, but is driven by self-interest rather than self-aggrandisement. They tend to be calculating rather than impulsive like a psychopath.</p>
<p>Christie and Geis came up with a <a href="https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/MACH-IV/1.php">20-question checklist</a>, based on statements from Machiavelli’s writings, to gauge Machiavellian traits. This test, known as the MACH-IV, is still being used. </p>
<p>Data collected on <a href="https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/MACH-IV/demographic-correlations-and-statistics/">those taking the test</a> shows, on average, that men score higher than women, and are more likely to get the highest possible result (~1% compared with ~0.2%).</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Gender differences in results from the MACH-IV test of Machivellianism collected by the Open Source Psychometrics Project." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538179/original/file-20230719-17-ek02my.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538179/original/file-20230719-17-ek02my.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538179/original/file-20230719-17-ek02my.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538179/original/file-20230719-17-ek02my.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538179/original/file-20230719-17-ek02my.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538179/original/file-20230719-17-ek02my.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538179/original/file-20230719-17-ek02my.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/MACH-IV/demographic-correlations-and-statistics/">Open Source Psychometrics Project</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>A score of 60 or more out of 100 on the test is deemed “high Machiavellianism”, and less than 60 as “low Machiavellianism”. </p>
<p>A “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25072196.pdf?casa_token=oCgOQPJhV28AAAAA:j-ws7wcGMhUJvY2f6j6ZPuB9fbNU1M5B-NZRqxVtOi_uSkCECPjw7YbGQhZMSt-JM_5Xd7thq2BYehh4upAC9W_vM9Ax-dPOQwZMNzja2I2OHBJQDW1xjg">high Mach</a>” will likely be highly manipulative, in ways you won’t even necessarily identify as manipulation at the the time. A “low Mach” will tend be more empathetic and more reluctant to exploit others. </p>
<p>But knowing which is which in real life isn’t so straightforward. “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are,” as Machiavelli writes in <a href="https://www.online-literature.com/machiavelli/prince/18/">The Prince</a>. It is important to remember this even when approaching “low Mach” individuals. The boss who assures you they have your best interests at heart might just be telling you what you want to believe.</p>
<h2>How to deal with a Machiavellian boss</h2>
<p>A Machiavellian boss may seek to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-016-3251-2">manipulate</a>
with flattery or bullying, promising reward or threatening punishment.
They are less likely to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0149206308318618?casa_token=N6XgvYGyA3kAAAAA:NHo94KaplKtCS74Cf9rLojyAswkwBWtT6KICWQTiRdEZ5ZRhAHdSxfGfkDI-HA8g2-nuMwDa-Hz4x4k">trust you</a>, causing them to micromanage and criticise. Your feelings <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amos-Drory/publication/232510451_Machiavellianism_and_leadership/links/552b9b410cf21acb091e4c31/Machiavellianism-and-leadership.pdf">are of little concern</a>. This experience can leave you <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-022-05233-8#Sec20">angry</a>, <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/LODJ-06-2018-0232/full/html?utm_campaign=Emerald_HR_PPV_November22_RoN">emotionally exhausted</a> and cynical. </p>
<p>So how to deal with a Machiavellian boss?</p>
<p>The first lesson is to be clear about what drives a Machiavellian personality. Fundamentally that is self-interest. You can’t judge motivations according to superficial charm or niceness. They may seem kind, caring and helpful most of the time – because that works for them. But be warned: if you’ve been on the receiving end of their “dark” traits before, you should expect it to happen again, sooner or later, when circumstances suit.</p>
<p>The second lesson is harder. You can’t trust a Machiavellian, and need to deal with them cautiously. But distrusting your boss and operating with a “strike before the other does” mindset will, if you’re a relatively normal person, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-016-3251-2">be emotionally draining</a>. You may find yourself becoming more cynical and distrustful generally. </p>
<p>Machiavelli endorsed the strategy of “divide and conquer” in another of his books (The Art of War, published in 1521). Take the opposite tack. This is a time for solidarity. Having a support network and knowing that you are not alone, can serve as an <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-022-05233-8">emotional pillar</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-to-do-when-you-encounter-people-with-dark-personality-traits-at-work-192316">Here's what to do when you encounter people with 'dark personality traits' at work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>There are no laws against being a manipulative, scheming and self-interested boss. But if these traits manifest as bullying, abuse or victimisation, there is action you may be able to take. For advice contact your union or workplace regulator, such as Australia’s <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/workplace-problems">Fair Work Ombudsman</a>, Britain’s <a href="https://www.acas.org.uk/">Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service</a>, or <a href="https://www.employment.govt.nz/resolving-problems/">Employment New Zealand</a>. </p>
<p>Manipulation, deceit and bullying should never be considered acceptable or necessary. Your psychological and physical wellbeing matters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209210/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Working for a Machiavellian boss is infuriating, and bad for your mental health. By understanding what drives this personality, you can limit the fallout.Nelly Liyanagamage, Lecturer, University of Notre Dame AustraliaMario Fernando, Professor of Management, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2092122023-07-17T20:19:00Z2023-07-17T20:19:00ZShould you be friends with your co-workers? Here’s what the research says<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536686/original/file-20230710-7204-k0gx0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=323%2C235%2C6118%2C3667&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workplaces function better when colleagues have good relationships with one another.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/should-you-be-friends-with-your-co-workers-heres-what-the-research-says" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In my teens and twenties, I didn’t think much about how important it was to like the people I worked with. At the time, I was working as a waiter at a Toronto diner and being friends with my colleagues was part of the experience.</p>
<p>But once I became a university professor and an executive educator, I realized the importance of workplace relationships. I now know that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/0033-3352.00172">workplaces function better</a> when colleagues have good relationships with one another.</p>
<p>These findings conflict with a common sentiment I’ve noticed in my 20-plus years of working with employees: believing it isn’t necessary to be friends with your colleagues. While this viewpoint is understandable, it isn’t useful — especially when it comes to working alongside individuals you don’t get along with.</p>
<h2>Types of work friendships</h2>
<p>About 30 per cent of North Americans <a href="https://doi.org/10.33423/jop.v19i5.2517">say they have a best friend at work</a>. The rest report having regular work friends. </p>
<p>It’s useful to differentiate between different types of friendships, as not all relationships offer the same advantages. By specifying friendship types, and understanding the benefits of each, we can make informed decisions about whether investing in specific relationships is worthwhile.</p>
<p>Using previous <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10570319809374611">psychological research</a> about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/390/1/012064">different types of workplace friendships</a>, along with my experience working with thousands of managers and leaders, I have created four friendship categories for the workplace.</p>
<p><strong>1. Workplace best friend.</strong> This is a very close friendship with a colleague that is characterized by personal disclosure. Workplace best friends hold each other in high regard, exercising trust and honesty.</p>
<p><strong>2. Workplace close friendly.</strong> These are close friendships, but not quite at the level of the best friend. Most people in these relationships want to remain good friends, even if one person leaves the workplace.</p>
<p><strong>3. Workplace friendly.</strong> This relationship has some of the same qualities as above, but is less likely to persist beyond work. There is also usually less personal disclosure. In other words, it’s the work buddy — the kind of person you grab a lunch or coffee with.</p>
<p><strong>4. Co-worker acquaintance.</strong> This refers to someone you might frequently see at work, but your interactions with them are limited to exchanging smiles or brief pleasantries.</p>
<h2>Benefits of workplace friendships</h2>
<p>Friendships at work provide enhanced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03949-4">innovation, feelings of psychological safety</a> and compassion. When employers balance leadership and friendship with their employees, <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/10/todays-leaders-need-vulnerability-not-bravado">it encourages the vulnerability, adaptability and humility</a> that is required in today’s business environments.</p>
<p>Elton Mayo, one of the founders of modern organizational theory, recognized that <a href="https://ia600205.us.archive.org/14/items/socialproblemsof00mayo/socialproblemsof00mayo.pdf">opportunities for social-emotional connections at work</a> were <a href="https://hbr.org/2014/12/what-bosses-gain-by-being-vulnerable">crucial for performance</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friends-with-unexpected-benefits-working-with-buddies-can-improve-performance-86074">Friends with unexpected benefits – working with buddies can improve performance</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Merely sharing information with another person doesn’t provide these opportunities though — an emotional exchange is needed. An emotional exchange requires being open about one’s feelings and concerns, while an information exchange does not.</p>
<p>Because of these emotional exchanges, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12109">workplace friendships can be difficult</a>. They require a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407518761225">significant time investment</a>, as well as trust and disclosure, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-find-making-new-friends-so-hard-as-adults-171740">both of which can be daunting</a> for some.</p>
<h2>Which relationships are worthwhile?</h2>
<p>Making and keeping friends at work has <a href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/397058/increasing-importance-best-friend-work.aspx">become increasingly important to people</a> since the start of the pandemic. As remote and hybrid work have become more prevalent, friendships at work have taken on the crucial role of providing essential social and emotional support. </p>
<p>The workplace best friend relationship provides the most benefits because it provides the most opportunity for emotional exchanges between colleagues. These benefits include <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12087">increasing happiness</a>, productivity and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconbus.2016.10.004">motivation</a> in workers. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12455">close relationships are difficult</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12109">exhausting to maintain</a>, meaning these types of relationships <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/390/1/012064">are usually rarer compared to other types</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men in business casual attire bump fists while chatting over coffee" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537173/original/file-20230712-27-770nr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537173/original/file-20230712-27-770nr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537173/original/file-20230712-27-770nr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537173/original/file-20230712-27-770nr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537173/original/file-20230712-27-770nr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537173/original/file-20230712-27-770nr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537173/original/file-20230712-27-770nr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Making and keeping friends has become especially important to workers since the start of the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Workplace close friendly and friendly relationships are the most likely to provide these benefits without being too emotionally draining or hard to maintain. Still, it’s important to note that close friendly relationships face similar challenges as having a best friend at work — namely, a higher risk of personal conflict spilling over into work.</p>
<p>Co-worker acquaintances are the one type of workplace relationship that don’t provide any of the benefits that come from having friends at work. If you want to get the most out of work, your best bet is to try and make friends.</p>
<h2>Unfriendliness doesn’t pay off</h2>
<p>But what if you have a colleague you truly can’t stand? Other than grinning and bearing their presence, you can make the choice to remove yourself. This could mean leaving the role or trying to distance yourself from that person without sacrificing your ability to perform.</p>
<p>While avoiding those you dislike can be helpful, it’s often challenging to do at work. In addition, being unfriendly at work — either because forming friendships is too difficult or because you are avoiding a particular person — can make work <a href="https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/406298/why-having-best-friend-work-important.aspx">less enjoyable and engaging</a>. </p>
<p>Less-engaged employees <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-06-2018-0034">find less meaning in their work</a> and receive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.109944">less opportunities for advancement</a>. Unfriendliness can also lead to higher levels of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232518458_Loneliness_Human_Nature_and_the_Need_for_Social_Connection">loneliness and isolation</a>, which can end up making you sick.</p>
<h2>A new perspective</h2>
<p>If you decide to maintain a friendly relationship with a colleague you dislike, there are some strategies you can use to maintain a productive working relationship with them. One of these strategies involves using positive reframing to change the way you think and interpret your colleague’s behaviour. </p>
<p>Using metaphors to shift your perspective can be a helpful way to accomplish this. One particularly useful metaphor is likening your colleague to a book. When reading a book, even if it’s enjoyable, there may be parts you dislike and overlook. However, you never dismiss the entire book.</p>
<p>Applying this metaphor to colleagues can help you highlight the parts about a person you like while letting go of the less desirable parts. It’s important to recognize no one is perfect — in or outside of work.</p>
<p>While there will always be colleagues you don’t care for, it can be empowering to know that with some reframing, you can help create a better workplace for yourself and those around you.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Friedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Being friendly at work can increase your happiness, productivity and help you make better use of your time. On the other hand, being unfriendly can make work less enjoyable and engaging.Stephen Friedman, Adjunct Professor of Organizational Studies, Schulich School of Business, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2041982023-06-15T20:04:57Z2023-06-15T20:04:57ZToxic work cultures start with incivility and mediocre leadership. What can you do about it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532118/original/file-20230615-15-2eowb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C775%2C4880%2C2473&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’re in a meeting, with something important to say. Just as you begin, a colleague sighs and shares an eye-roll with their buddy. And not for the first time.</p>
<p>Workplaces aren’t always harmonious. Whether it’s a cafe, factory or parliament, people do and say hurtful things. They may talk down to you, “call you out” in front of others, make jokes at your expense, gossip about you behind your back, or give you the silent treatment.</p>
<p>This type of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1976">incivility</a> doesn’t quite rise to the level where you can complain to human resources and expect a satisfying resolution. Organisations typically have policies against racism, sexism, harassment and other overt forms of abuse. But incivility – being less severe and more difficult to prove – tends to fly under the radar.</p>
<p>Most of us will <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.6.1.64">experience incivility</a> at some point at work. <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/01/the-price-of-incivility">More than 50%</a> experience it weekly. According to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000870">2022 meta-analysis</a> of 105 incivility studies, you’re more likely to cop it if you’re new, female, in a subordinate position, or from an ethnic minority.</p>
<p>Unkind and thoughtless words matter. As linguist Louise Banks says in the 2016 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164">Arrival</a>: “Language is the first weapon drawn in a conflict.” </p>
<p>What people say and how they say it affects us deeply. One cruel remark can ruin your whole day. Left unchecked, incivility makes for a toxic workplace.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-workplace-rudeness-on-the-rise-129876">Is workplace rudeness on the rise?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why are people rude to each other?</h2>
<p>It’s tempting to simply blame bad character. Certainly such behaviour is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110090">much more likely</a> from people with dysfunctional personality traits, especially the “dark triad” of narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="The dark triad" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531870/original/file-20230614-25-exhvab.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531870/original/file-20230614-25-exhvab.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531870/original/file-20230614-25-exhvab.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531870/original/file-20230614-25-exhvab.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531870/original/file-20230614-25-exhvab.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531870/original/file-20230614-25-exhvab.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531870/original/file-20230614-25-exhvab.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Dark_Triad.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Narcissists are self-obsessed and dominate social interactions. Psychopaths lack empathy and don’t understand social norms. Machiavellians are manipulative, self-interested and amoral.</p>
<p>But even “nice” people can be uncivil, with the three most common <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1976">incivility triggers</a> being because they feel let down by their leaders, are under more pressure than they can handle, or someone else was rude first – to them or others.</p>
<p>Incivility can therefore become a <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1999.2202131">vicious spiral</a> that turns victims and bystanders into perpetrators. That’s how toxic workplaces are born, develop, and perpetuate.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-jeremy-clarkson-taught-us-about-incivility-in-the-workplace-39913">What Jeremy Clarkson taught us about incivility in the workplace</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Incivility in the workplace</h2>
<p>Leadership sets the tone. We’re social creatures and learn what’s expected and acceptable from those we look up to. Our leaders’ behaviour is infectious, and cascades down throughout and across organisations – for better or worse.</p>
<p>Incivility is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/job.621">most harmful</a> when it comes from a supervisor: someone we’re supposed to trust, who’s supposed to look after us. </p>
<p>The power asymmetry means leaders’ inappropriate behaviour is less likely to be challenged. Take, for example, Harvey Weinstein, who for decades abused his position as one of Hollywood’s most successful film producers to sexually exploit women, before finally <a href="https://theconversation.com/staying-in-grace-why-some-people-are-immune-from-scandal-until-theyre-not-140908">being held to account</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/staying-in-grace-why-some-people-are-immune-from-scandal-until-theyre-not-140908">Staying in grace: Why some people are immune from scandal – until they're not</a>
</strong>
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<hr>
<p>But managers can be derelict in their duty without being perpetrators. As in the case of sexual harassment, it may be easier to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000861">see and hear no evil</a>, perhaps because the perpetrator is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000910">favoured as a high performer or a friend</a>. With the capacity for one individual to make life a misery for many colleagues, this leadership failure can lead to a toxic workplace culture.</p>
<h2>Authentic leadership ‘in the trenches’</h2>
<p>It’s up to leaders to be the first movers against incivility and create positive work cultures with their own behaviour. What leaders will tolerate on their team sets the bar for how everyone else will behave.</p>
<p>With colleagues Stephen Teo and David Pick, I’ve <a href="https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/7593926">surveyed 230 nurses</a> across Australia about the leadership qualities that help reduce incivility.</p>
<p>Why ask nurses? Because their work is stressful and demanding. The strain of providing critical care for patients creates conditions conducive to conflict, from swearing to <a href="https://www.acn.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/position-statement-occupational-violence-against-nurses.pdf">physical violence</a>. Workplace incivility is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244426">frequent</a> and these stressors increase the likelihood of <a href="https://www.osha.gov/hospitals/understanding-problem">medical mistakes</a>. So there’s good reason to reduce incivility to improve health-care quality.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Nurse" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531881/original/file-20230614-25-dbn8gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531881/original/file-20230614-25-dbn8gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531881/original/file-20230614-25-dbn8gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531881/original/file-20230614-25-dbn8gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531881/original/file-20230614-25-dbn8gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531881/original/file-20230614-25-dbn8gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531881/original/file-20230614-25-dbn8gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Nurses work in stressful and demanding conditions, conducive to conflict.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/7593926">Our research</a> shows that authentic leadership promotes workplace cultures with less incivility and better well-being. Such <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1042-3">authentic leaders</a> are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, act on their values even under pressure, and work to understand how their leadership affects others.</p>
<h2>What can you do?</h2>
<p>Incivility isn’t okay. It should never be excused as “just part of the job”.</p>
<p>If this is happening to you, or others in your workplace, avoiding it won’t help you or your colleagues. Putting up with incivility is emotionally taxing, entrenches feelings of resentment and will likely lead to bigger conflicts down the track.</p>
<p>Responding with more incivility of your own isn’t a good idea. Retaliation rarely deters a person who engages in such behaviour and instead effectively endorses it.</p>
<p>One approach recommended by psychologists when dealing with high-conflict personalities is known as the <a href="https://ombuds.ucsf.edu/sites/g/files/tkssra2661/f/wysiwyg/biff.pdf">BIFF technique</a>: be brief, informative, friendly and firm.</p>
<p>When someone says something mean, you might respond, as calmly as possible, along the lines of: “Your comments are hurtful and damage our working relationship. Please, let’s keep things professional.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Don't retaliate. Be brief, informative and friendly but firm." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532103/original/file-20230615-21-n0wdqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532103/original/file-20230615-21-n0wdqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532103/original/file-20230615-21-n0wdqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532103/original/file-20230615-21-n0wdqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532103/original/file-20230615-21-n0wdqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532103/original/file-20230615-21-n0wdqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532103/original/file-20230615-21-n0wdqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Don’t retaliate. Be brief, informative and friendly but firm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>If the behaviour persists, approach your supervisor. Again, stay calm. Explain what’s happening and how it’s affecting you. You don’t have to go at it alone either: consider inviting colleagues who can support you, and your claims.</p>
<p>Will this fix the problem? Possibly not. Your manager might simply shrug their shoulders, or arrange a “mediation” that resolves nothing. But saying and doing nothing will almost certainly <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/04/an-antidote-to-incivility">leave you unsatisfied</a>.</p>
<p>If your manager is the perpetrator, contact your HR department first (if your organisation has one) or else your union. The union can offer advice on other avenues to seek redress. </p>
<p>Statutory agencies such as Australia’s <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/workplace-problems">Fair Work Ombudsman</a>, <a href="https://www.employment.govt.nz/resolving-problems/">Employment New Zealand</a> and the UK’s <a href="https://www.acas.org.uk/">Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service</a> have the power to investigate workplace complaints, and to intervene in disputes through formal conciliation or arbitration. But before embarking on such a process, it’s best to get expert advice. You might get justice, but also still need to find another job.</p>
<p>Incivility is unlikely to stop on its own, however. Your voice matters and can help break the cycle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204198/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrei Lux works for Edith Cowan University and is a Director of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management.</span></em></p>Workplace incivility doesn’t quite rise to the level of bullying, harassment or discrimination, which makes it harder to tackle. Here’s why it occurs and what can be done about it.Andrei Lux, Lecturer of Leadership and Director of Academic Studies, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2071132023-06-07T20:07:39Z2023-06-07T20:07:39ZBusiness is trying to scare us about ‘same job, same pay’. But the proposal isn’t scary<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530502/original/file-20230607-21-fldsij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C60%2C1059%2C539&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.findabetterway.com.au/">Minerals Council of Australia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Monday, eight of Australia’s largest employer groups launched a campaign against the government’s <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6808">Same Job, Same Pay Bill</a>, saying it was “unfair”. </p>
<p>The television ads and <a href="https://www.findabetterway.com.au/">website</a> say the proposed law would penalise hard workers with “decades of knowledge and experience” by forcing employers to pay everyone the same (in the hard workers’ case, lower) wage. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Minerals Council of Australia advertisement.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The employer groups are right about one thing. What’s at stake is fairness, although not in the way they suggest.</p>
<p>The bill, first put forward by Labor leader Anthony Albanese in opposition, would rein in the disingenuous use of <a href="https://www.corrs.com.au/insights/same-job-same-pay-a-bold-and-novel-proposal-for-labour-market-regulation">labour-hire contracts</a>.</p>
<p>Its explanatory memorandum says its aim is to “ensure that workers employed through labour-hire companies will receive no less than the same pay as workers employed directly”.</p>
<p>It would do this in two ways.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>labour-hire businesses would be required to afford to all workers whom they provide to another person “pay and conditions which are no less favourable” than those required to be paid to direct employees of that person</p></li>
<li><p>firms or people that use labour-hire businesses would be required to provide the labour-hire business with all the information it would reasonably require to comply with the act and to refrain from engaging any labour-hire business that did not comply with the act.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The bill is part of an election promise Labor made to address instances of employers using labour-hire firms to deliberately undercut the wages and conditions they offer in enterprise agreements.</p>
<h2>Labor hire isn’t all bad</h2>
<p>Many labour-hire arrangements are put in place for legitimate reasons.</p>
<p>Among the examples are aged-care workers contracted through an external agency to backfill sick leave and production workers contracted to deal with unexpected increases in demand. </p>
<p>In the preamble to the bill, the government explicitly says it will not affect the ordinary and fair use of labour hire, including as a reasonable way to manage surge periods and employee absences. </p>
<p>But the misuse of labour-hire agreements is contributing to the fracturing of Australian workplaces by setting up two – and sometimes more – sets of employment conditions, which is inherently unfair.</p>
<h2>But labour-hire workers can be poorly paid</h2>
<p>The Bureau of Statistics finds 84% of workers on labour-hire contracts don’t have access to paid leave entitlements. Their median annual earnings are A$33,100. Labour-hire work is insecure and poorly compensated for being insecure.</p>
<p>Labour-hire workers are also more likely to sustain workplace injuries due to inadequate training and management practices. </p>
<p>In November the South Australian Employment Tribunal found in favour of a worker who was “not trained adequately or at all in relation to the safe completion of the task” that resulted in their death.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-costs-of-a-casual-job-are-now-outweighing-any-pay-benefits-82207">The costs of a casual job are now outweighing any pay benefits</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The employers’ groups campaigning against the Bill include the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, the Business Council of Australia and the Council of Small Business Organisations. </p>
<p>They also include the Minerals Council of Australia headed up by Tania Constable who told 2GB’s <a href="https://omny.fm/shows/the-ray-hadley-morning-show/ad-campaign-to-fight-back-against-proposed-labor-p?t=5m22s">Ray Hadley</a> on Monday the bill would mean someone could “be employed by a business for six months and get the same pay as somebody that has been there for six years”. </p>
<h2>The bill does not require every worker to be paid the same</h2>
<p>The bill does not relate to the rates of pay within organisations. What it would do is require labour-hire firms to provide pay and conditions “no less favourable” than those paid to direct employees performing the same duties. </p>
<p>It would not change or override anything in enterprise agreements. </p>
<p>The employers groups have also claimed the bill would <a href="https://www.findabetterway.com.au/">suppress wage growth</a> when the opposite is more likely to be true.</p>
<p>Fragmented workplaces and the low wages common in insecure contracts (including labour-hire agreements) have been exerting a downward pressure on Australian wages.</p>
<h2>It is more likely to lift than depress wages</h2>
<p>Rather than lowering permanent employees’ wages, the bill would lift the wages of labour-hire workers up to their level.</p>
<p>Claims that it would disincentivise hard work or hurt productivity (or <a href="https://omny.fm/shows/the-ray-hadley-morning-show/ad-campaign-to-fight-back-against-proposed-labor-p?t=6m40s">cost jobs</a>) obscure what the bill is about: ensuring workers who are doing the same job go home with the same paycheck at the end of each day.</p>
<p>The government will put the bill before parliament later this year. </p>
<p>It is worth considering what the motives might be of those who oppose it. It might be that they are not as keen to increase wages, productivity and employment as they say and are more concerned about keeping the right to pay externally hired contractors less than the workers they work alongside.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gemma Beale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Business groups say the Same Job, Same Pay Bill will force employers to pay inexperienced workers the same experienced ones. In fact, it relates to labour-hire firms.Gemma Beale, Senior Project Officer, Australian Industrial Transformation Institute, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030532023-04-23T20:03:44Z2023-04-23T20:03:44ZAustralian unis could not function without casual staff: it is time to treat them as ‘real’ employees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521781/original/file-20230419-16-zlj6co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C46%2C7745%2C5093&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ThisIsEngineering/Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of our series on <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/search?q=Universities+Accord+big+ideas&sort=relevancy&language=en&date=all&date_from=&date_to=">big ideas for the Universities Accord</a>. The federal government is calling for ideas to “reshape and reimagine higher education, and set it up for the next decade and beyond”. A review team is due to finish a draft report in June and a final report in December 2023.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>University working life may conjure up images of <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-netflix-drama-the-chair-is-honest-and-funny-but-it-still-romanticises-modern-university-life-166655">professors with book-lined offices</a>, built up over a decades-long career in the one institution. But the reality is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/inside-australia-s-university-wage-theft-machine-20230411-p5czn6.html">precarity has become the norm</a> in Australian higher education teaching and research.</p>
<p>According to the Universities Accord <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/australian-universities-accord-panel-discussion-paper">discussion paper</a> stakeholders have already </p>
<blockquote>
<p>raised concerns about insecure work and underpayment in the higher education sector, particularly for casual or sessional staff.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The discussion paper also notes 50 to 80% of undergraduate teaching in Australia is now done by casual or sessional staff (who are hired for a semester). However, the true figure is likely to be higher as universities <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/staff-data#toc-actual-casual-staff">report on “full-time equivalent” staff</a> rather than the actual number of people employed on contracts.</p>
<p>The Universities Accord represents the best opportunity in a generation to fix the dire employment practices in higher education. </p>
<p>If it is going to do this, it needs to recognise the significant contribution of those in precarious employment to both teaching and research in Australian universities. We must stop treating casuals as though they are an afterthought, rather than a vital part of higher education.</p>
<h2>A huge rise in casual staff</h2>
<p>Employment of casual staff has been on the rise since the late 1980s. According to the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/337998/sub036-productivity-attachmentb.pdf">National Tertiary Education Union</a>, the number of casual and fixed-term staff in higher education grew 89% between 2000 and 2019. The number of continuing (or permanent) staff increased by 49% over the same period. </p>
<p>The union also estimates more than A$100 million in <a href="https://www.nteu.au/News_Articles/National/Wage_Theft_Report.aspx">unpaid wages</a> is owed to casual academic staff in Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tutor speaks to a group of students" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521782/original/file-20230419-20-m12nw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521782/original/file-20230419-20-m12nw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521782/original/file-20230419-20-m12nw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521782/original/file-20230419-20-m12nw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521782/original/file-20230419-20-m12nw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521782/original/file-20230419-20-m12nw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521782/original/file-20230419-20-m12nw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Up to 80% of Australian undergraduate teaching is done by casual or sessional staff.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fauxels/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Precarious employment is also common in universities across the globe. Around <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/10899/Precarious-work-in-higher-education-May-20/pdf/ucu_he-precarity-report_may20.pdf">half of all academic staff in the United Kingdom</a> and more than <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/26405/6_The_Impacts_of_2020_on_Advancement_of_Contingent_Faculty-Culver_Kezar.pdf">70% of staff in the United States</a> are “non-tenure track”, meaning that they are employed on short-term contracts without any promise of ongoing work or career progression. </p>
<p>A key difference for Australian academics is the proliferation of highly casualised project-specific roles. These roles lead to semester-based employment for teaching and hours-based contracts for research work. </p>
<p>So, rather than being employed by one institution for a fixed period, Australian academics <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/inside-australia-s-university-wage-theft-machine-20230411-p5czn6.html">juggle a variety of contracts</a> in both teaching and research, across multiple universities. This sees them work long hours with <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0961463X221144136">little time for their own research</a> – an imperative for researchers looking to make a career in academia.</p>
<p>There are no statistics for the number of people employed at multiple institutions, but most casual academics we encountered in our research work across multiple universities. This has also been reported in <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/inside-australia-s-university-wage-theft-machine-20230411-p5czn6.html">media investigations</a> about casual staff in the higher education sector.</p>
<h2>Our research: ‘a trend of overwork’</h2>
<p>Our research investigates the experiences of those employed in precarious positions in Australia. Between 2018 and 2019, we spoke with 27 academics employed in a range of insecure roles at universities in Australia and the UK.</p>
<p>Two of the main issues for casuals is insecurity and a lack of career progression. As one researcher, with more than a decade of experience, told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I did have someone I was working with one time saying, ‘Oh, you need to think about your career, and your career path’ and I just thought, ‘I’ve got too much to do to think about my career’. I think really […] if you can just get a job and keep working, that’s an achievement in itself. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our interview <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0961463X221144136">research</a> also showed contract researchers are often employed on grant funding for projects in which they may have little expertise. These researchers frequently work additional unpaid hours to “prove their worth” and increase the possibility of future employment. </p>
<p>As one interviewee who has worked on a number of hours-based contracts in social sciences notes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’d work probably three or four days, at the start, for just one day of [paid] work. So, I think there is very much a trend of wanting to overwork, when you’re starting out as a casual research assistant, because you really want to prove your worth.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite the huge proportion of contract researchers, interviewees report they are treated as disposable and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2022.2105831">not part of the “real” academic workforce</a>. Unfortunately, there is no requirement for universities to report on the continuation of contracts or career development for those in precarious positions.</p>
<p>Sessional teaching staff face similar challenges, with some allocated only ten minutes <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-18/rmit-uq-now-among-universities-accused-of-underpaying-staff/12565528">to read a piece of work and provide feedback</a>. They are also not given any paid time to support struggling students. </p>
<p>The temporary nature of the funding means there is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220620.2021.1881458">little oversight</a> of their employment conditions, training or career progression. A 2019 union survey of more than 6,000 casuals found <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/337998/sub036-productivity-attachmentb.pdf">only 18% were satisfied</a> with their “mode” of employment. More than two thirds of those surveyed preferred permanent work. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/some-of-them-do-treat-you-like-an-idiot-what-its-like-to-be-a-casual-academic-201470">'Some of them do treat you like an idiot’: what it’s like to be a casual academic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What needs to happen instead</h2>
<p>A dramatic overhaul of university employment structures is required.</p>
<p>This should begin by including practices that are considered “normal” in other industries, namely: payment for all work completed, payment for attendance at compulsory meetings, payment for a minimum number of hours per “shift”, adequate time to complete work, career progression, professional development and stability of income.</p>
<p>Universities should also recognise the diversity of employees’ employment aims and focus on fair conditions for all staff. For example, not all academics would like to work full-time or undertake research. Universities could create part-time teaching-focused roles for those who would like to maintain currency in their industry whilst working at a university, or for those who want flexible working arrangements.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pile of open books." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521783/original/file-20230419-28-jr7ryn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521783/original/file-20230419-28-jr7ryn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521783/original/file-20230419-28-jr7ryn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521783/original/file-20230419-28-jr7ryn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521783/original/file-20230419-28-jr7ryn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521783/original/file-20230419-28-jr7ryn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521783/original/file-20230419-28-jr7ryn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Casual staff should be paid for all the work they do.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lum3n/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These jobs should not be considered peripheral to the “real” work of universities but acknowledged as a core component of modern university employment structures. Those who choose to remain in causal employment should be paid fairly for all work completed and have easier mechanisms to convert to permanent employment should they wish to do so.</p>
<p>Universities should also support academics in ongoing employment to have the time and capacity to improve their supervision and mentoring of casual or contract staff.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-the-government-and-universities-can-do-about-the-crisis-of-insecure-academic-work-183345">Here's what the government and universities can do about the crisis of insecure academic work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As part of this, stable and continuous funding to universities is essential.</p>
<p>To start with, the percentage of Gross Domestic Product invested in research could be increased. Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-does-being-second-last-in-the-oecd-for-public-funding-affect-our-unis-46727">spends 1.8% of GDP</a> on research, down from 2.25% in 2008 and well behind the OECD average of 2.68%. 2020 figures <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/media-item/we-cannot-continue-doing-more-for-the-country-with-less/">show</a> universities funded more than half of their own research and development, which accounts for 36% of all Australian research. </p>
<p>The current lack of funding certainty makes it much harder to plan projects and employ researchers in an ongoing capacity. </p>
<p>More secure funding along with policy settings that steer universities <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-big-university-surpluses-underscore-the-need-to-reform-how-they-are-funded-and-governed-183977">away from a corporatised model</a> (where spending on staff is cut in the name of budget bottom lines), could have a significant difference on how universities employ staff.</p>
<p>The impacts of these changes extend beyond the individual employee. If staff are more secure and better supported, this will also support improvements in teaching and learning as well as world-leading research.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203053/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fifty to 80% of undergraduate teaching in Australia is done by casual or sessional staffKathleen Smithers, Lecturer, Charles Sturt UniversityJess Harris, Associate Professor in Education, University of NewcastleNerida Spina, Associate professor, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2010932023-03-08T04:02:08Z2023-03-08T04:02:08ZWhat are ‘reasonable’ hours? The Ryan-Rugg legal stoush may help the rest of us know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514095/original/file-20230308-20-8v17vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4146%2C2073&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The court case against federal independent parliamentarian Monique Ryan by her former chief of staff Sally Rugg will, <a href="https://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/media-centre/media-statements/2023/sally-rugg-v-dr-monique-ryan-statement/">according to Rugg’s lawyers</a>, open the door to legal action “by every Australian worker experiencing exploitation because of a contractual obligation to perform undefined ‘reasonable additional’ hours”.</p>
<p>Given the pecularities of the case, that’s unlikely. But the case will put the spotlight on an important, but rarely tested, question of what “reasonable” overtime means.</p>
<p>Rugg is seeking compensation in the Federal Court for “adverse action” by Ryan against her for refusing to work more than 70 hours a week. Ryan denies Rugg’s allegations. So far, it’s a classic battle of claim and counter-claim. </p>
<p>The outcome will turn on what “reasonable” means (as well as matters of evidence and credibility). There is no simple definition of this in Australian workplace law, even though it is pivotal to what the Fair Work Act says about working overtime.</p>
<p>Nor are there many tribunal or court decisions setting precedents to guide the Federal Court’s ruling. </p>
<h2>What the Fair Work Act says</h2>
<p>Under Section 62 of the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2023C00036">Fair Work Act</a>, an employer must not request or require a full-time employee to work longer than 38 hours a week, “unless the additional hours are reasonable”. </p>
<p>An employee may refuse to work additional hours “if the request is unreasonable”. This is essentially what Rugg says she sought to do. </p>
<p>What determines whether a request is reasonable or unreasonable? Section 62 sets out ten (non-exhaustive) factors that must be taken into account:</p>
<ul>
<li>any risk to employee health and safety from working the additional hours </li>
<li>the employee’s personal circumstances, including family responsibilities</li>
<li>the needs of the workplace or enterprise in which the employee is employed </li>
<li>whether the employee is entitled to receive overtime payments, penalty rates or other compensation for, or a level of remuneration that reflects an expectation of, working additional hours</li>
<li>any notice given by the employer of any request or requirement to work the additional hours</li>
<li>any notice given by the employee of his or her intention to refuse to work the additional hours</li>
<li>the usual patterns of work in the industry, or the part of an industry, in which the employee works</li>
<li>the nature of the employee’s role, and the employee’s level of responsibility </li>
<li>whether the additional hours accord with averaging terms that are applicable under an award or enterprise agreement or agreed with the individual employee</li>
<li>any other relevant matter.</li>
</ul>
<p>These considerations apply to all workers, regardless of their salary level or whether they are covered by awards or other industrial instruments. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-culture-of-overtime-is-costing-us-dearly-110566">Our culture of overtime is costing us dearly</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Past court decisions</h2>
<p>While case law is slim, one judgement almost certain to be mentioned is the Federal Court’s 2022 ruling in <em><a href="https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2022/512.html">Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union v Dick Stone Pty Ltd</a></em>. </p>
<p>This claim for compensation was brought by the meatworkers’ union on behalf of Samuel Boateng, a migrant from Ghana who was employed as a knife-hand and labourer by Dick Stone Meats in Sydney.</p>
<p>Boateng’s contract required him to work 50 “ordinary hours” a week (2am to 11.30am on weekdays, and 2am to 7am on Saturdays) plus “reasonable additional hours” as requested.</p>
<p>The union argued the contract contravened both the <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/awards/awards-summary/ma000059-summary">Meat Industry Award 2010</a> and the Fair Work Act. Justice Anna Katzmann agreed. She ruled it was possible for an employee to agree to ordinary work hours above 38 hours, but the onus was still on the employer to ensure those additional hours were reasonable. </p>
<p>She affirmed that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What is reasonable in any given case depends on an evaluation of the particular circumstances of both the employee and the employer having regard to all relevant matters including those matters mandated for consideration in section 62.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Boateng’s case, Katzmann concluded the requirement to work 12 hours more than the 38-hour standard was, in the overall circumstances, unreasonable. Three factors were given particular weight: </p>
<ul>
<li>the health and safety risks associated with lengthy shifts in a role requiring the use of knives </li>
<li>the fact the employee did not hold a managerial or supervisory role that might warrant additional hours</li>
<li>the fact the employee was not being paid overtime rates in accordance with the award.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>Further, while the 50-hour week aligned with the employer’s operational needs, this did not necessarily make the additional hours reasonable from the employee’s perspective. </p>
<h2>Rugg’s case is different</h2>
<p>The outcome in the Boateng case has limited application to a dispute involving a white-collar worker working long hours on high wages. </p>
<p>As Ryan’s chief of staff, Rugg was in a managerial role. Her base salary was $136,000, with a “top-up” allowance of about $30,000 for “reasonable additional hours” (but no overtime payments).</p>
<p>That said, the case does confirm general principles. What is “reasonable” involves a balancing of various factors, including the needs or circumstances of each party. The “weighting” given to different indicators might also vary depending on the individual job. There is no magic touchstone.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/most-of-us-who-work-long-hours-like-the-jobs-we-are-in-those-who-dont-change-jobs-quickly-122633">Most of us who work long hours like the jobs we are in. Those who don't, change jobs quickly</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Much will turn on matters of degree. Factors that will weigh in Rugg’s favour are the amount of work hours required relative to her income, and her personal circumstances including her family responsibilities. Health and safety risks are likely to feature also. </p>
<p>Factors Ryan’s lawyers will seek to highlight are the nature of her employment, level of responsibility, and established patterns and standards of work within the industry – provided these can be verified. </p>
<p>The distinctive nature of Rugg’s position and demands means any judgement will have limited application to “regular” employees. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the case will be significant in offering some rare (and much-needed) guidance both for employers and employees on what “reasonable additional work hours” means.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201093/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Giuseppe Carabetta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A Federal Court ruling on Sally Rugg’s case against Monique Ryan should provide some much needed guidance on what “reasonable additional work hours” means.Giuseppe Carabetta, Associate Professor, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1955702023-01-03T19:16:09Z2023-01-03T19:16:09ZMicro-aggressions are repeated acts that send women backwards. Here’s how micro-accommodations can fight back<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500623/original/file-20221213-5529-7a7zlr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=346%2C328%2C3343%2C1730&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I was ten, I was the only female member of an all-boys sports team, and the boys liked to remind me of it, and that it would be better if I just went home.</p>
<p>That was my introduction to sexism. And its logic was clear: you are not welcome, go home.</p>
<p>It is also how many of us used to think about racism and sexism – as involving big, conscious signals of hatred or exclusion.</p>
<p>We now understand discrimination as a more complex phenomenon, involving a mix of big and small, intentional and unthinking, acts. Racism can be a large “not welcome” sign, but it can also be a series of micro-aggressions that leave racial minorities feeling marginalised, stigmatised or emotionally exhausted from repeated attempts to claim their rightful place on the team or at the table.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-to-our-podcast-dont-call-me-resilient-season-3-183183">Listen to our podcast: Don’t Call Me Resilient – Season 3</a>
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<p>Sexism can be telling women and girls to – literally – go home, or it can be merely forgetting to unlock the girls’ locker room or provide protective gear designed for female bodies.</p>
<p>Performed repeatedly, these small acts can have systematic consequences for the choices women make about their lives and their sense of where they belong.</p>
<p>These acts can also have broader ripple effects on those witnessing them or walking alongside those affected. They are one way racism and sexism become systemic – baked into our social and legal structures.</p>
<h2>Laws hurt, but they can help</h2>
<p>Our laws are another source of systemic bias. Among them are laws that penalise crack cocaine more heavily than its whiter, powdered equivalent.</p>
<p>But laws can also be an important counter to bias. They can give women and marginalised groups the right to enter domains for which they have been excluded and stay there. </p>
<p>They can, for example, require equal funding for male and female sports teams. </p>
<p>And they can even require employers and educational institutions to make accommodations that make staying in institutions and succeeding possible. </p>
<p>Among such laws are laws that require wheelchair access and Braille signage and paid sick and carer’s leave.</p>
<p>These are not cheap for employers and educational institutions, but they can make a big difference to the lives and employment chances of those they help.</p>
<h2>Micro-accommodations, to fight micro-aggressions</h2>
<p>But laws can’t do everything. That’s why employers, managers and co-workers need to go further and provide small but meaningful accommodations to individual employees to help them thrive, rather than just survive, at work.</p>
<p>We could think of them as micro-accommodations. Like micro-aggressions, micro-accommodations involve acts that seems small to those making them, but if repeated can have much larger positive consequences for those they target.</p>
<p>Micro-accommodations can take the form of small scheduling adjustments. They might involve changing a start or finish time by a few minutes to accommodate school or daycare drop offs and pick ups, or short blocks in meeting calendars for parents to welcome their children home from school, or reordering presentations in meetings to allow people to arrive later or leave earlier. </p>
<p>Or they could involve providing short breaks for people to take prescribed medicines, or to briefly stretch to help manage injuries.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500631/original/file-20221213-304-aecvoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500631/original/file-20221213-304-aecvoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500631/original/file-20221213-304-aecvoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500631/original/file-20221213-304-aecvoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500631/original/file-20221213-304-aecvoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500631/original/file-20221213-304-aecvoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500631/original/file-20221213-304-aecvoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500631/original/file-20221213-304-aecvoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A micro-accommodation can be re-ordering a meeting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For me, as an 11 year old in an all-boys sports team, micro-accommodations initially took the form of a scheduled break to allow me to access a far-away female bathroom, and later, an agreement among my team that I could have brief but exclusive use of the male locker room. </p>
<p>This made a big difference to my focus and batting average (it was baseball, in the United States) and more significantly to my sense that I had a place in the team.</p>
<p>That message of inclusion may not have erased the messages of past exclusions, but it definitely helped mute them.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-10-women-report-disrespectful-or-abusive-care-in-childbirth-186827">1 in 10 women report disrespectful or abusive care in childbirth</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<p>In principle, micro-accommodations could take any form – so long as they go beyond what’s required by law, and impose only modest costs on those providing them.</p>
<p>Think of efforts by employers to provide halal, kosher, vegan or gluten-free menu options, or to provide proportional parking prices for those working part-time.</p>
<p>One of the most famous micro-accommodations in recent memory was documented by former Google and Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg in her best-selling book, <a href="https://leanin.org/book">Lean In</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500632/original/file-20221213-378-ei0np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500632/original/file-20221213-378-ei0np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500632/original/file-20221213-378-ei0np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500632/original/file-20221213-378-ei0np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500632/original/file-20221213-378-ei0np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500632/original/file-20221213-378-ei0np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500632/original/file-20221213-378-ei0np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500632/original/file-20221213-378-ei0np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pregnancy parking can be simply a matter of rearranging parking spaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pregnant, late for a meeting, and only able to find a parking spot far from the front door of Google’s headquarters, Sandberg asked Google co-founder Sergey Brin for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/14/sheryl-sandberg-lean-in-men">pregnancy parking</a> closer to the door. He immediately said yes and said he wondered why the idea hadn’t occurred to him previously.</p>
<p>The cost was small: simply a matter of re-arranging parking spots rather than providing more. And the benefit to a pregnant Sandberg was huge. (If you don’t understand why, consider how hard it can be to walk quickly while heavily pregnant!)</p>
<p>Perhaps more important, it was a change that lasted well beyond Sandberg’s own pregnancies, benefited many other women at Google, and never became something they needed to negotiate each time they drove to the office.</p>
<h2>Favours are not micro-accomodations</h2>
<p>There is certainly value in managers and co-workers responding to requests for accommodations beyond what the law requires. </p>
<p>But asking <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/14/sheryl-sandberg-lean-in-men">has costs</a> – it can cause anxiety and stress, it can be exhausting, and it can re-reinforce “not belonging”.</p>
<p>My own experience attests to this. When I started university teaching in Australia with a small baby, I was told that my classes would be at night, but that I could ask a colleague if they would consider swapping with me, as an accommodation.</p>
<p>I was fortunate that a colleague was generous and agreed to swap. It was a sacrifice for him, but not a large one. But the act of asking felt awkward and stressful. I really needed my colleague to say yes, if I was to keep doing the job I loved.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-putting-gender-at-the-heart-of-the-fair-work-act-but-theres-still-no-compassionate-leave-for-abortions-192736">We're putting gender at the heart of the Fair Work Act, but there's still no compassionate leave for abortions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>The question I kept asking myself was why it had become my responsibility to make things work rather than my employer’s.</p>
<p>The good news is that I and others repeatedly made this point, and there is now a far better policy: all staff at my university are invited to complete a form indicating when they can and cannot teach, and any special circumstances. Those who do the timetabling take this into account.</p>
<p>This is the difference between a favour and a micro-accommodation: a favour is inter-personal and ad hoc; a micro-accommodation is formalised so that all employees in the situations can benefit for as long as they are in that situation.</p>
<p>And micro-accommodations are public rather than private – not something workers have to keep quiet or minimize.</p>
<h2>Favours are private, micro-accommodations are public</h2>
<p>Private favours and quiet forms of “personal workarounds”, which are communicated on a need-to-know basis have downsides. </p>
<p>They are less effective because well-meaning colleagues can misunderstand and undermine them, and they are unlikely to have larger, systemic benefits. </p>
<p>Not advertising a workaround means it is likely to stop at one person.</p>
<p>Here’s an example. One of my co-workers, Marian, trialled a personal workaround involving blocking out a short period in her calendar after her kids came home from school. Because she didn’t advertise it to her team, she kept receiving calls and urgent queries during this time.</p>
<p>We discussed the challenges, and I encouraged her to communicate the workaround to her team.</p>
<p>As soon as she did, the results were different. The blocked-out time was almost never interrupted, and she found it much easier to look forward to her kids arriving home and spending time with them.</p>
<h2>How to create micro-accommodations</h2>
<p>Micro-accommodations are best when targeted to specific needs, as Marian’s was.</p>
<p>And they work best when they are initiated by managers, rather than employees. This takes an emotional load off workers and sends a powerful signal of inclusion.</p>
<p>Asking employees how best to accommodate their needs is one way to do it, but this still imposes an emotional responsibility on those being asked.</p>
<p>Another better way to do it is to informally audit facilities and schedules to see if they make sense for staff.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-new-parliament-will-have-record-numbers-of-women-will-this-finally-make-it-a-safe-place-to-work-181598">Our new parliament will have record numbers of women – will this finally make it a safe place to work?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The resulting accommodations might be as simple as shifting important meetings and reporting deadlines away from major religious and school holidays.</p>
<p>Or making sure meetings don’t start at 9am or finish at 6pm if childcare centres opens at 9am and close at 6pm. </p>
<p>Or making sure politicians don’t schedule big votes at unfriendly times.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500633/original/file-20221213-3344-cvlb8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500633/original/file-20221213-3344-cvlb8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500633/original/file-20221213-3344-cvlb8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500633/original/file-20221213-3344-cvlb8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500633/original/file-20221213-3344-cvlb8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500633/original/file-20221213-3344-cvlb8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500633/original/file-20221213-3344-cvlb8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ACT Legislative Assembly.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I help run a program that helps women (including trans-gender women) prepare to run for electoral office. Modelled on the Kennedy School of Government’s <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/wappp/teaching-and-training/harvard-square-oval-office">From Harvard Square to the Oval Office</a> program, it trains a diverse mix of Australian women for electoral success. </p>
<p>And it pushes for changes that make it easier for them to <a href="https://pathwaystopolitics.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Representing-Care-Toward-a-More-Family-Friendly-Parliament-2022.pdf">stay in office</a> once there. </p>
<p>One – already in place in the Australian Capital Territory – is family-friendly sitting hours, with sittings generally beginning at 10 am and adjourning by 7 pm. Queensland’s parliament and Brisbane City Council have similar arrangements.</p>
<p>Where this can’t happen, parties can agree not to schedule crucial votes at night, or during morning drop-off times.</p>
<h2>Diverse leaders have responsibilities</h2>
<p>While it shouldn’t only have to fall to female and diverse managers to offer micro-accommodations, they are in a good position to do so, even though the extra responsibilty is weighty.</p>
<p>It is no accident that it was Sheryl Sandberg rather than Sergey Brin who pushed for pregnancy parking, or that it was female legislators saw the case for family-friendly sitting times.</p>
<p>Micro-accommodations are far from the most important tool for achieving equality. Large-scale changes to the law can achieve more. And no amount of micro-accommodations can put right a world dominated by micro-aggressions.</p>
<p>But they are an important additional tool, one enlightened managers have the power and authority to use.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195570/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosalind Dixon receives funding from the ARC for her work on Constitutions and Democratic Resilience. The Pathways to Politics for Women NSW is also supported by the Trawalla Foundation.</span></em></p>Micro-accomodations are acts that seem small to those making them, but if repeated can have much larger positive consequences for those they target.Rosalind Dixon, Director, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, UNSW Sydney, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1491522021-03-15T18:56:25Z2021-03-15T18:56:25ZBullies, thieves and chiefs: the hidden cost of psychopaths at work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388984/original/file-20210311-20-y29712.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=351%2C455%2C2752%2C1815&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From psychological thrillers to true crime stories, people who depart from social norms can be deeply fascinating. Psychopaths most of all. </p>
<p>Working with or for a psychopath, however, is less fun. </p>
<p>The research generally agrees about 1% of the population is psychopathic. This means they fail to develop the normal range of emotions, lack empathy for others and are more disposed to antisocial and uninhibited behaviour. </p>
<p>Among prisoners, the percentage with psychopathic traits has been estimated at <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160252717300523">15%</a> to 20%. But psychopaths are also disproportionately represented in corporate culture. Among the higher echelons of large organisations, the psychopathy rate is <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20422644/">an estimated 3.5%</a>. Some estimates for chief executives go way higher.</p>
<p>Only in recent decades has the research on psychopathy started reflecting the enormity of the social and economic cost of non-criminal corporate psychopaths. My research (with <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3668064">Clive Boddy and Brendon Murphy</a>) suggests corporate psychopaths cost the economy billions of dollars not only through fraud and other crimes but through the personal and organisational damage they leave behind as they climb the corporate ladder. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-psychopath-125660">What is a psychopath?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Worming their way in</h2>
<p>Psychopaths typically lack empathy and remorse. They are self-centred, manipulative, unemotional, deceitful, insincere and self-aggrandising. </p>
<p>But they are also fearless and confident, which helps them present as potentially resourceful employees and gain employment. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pathological-power-the-danger-of-governments-led-by-narcissists-and-psychopaths-123118">Pathological power: the danger of governments led by narcissists and psychopaths</a>
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</em>
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<p>A classic example is “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap, who in the early 1990s was celebrated as a hard-nosed but effective corporate “streamliner”, turning around company fortunes by retrenching staff. Dunlap has been identified as holding <a href="https://eprints.utas.edu.au/29130/">strong psychopathic traits</a>. It turned out, though, that his success had more to do with his willingness to commit fraud than his lack of compassion. </p>
<p>In reality, it’s hard to conceive of any situation where an organisation would benefit from recruiting someone with psychopathic tendencies. Once in position, their combination of traits will often lead them to engage in unethical and exploitative behaviour, disregarding the norms that allow people to work together harmoniously. </p>
<p>In his 2017 book <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/A_Climate_of_Fear_Stone_Cold_Psychopaths.html?id=2w2lswEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">A Climate of Fear: Stone Cold Psychopaths at Work</a>, Clive Boddy describes how corporate psychopaths:</p>
<ul>
<li>use organisational restructures to weaken potential threats </li>
<li>bully colleagues into obedience </li>
<li>spread rumours to undermine competitors </li>
<li>deploy “upward impression management techniques” to project competence </li>
<li>justify poor behaviour as “hard decisions that had to be made”.</li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="text" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388739/original/file-20210310-23-ap3prf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4840%2C3264&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388739/original/file-20210310-23-ap3prf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388739/original/file-20210310-23-ap3prf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388739/original/file-20210310-23-ap3prf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388739/original/file-20210310-23-ap3prf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388739/original/file-20210310-23-ap3prf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388739/original/file-20210310-23-ap3prf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The corporate psychopath damages the organisation through actions designed to promote their own psychological needs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-preferred-jobs-of-serial-killers-and-psychopaths-96173">The preferred jobs of serial killers and psychopaths</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What the law says</h2>
<p>Being a psychopath isn’t illegal. The only area where the law intervenes on the basis of a psychological diagnosis is when mental illness is seen to endanger the safety of the subject or others. Psychopathy is a personality disorder, not a mental illness. There’s no legal remedy for psychopathic behaviours that don’t rise to the level of a firing offence – such as fraud, theft or sexual harassment. </p>
<p>In some cases, it may be possible to minimise the damage a psychopath can do through taking a harder line on behavioural standards. Bullying and harassment are overt warning signs of other behaviour toxic to the work culture. A record of such behaviour should be a strike against having power over other employees. </p>
<h2>Truth is the best defence</h2>
<p>The first and main line of defence against corporate psychopaths has to be prevention. </p>
<p>There’s no surefire way to avoid recruiting a psychopath but key to reducing the risk is “sceptical due diligence” – checking the claims a job applicant makes. </p>
<p>Psychopaths have a natural advantage in any superficial recruitment process due their lower inhibition against <a href="https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/22171/1/HRDirectorsExperienceOfCorporatePsychopaths_%28repository_version%29.pdf">claiming qualifications</a>, experience and competencies they don’t have, and for taking credit for work they didn’t do. </p>
<p>It therefore pays to verify a candidate’s claimed qualifications, to scrutinise all their verbal and written claims, and test them on their honesty, truthfulness and capacity to give credit where it is due. They might have a glowing reference from a past manager, but what about other colleagues? Someone in a junior role to the recruit under consideration is more likely than a past manager to have seen the person’s true character. </p>
<p>Asking the hard questions prior to hiring arguably becomes more important the more senior the role. In a range of contexts we are increasingly recognising the consequences of failing to take complaints seriously. Smoke doesn’t necessarily mean fire, but when an individual is found responsible for one fire, it is likely they have started others. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/narcissists-and-psychopaths-how-some-societies-ensure-these-dangerous-people-never-wield-power-118854">Narcissists and psychopaths: how some societies ensure these dangerous people never wield power</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The corporate psychopath is a fascinating but dangerous character. As we come to appreciate how much damage they can do, it’s not a character you should want to study close up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149152/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article was co-authored by Clive Boddy, who has recently retired as professor of management at the University of Tasmania.</span></em></p>Psychopaths are fearless and confident. They may seem potentially resourceful employees. It never works out.Benedict Sheehy, Associate professor, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1376072020-05-08T04:26:06Z2020-05-08T04:26:06ZWe should simplify industrial relations, but not in the way business wants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333553/original/file-20200508-49542-9k1lnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3969%2C2405&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Australia contemplates its post-COVID economy, industrial relations reform has been repackaged by some as the way to “kickstart” growth.</p>
<p>The Business Council of Australia (BCA) <a href="https://www.bca.com.au/making_the_right_choices_will_be_crucial_to_recovery">has called for</a> our workplace relations system to be simplified and enterprise bargaining to be improved. The Australian Industry Group and the Australian Mines and Metal Association are also beating the drum for reform. </p>
<p>Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe says we need to look at the system’s complexity, while this week former Productivity Commission chair Gary Banks <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/this-job-killing-ir-system-has-to-go-20200503-p54pan">singled out</a> the virtue of industrial relations reform.</p>
<p>It’s true our IR needs to be simpler. </p>
<p>But to do this right, we must focus on making enterprise bargaining easier for <em>workers</em>.</p>
<h2>What does “simplify” really mean?</h2>
<p>When lobbyists for large corporations call for a “simpler” IR system, too often this means reducing the scope or value of the award safety net. </p>
<p>The number of modern awards has already been cut from more than 2000 in 2006, to <a href="https://www.bartier.com.au/insights/articles/ch-ch-changes-modern-awards-amended-in-light-of-covid-19/">just 121 today</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333577/original/file-20200508-49569-12w9fjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333577/original/file-20200508-49569-12w9fjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333577/original/file-20200508-49569-12w9fjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333577/original/file-20200508-49569-12w9fjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333577/original/file-20200508-49569-12w9fjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333577/original/file-20200508-49569-12w9fjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333577/original/file-20200508-49569-12w9fjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Business Council’s chief executive Jennifer Westacott (centre) is calling for a simpler IR system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett/AAP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Awards now have similar rates of pay for similar types of work. For example, a qualified employee on a trade (C4) classification has pretty much the same minimum pay under any modern award, no matter their occupation. </p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/working-from-home-what-are-your-employers-responsibilities-and-what-are-yours-133922">Working from home: what are your employer's responsibilities, and what are yours?</a>
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<p>Three decades of “award restructuring”, “award modernisation” and “award simplification” have done that.</p>
<p>Now, “simplifying” has become code for the earlier one-size-fits-all approach to <a href="https://www.amma.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150317_Getting_Back_on_Track_AMMA.pdf">reducing or removing</a> penalty rates, overtime pay, shift premiums, provisions on starting or finishing times, or the minimum pay rates themselves. </p>
<p>Doing so would “simplify” the making of profits. But it would also reduce the pay of many employees. There <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2018/pdf/rdp2018-06.pdf">is little evidence</a> that cutting minimum wages and conditions would boost employment. </p>
<p>Likewise, there is little evidence that minimum wage increases <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-26/minimum-wage-hikes-don-t-stifle-state-economic-booms">damage economic performance</a>.</p>
<h2>The need to address enterprise bargaining</h2>
<p>What really needs simplifying in Australian IR is our enterprise bargaining system, which is remarkably complex. </p>
<p>This is not because the “<a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/enterprise-agreements-benchbook/commission-approval-process/better-off-overall-test">better off overall test</a>” means no worker can be made worse off by an agreement — something that <a href="https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/waste-of-time-bunnings-boss-slams-eba-system-20200319-p54bos">irks some large corporations</a>. It’s because the procedures tie worker representatives, in particular, in knots.</p>
<p>The enterprise bargaining provisions in the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00512">Fair Work Act</a> occupy over 75 pages with 90 sections. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333587/original/file-20200508-49579-9a99sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333587/original/file-20200508-49579-9a99sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333587/original/file-20200508-49579-9a99sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333587/original/file-20200508-49579-9a99sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333587/original/file-20200508-49579-9a99sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333587/original/file-20200508-49579-9a99sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333587/original/file-20200508-49579-9a99sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rules governing strike action are very complex in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeremy Piper/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those on industrial action, which can only legally be taken in negotiation of an enterprise agreement, occupy another 46 pages, not counting those relating to <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00512/Html/Volume_2#_Toc533167263">remedies and enforcement</a>.</p>
<p>It makes bargaining a convoluted, tedious process, with many tripwires even for experienced parties. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-redundancies-are-understandable-but-there-are-alternatives-137704">Coronavirus redundancies are understandable, but there are alternatives</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Enterprise bargaining provisions: too many, too complex</h2>
<p>Australia’s enterprise bargaining provisions contain twice the number of pages of those in New Zealand’s Employment Relations Act, while the bar for prohibiting a strike <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-25/sydney-train-strike-cannot-go-ahead,-fair-work-commission-rules/9361270">is low</a>. </p>
<p>It is one thing to say (as a minority of OECD countries do), that strikes should be preceded by a secret ballot. It is another, less defensible thing to provide <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00512">24 pages</a> of detailed prescription on how those ballots must be undertaken. </p>
<p>Australia’s framework is much more complex than the comparable <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/52/data.pdf">United Kingdom statute</a>. </p>
<p>Even the Productivity Commission, which is <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/143906003.pdf">no friend of unions</a>, has questioned the “<a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/workplace-relations/report/workplace-relations-volume1.pdf">overly complex processes for secret ballots</a>”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/overworked-and-underpaid-the-revival-of-strikes-in-new-zealand-111728">Overworked and underpaid: the revival of strikes in New Zealand</a>
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</p>
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<p>The system also imposes complexities that are uncommon in other collective bargaining systems. </p>
<p>For example, unions are banned from engaging in <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/industrial-action-benchbook/what-industrial-action/protected-industrial-action/pattern-bargaining">pattern bargaining</a>, though no comparable prohibitions are placed on employer behaviour. </p>
<p>Over time, these provisions have been seen as placing restrictions on workers’ rights to take industrial action. </p>
<p>It is an oddity that, while awards have been simplified, the process of collective bargaining has been made remarkably complex in Australia.</p>
<p>Why should simplification of one be linked to intensified complexity in the other?</p>
<h2>What’s at stake</h2>
<p>To bring the system more in line with international practice on collective bargaining and industrial action, many restrictions should be removed. </p>
<p>For example, instead of setting out minutely detailed prescriptions on balloting procedures, the legal requirements, should be “fairly straightforward” <a href="https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com.au/&httpsredir=1&article=3623&context=scholarly_works">as in Canada</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-crisis-has-produced-many-negatives-but-some-positives-too-including-confidence-in-governments-anu-study-138018">COVID crisis has produced many negatives but some positives too, including confidence in governments: ANU study</a>
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<p>This does not mean that every limitation should be abolished, but the level of detail in Australian legislation goes far beyond what could reasonably be expected in most other OECD countries. </p>
<p>The efficiency costs may be justified if those restrictions arise from equity considerations, to protect lower paid workers or the like. But these restrictions appear to exist simply to interfere in negotiations and tip the balance of power to one side or the other. </p>
<p>In this case, it’s at the expense of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-21/have-the-right-to-strike-laws-gone-too-far/8370980">employees and their wages</a>.</p>
<h2>What happens now?</h2>
<p>What the federal government will actually do is harder to predict. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333586/original/file-20200508-49558-at2k4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333586/original/file-20200508-49558-at2k4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333586/original/file-20200508-49558-at2k4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333586/original/file-20200508-49558-at2k4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333586/original/file-20200508-49558-at2k4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333586/original/file-20200508-49558-at2k4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333586/original/file-20200508-49558-at2k4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Coalition is well aware of the electoral dangers of IR reform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeremy Piper/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Coalition lost government in 2007 in part because of overreach with <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/0708/WorkplaceRelationschron">Work Choices</a>.</p>
<p>It declined to implement major industrial relations reforms after that because of fears of the political consequences.</p>
<p>While it may be emboldened by the COVID-19 context, its interests are very different to those of the BCA’s members.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137607/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>As a university employee, David Peetz has undertaken research over many years with occasional financial support for projects from the Australian Research Council, governments from both sides of politics, in Australia and overseas, employers, unions and international organisations (including the OECD and the ILO). None of those funded projects centre on the subject matter of this article.</span></em></p>Enterprise bargaining provisions take up seemingly endless pages in the Fair Work Act. When we talk about IR “reform”, we need to make the system simpler for workers.David Peetz, Professor Emeritus, Griffith Business School, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1262312019-11-01T13:02:37Z2019-11-01T13:02:37ZMcDonald’s fired its CEO for sleeping with an employee – research shows why even consensual office romances can be a problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300112/original/file-20191104-88394-baxy4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More workplaces are banning employee relationships.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jeff Roberson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>McDonald’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/03/business/mcdonalds-ceo-steve-easterbrook-steps-down/index.html?utm_source=CNN+Five+Things&utm_campaign=b7db3f9338-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_11_01_01_34&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6da287d761-b7db3f9338-107022241">ousted its CEO</a> over a consensual relationship with an employee, just a week after <a href="https://twitter.com/RepKatieHill/status/1188591520531779584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1188591520531779584&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.refinery29.com%2Fen-us%2F2019%2F10%2F8631305%2Fkatie-hill-resigns-congress-leaked-photos-twitter">U.S. Rep. Katie Hill stepped down</a> due to a similar allegation.</p>
<p>Both McDonald’s and the <a href="https://ethics.house.gov/publication/code-official-conduct">House of Representatives</a> ban sexual relationships between supervisors and employees.</p>
<p>Whether such bans on consensual relationships are really necessary <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Abuse-of-Power-in-Intimate/99094">has been debated</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/business/global/18fund.html?scp=7&sq=Landon%20Thomas,%20Jr.&st=cse">many times</a>. And it seems reasonable to ask, shouldn’t mutually consenting adults be allowed to make these decisions for themselves?</p>
<p>Based on my <a href="https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/people/vanessa-bohns">research on power and influence</a>, I believe the short answer is probably not. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300118/original/file-20191104-88403-1nauuv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300118/original/file-20191104-88403-1nauuv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300118/original/file-20191104-88403-1nauuv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300118/original/file-20191104-88403-1nauuv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300118/original/file-20191104-88403-1nauuv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300118/original/file-20191104-88403-1nauuv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300118/original/file-20191104-88403-1nauuv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Steve Easterbrook, fourth from left, was fired for violating McDonald’s policy on consensual relationships among employees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Wynn Thompson/AP Images for McDonald's</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Bans in the workplace</h2>
<p>McDonald’s and the House are hardly the first organizations to introduce bans on workplace relationships. </p>
<p>A growing number of companies <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/05/sex-between-superiors-and-subordinates-what-are-the-rules/239141/">are clamping down on office romances</a>, particularly those marked by power imbalances. A June 2018 survey found that 78% of human resources executives said their employers didn’t allow <a href="http://www.challengergray.com/press/press-releases/metoo-survey-update-more-half-companies-reviewed-sexual-harassment-policies">relationships between managers and direct reports</a>, up from 70% in January. And <a href="http://theuniversityfaculty.cornell.edu/dean/report-archive/consensual-relationships-policy-committee/q3-what-about-power-differentials/power-differntials/">academic institutions</a> – <a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/05/president-endorses-consensual-relationship-policy">including my own</a> – are also increasingly prohibiting relationships between professors and students, deeming them inherently problematic.</p>
<p>In the past, some organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/05/sex-between-superiors-and-subordinates-what-are-the-rules/239141">have been much more permissive</a>. </p>
<p>Opponents of these sorts of bans consider them to be paternalistic overreach, arguing that <a href="https://theconversation.com/banning-workplace-romances-wont-solve-the-problem-of-sexual-misconduct-in-the-office-91975">institutions ought not police</a> the private lives and relationships of mutually consenting adults. In other words, they believe two intelligent people with good intentions should be trusted to manage the power dynamics in their own relationship.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299743/original/file-20191031-26419-zogzud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299743/original/file-20191031-26419-zogzud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299743/original/file-20191031-26419-zogzud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299743/original/file-20191031-26419-zogzud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299743/original/file-20191031-26419-zogzud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299743/original/file-20191031-26419-zogzud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299743/original/file-20191031-26419-zogzud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Katie Hill represented California’s 25th congressional district.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Election-2018-House-California-Hill/0936ec3cf2bb4c5782182d2ecf633362/1/1">AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>An unbalanced relationship</h2>
<p>A key problem is that people in positions of power have a hard time recognizing the coercive nature of that power in an unbalanced relationship. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721415628011">one of my studies</a>, participants asked other people for various favors ranging from the innocuous, such as to donate money to charity, to the unethical – to lie for them. In each case, the people making the request underestimated how uncomfortable others would feel saying “no.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1948550618769880">Follow-up work</a> my PhD student Lauren DeVincent and I conducted found that similar dynamics play out in romantic relationships at work. Individuals who make romantic advances toward coworkers underestimate how uncomfortable the targets of their advances feel rejecting them. </p>
<p>Notably, in a phenomenon dubbed the “<a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1948550618769880">power amplification effect</a>” by psychologist Adam Galinsky, these dynamics can be, as the name implies, amplified when there’s an uneven power dynamic. Even simple, polite requests can feel like directives when they come from your boss. </p>
<p>Yet people in positions of power tend to be oblivious to the influence they wield over others because <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01824.x">they are less likely to take the other party’s perspective</a>. This makes it difficult for powerful people to recognize when another person feels compelled to go along with their requests. </p>
<p>All of this means that people in positions of power can’t be trusted to recognize abuses of power they may commit when engaging in a romantic relationship with a subordinate.</p>
<h2>Subordinates have blind spots, too</h2>
<p>That ultimately leaves it up to the subordinate to recognize and highlight such abuses if and when they occur. </p>
<p>However, despite how emboldened someone might imagine they would feel to do so, research finds that we tend to overestimate how comfortable we would actually feel. For example, in research by psychologists Julie Woodzicka and Marianne LaFrance, the majority of women who read a hypothetical scenario about being sexually harassed during a job interview <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00199">said they would confront the interviewer</a>. Yet when these researchers staged an actual episode of sexual harassment during what participants thought was a real job interview, hardly any of the participants actually did so.</p>
<p>Bans on sexual relationships between supervisors and subordinates serve multiple purposes, such as protecting the involved parties from the risk of retaliation and preventing concerns about favoritism. </p>
<p>And they recognize that even intelligent, well-intentioned people can have blind spots when it comes to the power dynamics at play in their own relationships.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on Nov. 1.</em></p>
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<p><a href="http://aom.org/">Vanessa K. Bohns is a member of the Academy of Management</a></p>
<footer>The academy is a funding partner of The Conversation US.</footer>
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<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Academy of Management is a funding partner of The Conversation US.</span></em></p>Bosses tend to be oblivious to the power dynamics at play in such romantic entanglements.Vanessa Bohns, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1236882019-10-09T19:02:42Z2019-10-09T19:02:42Z‘Louts, thugs, bullies’: the myth that’s driving Morrison’s anti-union push<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296127/original/file-20191009-3846-136oxlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=263%2C287%2C3075%2C1561&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The most unionised occupation is teaching, the next most unionised is health care.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What have Scott Morrison and and Attorney General Christian Porter got in mind for unions?</p>
<p>The answer seems to be more of the same, more use of coercive power to make it harder for unions to fulfil their democratic functions of protecting workers and fighting inequality.</p>
<p>The newly-reintroduced <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_LEGislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5953">Ensuring Integrity Bill</a> was rejected in 2017, but the government thinks it’s got a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/union-busting-bill-reintroduced-to-friendlier-senate-20190704-p52448.html">better chance now</a>, with the support of at least four of the six senate crossbenchers.</p>
<p>In part that’s because of the behaviour of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-12/who-is-john-setka-and-why-is-creating-a-headache-for-labor-union/11203198">John Setka</a>, head of the Victorian branch of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining Energy Union who has been convicted of <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/union-boss-john-setka-ordered-to-do-mens-behaviour-course/news-story/f000fa2d1ffb04a950a1881c144abcbf">using a carriage service to harass a woman</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-now-the-senators-are-taking-on-john-setka-123798">View from The Hill: Now the senators are taking on John Setka</a>
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<p>The Bill does not actually address Setka or his conduct, but the Government is using that negative impression to justify these new laws.</p>
<p>And it’s because of words like these, used by <a href="https://www.royalcommission.gov.au/royal-commission-trade-union-governance-and-corruption">Justice Dyson Heydon</a>, the royal commissioner tasked with examining trade union governance and corruption by the Abbott government:</p>
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<p>it is clear that in many parts of the world constituted by Australian trade union officials, there is room for louts, thugs, bullies, thieves, perjurers, those who threaten violence, errant fiduciaries and organisers of boycotts </p>
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<p>It’s also what the government wants people to believe about trade unions; that they are ugly, violent, law-breaking and self-interested.</p>
<p>In truth the most unionised occupation is <a href="https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7104-who-are-australias-union-members-you-might-be-surprised-201701101609">teaching</a>, the next most unionised is health care, and the third is protective services.</p>
<h2>Why make it harder for teachers and nurses?</h2>
<p>My research finds that there was a problem with union corruption the best part of a decade ago, most starkly apparent in the <a href="http://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/404_2.pdf">Health Services Union scandal</a>, but for the most part unions have cleaned up their act.</p>
<p>I told the Senate inquiry into the Ensuring Integrity Bill that a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=b3d05d95-7915-4fab-b3d8-62fd3bcb8e2c&subId=669616">proportionate response</a> to the Royal Commission’s findings was warranted. </p>
<p>It included legislation imposing higher standards of financial management accountability on union officers, higher penalties for serious breaches of the Registered Organisations Act, criminal penalties for “corrupting benefits” and requirements for disclosure of benefits passing to a union under an enterprise agreement, clearer governance standards for separate entities and union funds such as election funds, and a specialist regulator for registered organisations.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fall-out-from-setka-affair-could-give-coalition-easier-passage-of-union-bill-120586">Fall-out from Setka affair could give Coalition easier passage of union bill</a>
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<p>Almost all of these measures have now been implemented. So what are we to make of the reheated Bill? It looks like an opportunistic attempt to take down unions.</p>
<h2>Morrison needs an agenda</h2>
<p>The government didn’t expect to be re-elected. Its business mates are demanding industrial relations reform. They want to shut down powerful unions like the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union. The government tried to stop it merging with the Maritime Union to become the CFMMEU rather than the CFMEU, but the Bill didn’t get through parliament in time. </p>
<p>With that objective frustrated, business wants new weapons to take on unions.</p>
<p>Hence the provisions in the Bill enabling employers, the minister and the Registered Organisations Commission to seek the disqualification of union officials and the deregistration of unions; provisions that could prove very handy in an industrial dispute, adding to the already extensive range of weapons employers already have access to.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-morrison-government-solid-on-industrial-relations-reform-but-bootlicks-one-nation-on-family-law-123880">Grattan on Friday: Morrison government solid on industrial relations reform but bootlicks One Nation on family law</a>
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<p>The Bill massively over-reaches. The government claims it’s simply applying to unions the same regulatory standards that apply to corporations. But its application of the corporate model is highly selective.</p>
<h2>So it’s one rule for unions</h2>
<p><a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/bills/r5953_first-reps/toc_pdf/17178b01.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">Schedule 1</a> would allow court-ordered disqualification to be sought against a union official on much wider grounds than those available for company directors. </p>
<p>An employer could seek to have an official removed because they have been involved in a technical breach of the protected industrial action rules under the Fair Work Act, but a union could not seek disqualification of a company director who had breached the same legislation by, for instance, presiding over the underpayment of workers.</p>
<p>Disqualification could also be sought because a union official had breached the proposed “fit and proper person” test. </p>
<p>There is no fit and proper test for company directors, although there is for people <a href="https://www.asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/find-a-document/regulatory-guides/rg-204-applying-for-and-varying-a-credit-licence/fit-and-proper-people/">providing financial advice</a> and running businesses including <a href="https://labourhireauthority.vic.gov.au/">labour hire businesses in Victoria</a>. </p>
<p>The purpose of the latter test is to impose barriers to entry on dodgy and exploitative managers. There is no equivalent justification for prefventing someone becoming a union official.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fall-out-from-setka-affair-could-give-coalition-easier-passage-of-union-bill-120586">Fall-out from Setka affair could give Coalition easier passage of union bill</a>
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<p><a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/bills/r5953_first-reps/toc_pdf/17178b01.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">Schedule 2</a> proposes new grounds for deregistering unions that partly mirror some of the grounds for court-ordered wind-ups of companyies under the Corporations Act. </p>
<h2>Another rule for employers</h2>
<p>But the addition of new grounds relating to a union’s (or members’) non-compliance with a wide range of laws has no equivalent in the Corporations Act.</p>
<p>Among the proposed grounds is “obstructive industrial action” – unprotected action that hinders of interferes with the activities of an employer or a public service, or that has a substantial adverse effect on community safety, health or welfare. Only a single instance would be needed.</p>
<p>The target of Schedule 2 seems to be the CFMMEU. But Commissioner Heydon neither recommended deregistration of the CFMEU nor proposed any change to the deregistration provisions.</p>
<p>The government already has the ability to seek deregistration of the CFMMEU under the Registered Organisations Act. Some of its grounds, including repeated breaches of court orders, would be sufficient in my view.</p>
<p>Instead of testing the existing law, the government has chosen to seek much wider grounds for deregistration and to give more parties, including employers, access to the mechanism, creating a threat to all unions, not just the CFMMEU.</p>
<h2>And confusion about what unions do</h2>
<p>The Coalition and employers can’t seem to make up their minds about unions.</p>
<p>They present them as both:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a relic of the past, facing imminent demise, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/employers-say-unions-are-irrelevant-after-latest-membership-decline-20181129-p50j5h.html">representing only 15% of the workforce</a> </p></li>
<li><p>a threat to the economy, with the merged CFMMEU threatening one part of the economy, and the proposed <a href="https://anewunion.org.au/blog/proposed-amalgamation-national-union-of-workers-and-united-voice/">amalgamation</a> of the National Union of Workers and United Voice threatening another.</p></li>
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<p>The Ensuring Integrity Bill tells us it’s this second view that’s predominant, notwithstanding the reality that most unions play a valuable role in protecting vulnerable workers from exploitation, challenging managerial power in the workplace, and enhancing our democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123688/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Forsyth is Vice-President (Independent Representative) of the Australian Institute of Employment Rights. He blogs on workplace issues at: <a href="https://labourlawdownunder.com.au/">https://labourlawdownunder.com.au/</a></span></em></p>The Ensuring Integrity Bill would restrict the activities of the unions who represent teachers and nurses as well as the construction workers who are its real target.Anthony Forsyth, Professor of Workplace Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1175832019-05-22T19:48:29Z2019-05-22T19:48:29ZWhere to now for unions and ‘change the rules’?<p>Very few people saw the Coalition’s win coming. If it was, as opposition leader Bill Shorten contended, “a referendum on wages” then it follows that Australians were content with sluggish wage growth and didn’t want a more substantial pay rise.</p>
<p>But that would be a great oversimplification. Labor had a more ambitious program of workplace reform, part of a much wider agenda for economic change and wealth redistribution, that it simply couldn’t sell to the electorate.</p>
<p>Where does this leave the industrial wing of the labour movement, which pushed the Labor Party to adopt sweeping re-regulation of the labour market?</p>
<p>For two years through its “change the rules” campaign the Australian Council of Trade Unions has had remarkable success in entrenching in public consciousness the twin themes of wage theft and insecure work.</p>
<h2>Broken rules on repeat play</h2>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/changetherules">#changetherules</a></span>
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<p>It seemed to have a deliberate strategy of repeating its talking points and examples to reinforce the view that something is “broken” and needs to change.</p>
<p>But it provided very little detail about the type of change it wanted. </p>
<p>Whether it should have provided more or less detail is now very much up for debate as it and the Labor Party try to work out what went wrong on Saturday.</p>
<p>Rather than getting what they wanted, they are both on the defensive. Already business groups are weighing in, urging the Morrison government to “simplify” the industrial relations system and prevent casual workers from “double-dipping” – obtaining both a casual loading and leave entitlements.</p>
<p>Harvey Norman executive chairman Gerry Harvey put it this way on Monday, perhaps revealing something about <a href="https://www.afr.com/news/politics/national/relieved-ceos-have-a-busy-agenda-for-morrison-20190518-p51oso">how he sees his workforce</a>: “The economy works best when all the little ants out there are left to get on and do great things.”</p>
<h2>Now it’s up to the Coalition</h2>
<p>The Coalition did not advocate workplace law changes in the election campaign. It gained a mandate to do no more than implement the recommendations of the <a href="https://docs.jobs.gov.au/documents/government-response-migrant-workers-taskforce-report">Migrant Workers Taskforce</a> which it accepted back in March. As it happens, they are mostly worker-friendly measures directed at systemic underpayment and other forms of exploitation.</p>
<p>However, given the pressure that is already coming from the business community, don’t be too surprised if the Government dusts off some of the recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s 2015 <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/workplace-relations#report">inquiry into workplace relations</a>.</p>
<p>These include “enterprise contracts” that allow businesses to vary award terms, and a relaxation of the “better off overall test” for enterprise agreements.</p>
<p>The Australian Building and Construction Commission and Registered Organisations Commission will remain in place as “cops on the beat” to combat union power, probably with increased resources.</p>
<h2>Unions have a choice of strategies</h2>
<p>So what room is there for unions in the new environment? In my view, plenty. The deep problems that “change the rules” and Labor’s policies sought to address haven’t gone away.</p>
<p>We still have a culture of wage theft in many sectors of the economy. We still have a proliferation of dodgy labour hire contractors. We still have misuse of the labour hire business model at companies like Amazon, with many workers trapped in long-term casual engagement. We still have widespread use of rolling fixed-term contracts.</p>
<p>We still have the collapse of effective collective bargaining in much of the private sector, and employer ‘work-arounds’ to avoid negotiating an enterprise agreement or get out of an existing one. We still don’t have the basis for a proper living wage.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-major-parties-stack-up-on-industrial-relations-policy-116256">How the major parties stack up on industrial relations policy</a>
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<p>As the results unfolded ACTU secretary Sally McManus has <a href="https://twitter.com/sallymcmanus/status/1129892454868574208">made it clear</a> that the union movement would “never give up, never stop fighting for fairness for working people”. That said, it will doubtless revisit the change the rules campaign and its accompanying communications and electoral strategies.</p>
<p>Rather than shrinking back to a “small target”, as Labor is now contemplating in some policy areas, I think the ACTU should consider remaining bold in its vision for workplace reform.</p>
<p>It could prepare a clearly articulated case for “changing the rules” using detailed research that precisely measures the extent of problems employers like to downplay such as insecure work and wage theft.</p>
<p>And it should outline precisely how it wants the rules changed and what those changes would do to working lives.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-unions-so-unhappy-an-economic-explanation-of-the-change-the-rules-campaign-105673">Why are unions so unhappy? An economic explanation of the Change the Rules campaign</a>
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<p>Of course, campaigning for legal changes can only be one part of the unions’ playbook.</p>
<p>Organising and connecting with workers on the ground in new and innovative ways is also essential, as shown by the United Voice’s new digital union [Hospo Voice] which campaigns against wage theft and sexual harassment in the hospitality industry and the <a href="http://www.youngworkers.org.au/">Young Workers Centre</a> and <a href="https://www.migrantworkers.org.au/">Migrant Workers Centre</a> which are one-stop shops run by the Victorian Trades Hall Council.</p>
<p>As the National Union of Workers and United Voice put it in the context of their <a href="https://anewunion.org.au">current amalgamation proposal</a>: “we need to change the rules, but we also need to change the game”. </p>
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<p><em>Anthony Forsyth blogs on workplace issues at: <a href="https://labourlawdownunder.com.au/">labourlawdownunder.com.au</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117583/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Forsyth has received research funding from organisations including the Business Council of Australia, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Fair Work Commission and Victorian Government. The views expressed in this article are his own.</span></em></p>Dealing with the Coalition will more difficult than arguing than the rules are wrong.Anthony Forsyth, Professor of Workplace Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1168802019-05-10T05:28:13Z2019-05-10T05:28:13ZEgging the question: can your employer sack you for what you say or do in your own time?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273766/original/file-20190510-183083-1ww7jf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4092%2C1093%2C11678%2C6421&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Broken contract: 'Egg Girl' Amber Holt's employer might find she has breached her obligations as an employee to protect the company's image.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It probably wasn’t exactly how egg-tossing activist Amber Holt thought her hit on prime minister Scott Morrision would go down. The egg bounced off his head. He cracked jokes about it. She’s been charged with common assault, and may yet lose her job for her efforts. </p>
<p>“I’ve got to go to work, no comment,” she told media after the incident, with a Cotton On Kids lanyard visible around her neck. The clothing company has since confirmed Holt is a casual employee and that it is “investigating” the incident.</p>
<p>“The Cotton On Group is disappointed to hear about yesterday’s incident involving one of our team members,” it <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/05/08/woman-egg-cotton-on/">said in a statement</a>. “While individuals are entitled to hold their own opinions, we do not condone this behaviour and it does not align with our company values.”</p>
<p>Does Cotton On, or any other employer, have the right to sack an employee for something they say or do in their own time?</p>
<p>The short answer is, in many cases, yes – especially if the business can show the employee’s actions reflect badly on it. In this case the company might find Holt has breached her obligations as an employee to protect the company’s image.</p>
<h2>Employment law</h2>
<p>Australian employment law requires that an employee cooperate with their employer, and not engage in any conduct that would undermine the business or bring it into disrepute. </p>
<p>These are terms implied into every employee’s contract of employment by the common law. Over the past 30 years or so, the courts have increasingly interpreted these principles to enable employers to control the private or out-of-hours conduct of employees. </p>
<p>You could therefore find yourself lawfully sacked for untoward behaviour at a work Christmas party, or for posting derogatory comments about the business on Facebook – so long as your employer can show there is a sufficient connection to the employment.</p>
<p>That connection will exist where, for example, drunken behaviour at a party affects your workplace relationships (or constitutes sexual harassment), or where your “private” Facebook post damages the employer’s reputation.</p>
<p>This is why Fair Work Australia upheld a Good Guys franchise <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/technology/good-guy-fairly-sacked-over-facebook-rant-20110818-1iyv2.html">dismissing an employee </a> because of his Facebook comments about colleagues, including one interpreted as a threat.</p>
<p>On the other hand Fair Work ruled lighting company LED Technologies had unfairly dismissed an employee for “rude and vulgar” Facebook comments, which he argued was about his mother’s workplace, not his own.</p>
<h2>Codes of conduct</h2>
<p>Employers have also sought to extend the common law obligations of employees through company policies and codes of conduct. Typically these documents impose very high standards of employee behaviour in a wide range of situations. The employer is then able to discipline or dismiss you for behavioural breaches, even outside the workplace or work hours, especially where (as is common) you have signed a contract in which you agree to observe company policies.</p>
<p>In the past five years we have seen many examples of the collision between “corporate values” and employees’ right to a “private life”. </p>
<p>In 2015, SBS dismissed sports journalist Scott McIntyre for tweeting on Anzac Day a series of comments critical of Australia’s obsession with the Anzac legend. McIntyre’s Twitter account identified him as an SBS employee, and he had more than 30,000 followers. SBS sacked him the next day on the grounds his “disrespectful” comments breached the public broadcaster’s code of conduct and social media policy.</p>
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<span class="caption">One of Scott McIntyre’s offending tweets.</span>
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<p>McIntyre contested his dismissal in the Fair Work Commission. He argued he had a legal right to express a political opinion and had been discriminated against for exercising that right. The parties reached a settlement out of court, so we didn’t get a ruling on a few important issues. Did the tweets amount to “political opinion”? If they did, would anti-discrimination laws have trumped employer policies?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anzacs-behaving-badly-scott-mcintyre-and-contested-history-40955">Anzacs behaving badly: Scott McIntyre and contested history</a>
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<p>Last month, the Federal Circuit Court ruled James Cook University had unlawfully dismissed a physics professor, Peter Ridd, for making public comments critical of university colleagues for their research on the effects of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.</p>
<p>This case was a bit different, though. The university argued Ridd breached its code of conduct. But the court decided Ridd had a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCCA/2019/997.html">right to intellectual freedom</a> under the university’s enterprise agreement (a common feature of academic employment).</p>
<p>Later this year the High Court will consider an appeal by Comcare, the federal workers’ compensation agency, against an Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruling that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection unfairly dismissed public servant Michaela Banerji in 2013 for (anonymously) tweeting comments critical of the federal government’s immigration policy. </p>
<p>The tribunal determined Banerji’s right to make such comments was protected by the implied constitutional freedom of political communication. Her dismissal therefore constituted unlawful administrative action. The tribunal <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/AATA/2018/892.html">likened seeking to control</a> the anonymous political comments of a departmental employee to the Orwellian notion of “thoughtcrime” in 1984.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-liking-something-on-facebook-protected-political-speech-it-depends-82209">Is liking something on Facebook 'protected political speech'? It depends</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In 2017 the Australian Public Service Commission was widely criticised for <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/making-public-comment-social-media-guide-employees">issuing a new social media policy</a> seen to intrude excessively on the right of government employees to engage in free speech. </p>
<p>And of course we’re now witnessing the Israel Folau case. A Rugby Australia panel this week decided he breached the players’ contract through his social media posts critical of homosexuality. It is yet to decide on a penalty but if he’s sacked, I can definitely see this one being challenged, Folau arguing discrimination on the basis of his religion.</p>
<h2>Employer’s prerogative</h2>
<p>Cotton On’s employee code of conduct is not publicly available – possibly because of the adverse publicity it received in 2015, when it was revealed its code required employees to “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/cotton-on-tells-staff-to-keep-it-real-or-face-the-sack-20150318-1m1t2t.html">keep it real</a>” and observe other company values like being “fun”, “ethical” and “entrepreneurial”.</p>
<p>However, I expect the code of conduct would include language broad enough for Cotton On to argue Holt has engaged in misconduct that has damaged its public reputation. An important factor here is that she is charged with high-profile criminal behaviour. She might try to argue she was expressing political views, protected by discrimination law, but this doesn’t look like the right “test case” to win that argument.</p>
<p>Only where there are clear protections of employee free speech (such as for academics) is the steady march of employer policies controlling employees’ private conduct likely to be halted. Unfortunately most of the Australian workforce is not covered by these protections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Forsyth has received research funding from organisations including the BCA, CFMEU, Fair Work Commission and Victorian Government. He is a Consultant with Corrs Chambers Westgarth. The views expressed in this article are his own. Anthony blogs on workplace issues at: <a href="https://labourlawdownunder.com.au/">https://labourlawdownunder.com.au/</a></span></em></p>Courts and contracts have given employers greater power to control the private or out-of-hours conduct of employees.Anthony Forsyth, Professor of Workplace Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1141892019-05-07T05:42:30Z2019-05-07T05:42:30Z5 tips on how to be a good mentor to someone twice your age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269916/original/file-20190418-28100-1j5z2vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C16%2C5431%2C3620&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As people stay in the workforce longer and change jobs more often, it's increasingly likely there will be times an older colleague might benefit from mentoring. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Plato and Aristotle. Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey. Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. In each of these famous relationships it was the older person with more experience acting as mentor, guiding the much younger “mentee” in their career.</p>
<p>But changes in the modern workplace suggest we will increasingly see more circumstances in which mentors may be younger – sometimes much younger – than their mentees.</p>
<p>Think back to starting a new job. Even if your workplace didn’t have a formal mentorship program – pairing you with a more experienced colleague, separate to your manager, whose role was to help you succeed – it’s likely at least one person took you “under their wing” informally. </p>
<p>Who will do the same for the 63-year-old returning to a workplace that looks and operates differently to the one he or she left a decade ago?</p>
<p>Workplaces must prepare for an ageing workforce. Twenty years ago, just a quarter of Australia’s population kept working after they turned 55. Now <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features30Sep+2010">a third do</a>, and the proportion will continue to rise. As people stay in the workforce longer and change jobs more often, it’s increasingly likely there will be times an older colleague might benefit from mentoring. </p>
<p>It isn’t even necessary to be new to an organisation. Some companies that recognise the value of staying current are embracing “reverse mentoring”, in which millennials can school older executives on technology and cultural trends.</p>
<p>But social norms and expectations about age and experience <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-11644-6_4">can make it hard</a> for someone younger to be the mentor.</p>
<p>So how do you get it right?</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Generalisations about <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/generational-differences">generational differences</a> are common. <a href="https://www.amanet.org/articles/the-myth-of-generational-differences-in-the-workplace/">Perhaps you’ve read</a> baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) value loyalty, and gen-xers (born between 1965 and 1980) work-life balance, while millennials crave innovation and change. </p>
<p>Such notions are more myth than fact. Stereotyping people by their membership of an age group is no less problematic than doing it according to ethnicity or gender. It can encourage <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-11644-6_4">unhealthy biases</a> and create barriers to communication and understanding.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272711/original/file-20190506-103082-1xnkxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272711/original/file-20190506-103082-1xnkxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272711/original/file-20190506-103082-1xnkxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272711/original/file-20190506-103082-1xnkxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272711/original/file-20190506-103082-1xnkxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272711/original/file-20190506-103082-1xnkxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272711/original/file-20190506-103082-1xnkxbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A typical image portrayal of ‘millennials’ being addicted to their portable media devices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A better term than “reverse mentoring” is “inclusive mentoring”. This takes the focus off thinking there is a “natural” age order to mentoring and puts the emphasis on simply encouraging shared learning between colleagues. Everyone has something of value to learn, or teach, in a respectful environment free from age or hierarchical biases.</p>
<p>The key is to be conscious of the barriers. You must be aware of <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-11644-6_4">the stereotypes and biases</a> - that influence expectations and perceptions to do with age, but also of the chance that different experiences can lead to different outlooks to life. </p>
<p>Start out by asking your colleague about their expectations of their new role, their understanding of their tasks, their past work experience, and how they anticipate the relationship going.</p>
<p>It’s important to remember the essentials of mentoring practice. These remain the same. A mentoring relationship is about support, sharing knowledge and insights, and being a friend. Both mentor and mentee bring something to the table.</p>
<h2>Five top tips</h2>
<ol>
<li><p>Understand stereotypical assumptions influence the potential success of the mentoring relationship. Tension is more likely if either of you have negative perceptions of the other based on age difference. Training in how to identify your unconscious biases might be a good idea before you start</p></li>
<li><p>open and respectful communication should be the focus. Start the conversation by clarifying the objectives of the mentoring relationship between both of you. Being clear and focused is a good basis for mutual respect</p></li>
<li><p>give yourselves adequate time to settle into the relationship. Your outlook towards life and work may be different. Give yourself time to get to know one another and to find common ground</p></li>
<li><p>be open and willing to learn. You might know more about some things, but your colleague is likely to know things you don’t. Think of the mentoring relationship as a collaborative partnership where mutual learning takes place</p></li>
<li><p>it’s OK to be apprehensive. You may feel challenged. Your colleague may feel just as uncomfortable. But with time and effort this apprehension will fade.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Becoming a good mentor, or a good mentee, isn’t automatic. It takes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09650792.2018.1559069?casa_token=Ycs4n7JTGuQAAAAA:4KPWtoZEtZXQ73s1FJ41RDJ4ylxjX1KhwDK5huIRbmNW3fBs04UWrfaOSX0I_yZkxMtCZquofUyr">takes time and effort</a>. But it is worth the effort, enriching the experience and skills of both parties, and contributing to an organisation able to compete in a changing world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114189/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Julie Nyanjom does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Social norms and stereotypes can make it hard for someone younger to be a mentor. But the changing nature of work demands we work out how to do it.Dr Julie Nyanjom, Lecturer - School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/889422018-01-15T00:23:04Z2018-01-15T00:23:04ZThe appeal of the ‘flat’ organisation – why some firms are getting rid of middle managers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201742/original/file-20180112-101498-swavaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elon Musk, head of Telsa, is an advocate for flat organisational structures.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samferdselsdepartementet/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The trend of “flat” organisations is catching on at some of the world’s biggest companies. It’s easy to see the appeal when you think of a utopia where everyone in an organisation has a say and can act autonomously. </p>
<p>Elon Musk, CEO and product architect of Tesla, <a href="https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/this-email-from-elon-musk-to-tesla-employees-descr.html">says</a> in the communication policy to his staff within Tesla:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Anyone at Tesla can and should email/talk to anyone else according to what they think is the fastest way to solve a problem for the benefit of the whole company.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40043033">flat organisation</a>, fewer management layers are actively involved in decision-making. People who have the relevant information make the relevant decisions, which reduces the hierarchical overload.</p>
<p>You can imagine this working in small and medium size organisations. But for larger companies, an enormous amount of investment is required for the transformation, which often makes a flat structure often unrealistic and unimaginable.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-agile-working-style-started-in-tech-but-it-could-work-for-banks-77104">The agile working style started in tech but it could work for banks</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>At online retailer Zappos, CEO Tony Hsieh has pushed flat to a whole new level, adopting <a href="https://www.holacracy.org/">holacracy</a> principles. These are customisable self-management practices, where roles are defined around work, authority is distributed and the organisation in regularly updated in small iterations.</p>
<p>To take this a step further, Gary Hamel, a well known scholar and consultant, <a href="https://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers">advocated</a> for firing all managers, as he claims they are the least efficient part of an organisation. </p>
<h2>Why so appealing?</h2>
<p>As organisations strive to respond quickly to new challenges and opportunities, flatter organisations shorten the chain of command, increasing communication between employees and management. </p>
<p>Not only that, but researchers <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1805613">Raaj Sah and Joseph Stieglitz</a> argued that hierarchic style organisations produce problems like the rejection of good projects without reason. The greater the number of organisational decision making layers, the greater the probability that a good project will be rejected that would have otherwise had a positive impact on the company’s growth.</p>
<p>And it’s not just lower level employees disheartened by the traditional hierarchic corporation. In our research, we spoke to the vice president for corporate development of a large American company, operating in the energy sector. He told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I worry that I might not get a chance to see some projects …as they go through a “filter” and and I can’t make a choice because I don’t get to see …them all. There is a natural tendency to only show ideas that have a higher likelihood of getting funding.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This point is reinforced <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2392061?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">by research that finds</a> in situations where there are many levels in an organisation relative to the total number of employees, information gets distorted when it passes through hierarchical levels. These structures encourage employees to bypass superiors or simply use them as messengers.</p>
<p>Cutting through organisational layers also improves the speed of decision making and the time it takes to get a product to market. <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/RIBS-09-2017-0073">A study</a> of over 300 executives from around the world, found that the greater the number of organisational layers, the slower the organisation reached customers with new products and services. </p>
<p>Beyond human relations in the office, flatter organisations are often cheaper to run and more dynamic. These benefits are similar to what organisations would achieve through <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630115000989?via%3Dihub">outsourcing</a>, where companies avoid investing in resources. </p>
<p>By keeping the number of management layers minimal, a flat organisational structure helps <a href="https://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers">cut down the overhead costs of management</a>. </p>
<h2>Not everyone can be flatter</h2>
<p>Organisational structures do have challenges. Individual managers can resist moving to a flat structure because they fear losing their job.</p>
<p>Flatter structure might also lead to a lower sense of accountability as <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2391096">each employee has more than one boss</a>. If the communication between employees and the management is not well managed, it could potentially overwhelm executives. </p>
<p>Another challenge is the significant time, resources, and investment required for a large organisation to transform to a flatter structure. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/business-briefing-are-our-standards-dropping-in-the-workplace-80881">Business Briefing: are our standards dropping in the workplace?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In reality, the push to become flat is much like the focus on agility. Agility is the ability to quickly reconfigure strategy, structure, processes, people and technology for the most benefit. One of the key elements is a flat organisation.</p>
<p>According to a recent <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/how-to-create-an-agile-organization">McKinsey Global Survey</a>, two-thirds of respondents indicated that their companies have already begun agile transformations. Examples include Google, Netflix, Spotify, the Dutch banking group ING and, more recently, <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/anz-blows-up-bureaucracy-as-shayne-elliott-takes-the-bank-agile-20170428-gvumc2">ANZ</a>. </p>
<p>Interestingly, this study shows that only 4% of all respondents say their companies have fully implemented agile transformations by creating a flat structure.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that different industries have different dynamics and different degrees of disruption – and so may need different organisational structures to operate efficiently.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88942/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A flat management structure can reduce costs and boost efficiency but may be hard for larger firms to implement.Massimo Garbuio, Senior Lecturer, University of SydneyNidthida Lin, Senior lecturer, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/879252017-11-30T02:39:20Z2017-11-30T02:39:20ZGot a boss who denies reality? A behavioral scientist’s guide to tactful truth telling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197030/original/file-20171129-12032-q8alr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'He said what?'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">fizkes/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>‘Tis the season for holiday parties at the office. </p>
<p>While they’re great for building workplace camaraderie and team spirit, when was the last time a colleague - perhaps fueled by too much alcohol - said something so ridiculous that it made your jaw drop? Perhaps a desk mate went into something political, claiming that <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bush-did-9-11">George Bush is behind 9/11</a> or that Barack Obama is a <a href="https://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp">Muslim from Kenya</a>? Or maybe your boss voiced <a href="https://www.skepticalscience.com/5-characteristics-of-scientific-denialism.html">science denialism</a>, arguing that the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/27/a-flat-earthers-plan-to-launch-himself-in-a-homemade-rocket-has-been-postponed-again/?utm_term=.23a67dd49daf">Earth is flat</a> or the Apollo moon landing <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/fake-apollo-moon-landing-photo-claims-show-proof-mission-was-hoax-716221">was faked</a>?</p>
<p>Just as disconcerting as the conspiracy theorist in your midst is hearing a boss or colleague blatantly deny a business reality, such as evidence that a favored product flopped or a decision was absolutely the wrong one. </p>
<p>So what do you do when someone you work with – even the CEO of the company – tells you something that’s demonstrably false? </p>
<p>Dealing with truth denialism - in business, politics and other life areas - is one of my areas of <a href="http://glebtsipursky.com/about/">research</a>, and I <a href="http://glebtsipursky.com/the-truth-seekers-handbook-a-science-based-guide/">recently published a book</a> on the topic. Here are some tips to navigate that Christmas office party or one-on-one with a boss in denial. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197024/original/file-20171129-12035-cemqml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197024/original/file-20171129-12035-cemqml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197024/original/file-20171129-12035-cemqml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197024/original/file-20171129-12035-cemqml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197024/original/file-20171129-12035-cemqml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197024/original/file-20171129-12035-cemqml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197024/original/file-20171129-12035-cemqml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To reality deniers, facts and photos won’t change minds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/NASA/Neil A. Armstrong</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It begins at the top</h2>
<p>The worst-case scenario is when your chief executive is the one in denial. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/06/prweb253465.htm">four-year study</a> by LeadershipIQ.com, which provides online leadership seminars, interviewed 1,087 board members from 286 organizations of all sorts that forced out their chief executive officers. It found that almost one quarter of CEOs – 23 percent – got fired for denying reality, meaning refusing to recognize negative facts about the organization’s performance. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-009-9109-1">Other research</a> strongly suggests that the behaviors expressed by CEOs “are felt throughout the organization by impacting the norms that sanction or discourage member behavior and decision making, and the patterns of behavior and interaction among members.” </p>
<p>Together, these findings suggest that organizations where CEOs deny negative facts will have a culture of denying reality throughout the hierarchy. Of course, even when the boss lives in the real world, others in the organization may hold false beliefs. </p>
<p>Professionals at all levels <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/304215/denial-by-richard-s-tedlow/9781591843917/">can suffer from</a> the tendency to deny uncomfortable facts in business settings. <a href="https://wayback.archive.org/web/20160316225228/http:/www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/OstrichEffect.pdf">Scholars term</a> this thinking error the ostrich effect, named after the (mythical) notion that ostriches stick their heads into the sand when they see threats.</p>
<h2>Forget facts and logic</h2>
<p>Our intuition is to confront colleagues suffering from the ostrich effect with the facts. </p>
<p>But research - and common sense, if the colleague is your supervisor - suggests that’s usually the wrong thing to do. That’s because when someone believes something we know to be false, some kind of emotional block is probably at play. A number of factors explain why this happens. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-02489-003">research on</a> confirmation bias shows that we tend to look for and interpret information in ways that conforms to our beliefs. So even if sales are far below expectations, a CEO might reject that information in projecting good financial forecasts on the belief that his actions should lead the company to do well. </p>
<p>In another example at a company where I <a href="http://glebtsipursky.com/coaching/">consulted</a>, a manager refused to acknowledge that a person hired directly by her was a bad fit, despite everyone else in the department telling me that the employee was holding back the team. The manager’s behavior likely resulted from what <a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/20b67ff3fea8044d3ed5ca2f55bc58b1/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=696407">scholars term</a> the sunk cost fallacy, a tendency to double down on past decisions even when an objective assessment shows the decision to be problematic.</p>
<p>In both cases, facing facts would cause the CEO or the manager to feel bad. We often prefer to stick our heads into the sand rather than acknowledge our fault because of our reluctance to experience negative emotions. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2015.1136507">Research on</a> a phenomenon called the backfire effect shows we tend to dig in our heels when we are presented with facts that cause us to feel bad about our identity, self-worth, worldview or group belonging. In some cases, presenting the facts <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-010-9112-2">actually backfires</a>, causing people to develop a stronger attachment to incorrect beliefs. Moreover, we express anger at the person bringing us the message, a phenomenon <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/589908/">researchers term</a> “shoot the messenger.”</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00157">many other</a> mental errors that inhibit business professionals from seeing reality clearly and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250050204">making good decisions</a>.</p>
<h2>Modeling emotions and values</h2>
<p>This isn’t to say that emotions are the problem. They are not. </p>
<p>Emotions are fundamentally important to the human experience, and we need both <a href="http://intentionalinsights.org/autopilot-vs-intentional-system-the-rider-and-the-elephant/">reason and emotion</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1834-0_8">make good decisions</a>.</p>
<p>So rather than offering facts, your goal should be to show <a href="http://intentionalinsights.org/what-true-leaders-know-about-emotional-intelligence/">emotional leadership</a> and try to figure out what are the emotional blocks inhibiting your colleague from seeing reality clearly. To do so, use curiosity and subtle questioning to figure out their values and goals and how they shape their perception of self-identity. And focus on deploying the emotional intelligence skill of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289696900112">empathy</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, despite <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730010325040">extensive research</a> about the importance of emotional intelligence in <a href="http://livkom.dk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Complete-thesis-NVC.pdf">professional settings</a>, too many organizations still fail to <a href="http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA20251750&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=fulltext&issn=10559760&p=AONE&sw=w&authCount=1&isAnonymousEntry=true">provide such training</a>.</p>
<h2>Building trust</h2>
<p>Once you understand your colleague’s goals and values, try to show you share them. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378720608000888">Research shows</a> doing so is crucial to conveying knowledge effectively in professional environments.
Practice mirroring, or rephrasing in your own words the points made by the other person, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2005.11658547">demonstrates</a> you understand how they feel and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10517120802484551">helps build trust</a>.</p>
<p>With a CEO, you might talk about how both of you share a desire for the executive to be a truly strong leader. Try to connect the traits and emotions identified by the CEO to specific examples of his behavior. </p>
<p>And regarding the manager with the problematic employee, I had a conversation about how she saw her current and potential future employees playing a role in the long-term future of the department she ran. I echoed her anxiety about the company’s financial performance and concerns about getting funding for future hires, which gave me an additional clue into why she might be protecting the incompetent employee.</p>
<h2>Unclogging emotional blocks</h2>
<p>After placing yourself on the same side, building up trust and establishing an emotional connection, move on to the problem at hand: their emotional block. </p>
<p>The key here is to show them, without arousing a defensive or aggressive response, how their current truth denialism undermines their own goals in the long term. It can help to cite a prominent example of a business leader accepting difficult facts to move forward, such as how former Ford CEO Alan Mulally <a href="http://crownpublishing.com/archives/news/american-icon-alan-mulally-and-the-fight-to-save-ford-motor-company-by-bryce-g-hoffman#.Wh7tR0qnFPZ">helped save</a> the company through repeated course corrections. <a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/d5559eedfa932bfc49e882f25b9ea91e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=38767">Research shows</a> that offering positive reinforcement, without condescension, can be effective with colleagues and bosses alike. </p>
<p>So when you’re at your next office party and encounter a truth-denying colleague, remember these tips and perhaps you won’t have to spend the evening with your face buried in your hands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87925/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gleb Tsipursky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dealing with a co-worker or manager who says demonstrably false things can be a challenge, particularly at holiday office parties. Here’s a guide to handle a colleague in denial.Gleb Tsipursky, Assistant Professor of History of Behavioral Science, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/852952017-10-17T13:12:18Z2017-10-17T13:12:18ZIn defence of happiness: why emotional intelligence is key in the digital age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190615/original/file-20171017-30386-1pynk7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Much has been written about the <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297385">relationship</a> between a happy, positive workplace and an effective, productive workforce. But the definition of happiness can be misunderstood – often it is seen as the presence of positive emotions and the absence of negative ones, which can lead to work cultures that pressure people into faking positive emotions. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420709/">Research</a> has shown this “faking” can result in long-term physical and emotional illness.</p>
<p>Associating the state of being happy merely with being cheerful all the time creates another challenge as, in the case of academic institutions for example, happiness tends be classified as less serious, superficial and lightweight. This results in universities avoiding the conversation on developing “happy” graduates and adopting a “happiness agenda” for the holistic development of their students.</p>
<p>At a time when depression and suicide are on the rise – currently <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/">300m people</a> worldwide are suffering from depression – this is disturbing. A <a href="http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/wfmh_paper_depression_wmhd_2012.pdf">recent report</a> by the World Health Organisation predicted that if nothing is done, by 2030 depression will be the number one illness in the world.</p>
<h2>Three steps to happiness</h2>
<p>Happiness is not just about developing positive emotions, it has two other constituent parts: purpose and resilience. Having a clear and meaningful purpose is a key element in sustaining long-term happiness. And because negative emotions are an integral part of life, developing resilience is the third highly essential component of happiness, as it enables us to deal effectively with negative emotions when they arise.</p>
<p>Employers who are serious about achieving effectiveness and productivity through a happy workforce need to ensure workers are given the opportunity to do engaging, meaningful and purpose-driven work, are able to develop good relationships and experience a sense of achievement.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While Artificial Intelligence may be surpassing many human capabilities, it still can’t compete with the human skill of emotional intelligence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/artificial-intelligence-playing-chess-concept-robot-447729400">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://aeon.co/essays/the-key-to-jobs-in-the-future-is-not-college-but-compassion">Many indicators</a> suggest that jobs of the future will require much more emotional intelligence to complement the sophisticated machines we work with. Academic institutions need to seriously consider playing a role in developing students’ <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/emotional-intelligence">emotional intelligence</a> and well-being to ensure that universities remain relevant in a world where the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/">fourth industrial revolution</a> demands the integration of physical, cyber and biological systems and the automation of an increasing number of jobs. With the unprecedented levels of complexity and change societies are dealing with, it is crucial to explore how education systems can evolve to help young people develop self-awareness and social awareness if they are to thrive and achieve their full potential once they enter the workplace.</p>
<h2>A space for human connection</h2>
<p>Humans bring three dimensions to the job market: physical, cognitive and emotional. Machines have surpassed us in both the physical dimension (less and less manual work is necessary) and the cognitive dimension (<a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/190/artificial-intelligence-ai">Artificial Intelligence</a> is increasingly able to surpass humans in tasks such as chess and medical diagnosis). This leaves the emotional domain where humans still have the upper hand. As more and more jobs are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/26/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health">automated</a>, the nature of the value that humans will add will evolve to focus around creativity, connectivity with others and self-fulfilment. </p>
<p>American psychologist <a href="http://www.danielgoleman.info/biography/">Daniel Goleman</a> defined the four domains of emotional intelligence as: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and relationship management. In 2013, I developed an <a href="https://www.openlearning.com/courses/Success">online course</a> on emotional intelligence which was taken by more than 6,000 students from 150 different countries. The course introduced multiple exercises aimed at developing Daniel Goleman’s four domains.</p>
<p>Students performed two daily exercises: “brain rewiring” which involved stating five things they were grateful for, and “my emotions today” where they articulated their feelings by sharing them online with others participants on the course. These exercises of gratitude and emotional awareness can help create the <a href="http://ei.yale.edu/what-is-gratitude/">foundational habits</a> for emotional intelligence.</p>
<p>Students were also introduced to the practice of meditation and were supported through the development of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Relevant and Timely) goals, a mission statement and a personal vision statement. Some students reported personal triumphs such as being able to climb a mountain, control a stammer, start a business and even getting married and overcoming suicidal thoughts.</p>
<p>More work needs to be done to establish the most effective ways of developing emotional intelligence in young people across all walks of society. But if we are to take on the demands, complexities and shifting sands of the digital age, we will need happy, fulfilled, resilient people to embrace it; our universities have a part to play in teaching these essential skills. As do workplaces, where happy, fulfilled employees can mean increased productivity and turnover. People pretending to be happy in the workplace reaps no benefit for anyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mushtak Al-Atabi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Jobs of the future will require emotional intelligence to complement the sophisticated machines we work with, so we need to equip young people with this vital skillMushtak Al-Atabi, Provost and CEO, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/795732017-06-25T20:06:36Z2017-06-25T20:06:36ZRemote workers would rather be watched than ignored and forgotten<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174353/original/file-20170619-28759-iuasqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Remote workers struggle to be included in workplace decision making.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shane Adams/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Beth (not her real name) was one of her company’s first employees. She worked remotely as a workshop facilitator from her home and on the road. </p>
<p>At first she felt like a core member of the team. As the company grew however Beth struggled to maintain her identity in the organisation. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>That’s when I had that first feeling of ‘I don’t remember everyone, I can’t see them, no one knows me.’</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Beth felt like she became invisible. She responded by creating an online profile for herself and others in the company. </p>
<p>Rather than a fear of being monitored through their online work, some remote workers, like Beth, fear not being seen at all. My research shows they use digital tools to share information about themselves to get noticed. </p>
<p>Now promoted to manager, Beth says it’s up to remote workers to use the company’s <a href="http://dro.deakin.edu.au/view/DU:30049061">internal social networking platform</a> to make themselves visible. She mentioned a new recruit who was quick to get the hang of posting his working life online:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>First day, he figured out how to use [the online social network] Yammer…And then daily he would upload quotes, like ‘this is what happened in my session today’, so he now he has people who know him, who may never have known him, because he’s chosen to become visible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most of the remote workers I spoke with were similarly willing to volunteer information about their days and lives online for the company or colleagues to see. I interviewed 31 remote and “<a href="https://www.ahri.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/23365/Martin-Stewart-Weeks.pdf">flexible</a>” workers - people who work away from the office full time or regularly - and their managers. </p>
<p>I asked them how they stay connected and what challenges they face. The people I spoke to worked in computer programming, workshop facilitation, banking, and tele-nursing (giving nursing advice over the phone). </p>
<p>These workers worked remotely for a variety of reasons, whether it was due to caring responsibilities, wanting to live near family in regional areas or living with a disability.</p>
<p>Approximately 3.5 million Australians <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/630DCF813FED0E0CCA258113001878F2?OpenDocument">worked from home regularly in 2015</a>. The remote workers I studied put in significant effort to make themselves visible using technology. This runs counter to past studies on virtual work and telework which assume that remote workers hide from their managers, avoiding technological surveillance to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563214000752">shirk responsibility</a> or <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1006104017646?LI=true">protect their privacy</a>.</p>
<p>It’s not the case that these remote workers don’t care about privacy, they do, but they also fear not being seen and noticed. These workers are willingly displaying themselves online to feel known and to gain recognition, both for their work and as a member of the team. </p>
<p>When you look at how <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Phenomenology_of_Perception.html?id=q3HwhfjRmswC">exile</a> has been used as a form of punishment in many societies for centuries it’s easier to understand these workers’ willingness to give up personal information. Whether being locked outside the city gates, ignored in the street, or sent to the other side of the world, people <a href="http://annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085641">fear exile</a> because people don’t want to be alone and forgotten.</p>
<p>In the modern workplace context, the fear of living in organisational exile is a powerful mechanism that can compel remote workers to find ways to post and share information online. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1088&context=ecis2016_rp">tele-nurses I studied</a> reported using a desktop instant messaging system to communicate throughout their shifts. Part of their daily routines involved sharing personal information with colleagues they had never met in person. The nurses got to know one another’s communication patterns and if someone “went quiet” team mates would send a private message to ask them if they were ok. </p>
<p>A team of computer programmers I spoke with set up a video connection via their computer webcams that was always on. Both remote and non-remote team members were connected all work day to one another and to a desktop screen in the Australian head office. One team member admitted he felt “chained to his desk” but said he liked the video arrangement because it made him feel like a “part of the team”.</p>
<p>These remote workers were fully aware that their communications were being (or at least could be) monitored, but it didn’t stop them requesting and using technologies in various ways to stay connected and become visible. Far from hiding away, they <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-287-612-6_6">worked hard to get noticed</a>. </p>
<p>I’m not suggesting remote workers have no need of boundaries, or that they are willing to share everything with the organisation.</p>
<p>Remote workers want the option of being visible online, but they want control over how they are presented. For office workers, visibility might involve arriving early or staying late, but for remote workers it’s digital spaces that give them the opportunity to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ella Hafermalz is part of an ARC linkage project funded by the Australian Research Council and Capgemini.</span></em></p>Rather than having a fear of being monitored, remote workers want the option of being visible.Ella Hafermalz, Postdoctoral researcher, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/771042017-05-07T05:33:20Z2017-05-07T05:33:20ZThe agile working style started in tech but it could work for banks<p>The purpose of the “agile” working style is to help businesses adapt to turbulent markets by adopting a fast and flexible approach to work. In one sense, it should come as no surprise that ANZ’s chief executive Shayne Elliot <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/anz-blows-up-bureaucracy-as-shayne-elliott-takes-the-bank-agile-20170428-gvumc2">recently announced</a> that ANZ will be shifting parts of its workforce to this style. </p>
<p>With the bank’s <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/financial-services/bank-analysts-take-knife-to-anz-earnings-forecasts-20170503-gvxvxk">recent withdrawal from Asia</a> and subsequent lower than expected revenues, this is part of ANZ refocus on its core business. In fact, each of Australia’s big four banks might be looking to become more efficient and responsive in the face of a tightly regulated market and slowly building retail banking competition from newer financial technology companies.</p>
<p>In another sense though, it’s surprising that one of Australia’s largest banks should signal such a profound change in work style. Finance is certainly not where agile got its start.</p>
<h2>The origins of agile</h2>
<p>The forerunners of agile stretch back as far as the <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/04/the-secret-history-of-agile-innovation">Plan-Do-Study-Act</a> method developed by Walter Shewart at Bell Labs in the 1930s and the <a href="http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/340360/it_toyota_way/">Toyota Production System</a>, based, in part, on the quality and systems thinking of Shewart’s student, William Edwards Deming.</p>
<p>However, agile as we understand it today is seen as emerging from software programming communities. It crystallised when 17 software developers gathered at the Snowbird ski resort in Utah in 2001 to share and refine their approaches to software development. </p>
<p>One of the participants had been reading a book on major companies coping with turbulent markets, called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Agile-Competitors-Virtual-Organizations-Strategies/dp/0471286508">Agile Competitors and Virtual Organizations: Strategies for Enriching the Customer</a>. Drawn to the agile’s connotations of speed and responsiveness, the group eventually adopted it as the moniker for their movement. </p>
<p>They published their views in <a href="http://www.agilealliance.org/">The Manifesto for Agile Software Development</a>, intending to help accelerate developers’ efforts to reliably produce software of the highest quality. Agile has since spread beyond the confines of IT to the other types of work and other organisations.</p>
<h2>How to work in an agile style</h2>
<p>As academics <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/05/embracing-agile">Rigby, Sutherland, and Takeuchi</a> explain, agile now covers a broad range of methods, each varying according to their guiding principles and work rules. The three most well-known methods are scrum, lean, and kanban.</p>
<p><strong>Scrum</strong> focuses on structuring teams to work across functions in a business, using creative and adaptive teamwork, daily stand-up meetings, and project reviews to quickly invent solutions and improve team performance.</p>
<p><strong>Lean</strong> focuses on eliminating waste in systems and does not prescribe work rules to achieve this in the same way as scrum. </p>
<p><strong>Kanban</strong> aims to shorten the time between the initiation and completion of work by visualising workflows, restricting the work being done at each stage in development, and measuring work cycle times to detect improvement.</p>
<p>ANZ seems to be most interested in the scrum method. <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/anz-blows-up-bureaucracy-as-shayne-elliott-takes-the-bank-agile-20170428-gvumc2">ANZ’s Head of Product Katherine Bray stated</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are vestiges of roles that we recognise, but with the underpinnings of hierarchy totally blown apart…[A scrum coach] is not your boss, that’s a coach, who is a peer. That product owner is not your boss, they’re a product owner who defines the how, and you galvanise around that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Going back to the origins of agile and system thinking, it seems clear the agile approach is most likely to succeed where the organisation adopting it possesses <a href="https://www.infoq.com/news/2014/11/agile-modularity">structural modularity</a>. Modularity proposes that organisations structure themselves in a way that allows teams to produce work that is layered, discrete, and testable. </p>
<p>This is what Bray is talking about - a radically new approach to roles and work styles at ANZ. </p>
<p>We might dismiss this whole reorganisation as marketing theatre, but intensifying competition and rapid change are all too real. This means many Australian businesses will have to come to terms with agile approaches if they are to remain responsive and competitive. </p>
<p>By taking up agile’s shift from top-down management to teams that organise themselves, and from a focus on compliance to a focus on innovation, ANZ is making its intent clear. It wants to achieve different results by doing things differently – surely a sane approach to change. </p>
<p>Yet this idea challenges the conventional structure and ethos of banks and similarly run businesses. These organisations are built to be secure and centralised in service of efficiency; modularity pushes them to be integrated and decentralised in service of innovation. </p>
<p>Modularity and agility are not easy to achieve. But they are fast becoming necessary if large companies, like ANZ, are to move with the times and adapt well to market turbulence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77104/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The agile working style was originally designed by tech companies for efficiency in software development but now one of Australia’s big four banks wants to implement this.Massimo Garbuio, Senior Lecturer, University of SydneyDreu Harrison, Research Assistant, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/701392016-12-31T20:33:43Z2016-12-31T20:33:43ZCabinet papers 1992-93: the rise and fall of enterprise bargaining agreements<p>1992 was landmark year in Australian industrial relations. The Keating government pushed for enterprise bargaining in the face of reluctance from the Industrial Relations Commission and employers’ concerns at the prospect of wage inflation. </p>
<p>The 1992-93 cabinet papers – released by the National Archives of Australia – mark this historic major reform, in the context of a set of broader economic reforms implemented by the Hawke/Keating Labor government. This all occurred when the economic outlook for growth and unemployment at the time was highly uncertain.</p>
<h2>Before the changes</h2>
<p>Up until this point, most people relied on National Wage Cases – or Living Wage Cases, as they had become known – handed down by the Industrial Relations Commission for improvements in wages. These generally happened yearly, and accounted for more than 90% of all wage movements during the period prior to enterprise bargaining. </p>
<p>Not only was bargaining a minor part of the system, but industrial awards were the primary instrument that set out, in a comprehensive way, terms and conditions of employment for most workers. </p>
<p>There were literally hundreds of awards – covering different occupations, industries, and even for some single companies, that set minimum employment conditions. </p>
<p>Australia had no formal minimum wage, unlike most other advanced industrial relations systems. And strikes remained unlawful tactics, although this was not reflective of practice. </p>
<h2>What the introduction of enterprise bargaining meant</h2>
<p>The decision to introduce enterprise bargaining was also taken in the middle of the period in which the broad elements of economic policy – including the wages system – were negotiated through the Prices and Incomes Accord. </p>
<p>The Accord was an agreement first struck between Labor and the unions in 1983 while Labor was in opposition. It formed the centrepiece of economic and industrial relations policy for the both the Hawke and Keating governments for more than a decade. </p>
<p>In many ways, the largely peaceful negotiation that enabled this shift to enterprise bargaining – or a system of “managed decentralism”, as it was often referred to – may not have happened without considerable industrial dispute if it hadn’t been negotiated as part of the Accord.</p>
<p>At the time, many unions were not convinced that enterprise bargaining was the best approach. But under Bill Kelty’s forceful leadership, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) saw it as inevitable, and sought to ensure that it occurred in a fair and equitable manner.</p>
<p>A key feature of the reforms approved by cabinet in 1992 was the choice to include a role for awards as a safety net to protect those without bargaining power. Equally important were provisions to ensure that gains made in more productive sectors of the economy – or where unions were able to leverage greater bargaining power – did not flow to other groups through pattern bargaining. </p>
<p>While these provisions did not prove as effective as hoped, these changes formalised an end to the longstanding principle of comparative wage justice as a guiding one for determining wage outcomes. This principle dictated that individuals doing the same job in different sectors or firms should be paid the same irrespective of the profitability of the firm, or the economic state of the industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151337/original/image-20161222-4056-14nbdoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151337/original/image-20161222-4056-14nbdoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151337/original/image-20161222-4056-14nbdoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151337/original/image-20161222-4056-14nbdoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151337/original/image-20161222-4056-14nbdoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151337/original/image-20161222-4056-14nbdoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151337/original/image-20161222-4056-14nbdoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Keating government pushed for the introduction of the enterprise bargaining agreements.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The National Archives of Australia</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The controversy</h2>
<p>At the time, the introduction of enterprise bargaining was not only momentous but also controversial – although you would barely be aware of these controversies based on the cabinet submission that formed the basis for this decision. </p>
<p>Perhaps surprising for many, the ACTU, not employer groups, was the strongest advocate for the introduction of statutory provisions for enterprise bargaining.
Employers were fearful that it could lead to a wage-price spiral associated with the end of wage indexation in the 1970s. </p>
<p>The national tribunal – which was then called the Industrial Relations Commission, was by and large opposed to a shift towards enterprise bargaining. It had just a year earlier, in the <a href="http://www.airc.gov.au/safetynet_review/decisions/J7400.htm">April 1991 National wage Case decision</a>, refused a request by the ACTU to enunciate principles for enterprise bargaining on the grounds that the industrial parties were not yet mature enough to engage in collective bargaining with exacting economic damage on the Australian economy. </p>
<p>By October, in a reconvened National wage case hearing, the Commission yielded to pressure form the ACTU and government and set out the first principles for enterprise bargaining. However, for government these proved too restrictive and so in 1992, changes to the legislation to create a new form of statutory agreement were introduced. These reforms also limited the ability of the Industrial relations Commission to veto enterprise agreements struck by employers and unions, but rather sought to provide a more active role in the oversight of implementation.</p>
<p>Yet, 1992 was not the end of the process of reform. In April 1993, in a speech to the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Prime Minister Keating signalled that his ambition was to further entrench enterprise bargaining and restrict the role of awards. </p>
<p>It was widely acknowledged the speech caused some rift between the ACTU and the Keating government. For many in the union movement, it was a step too far down a slippery slope towards labour market deregulation.</p>
<p>That fear has proved unfounded. After the battles around the introduction of Australian Workplace Agreements in the mid 1990s, which allowed employers to create agreements directly with individual employees, and then <a href="http://www.findlaw.com.au/faqs/1916/what-was-workchoices-and-why-was-it-so-unpopular.aspx">the Work Choices controversy in 2006</a>, the Fair Work Act first introduced under the Rudd government has proved stable. </p>
<p>It has found some common ground with the conservative side of politics, and the current government has no plans for a major haul of the system at this stage. <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fwa2009114/">The Fair Work Act</a> embeds enterprise bargaining as the primary mechanism by which wages and conditions are determined. Awards have shrunk in relevance – in the scope of issues they cover and the proportion of the workers reliant on them. </p>
<p>But will enterprise bargaining survive? If the trends reported in recent data on agreement making are any indicator, enterprise bargaining is now facing a period of decline. The <a href="https://docs.employment.gov.au/node/37341">latest release from the Commonwealth Department of Employment</a> shows the number of enterprise agreements being made is falling, and now the number of workers covered by enterprise agreements is also shrinking significantly. </p>
<p>This is of course closely related to the dramatic falls in union membership that have been occurring over several decades. This data suggests that neither the hopes and fears around the introduction of enterprise bargaining agreements have been realised. The ambitious hopes held by unions for the Fair Work Act to reverse their declining fortunes, nor the worst fears of many employer groups that the same legislation would lead to unions given a new found source of power to raise wages and reduce employment. </p>
<p>If anything, after 21 years of growth, we are now witnessing a decline of enterprise bargaining – a decline which will not be reversed without some legislative reform to support it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70139/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Centre for Workplace Leadership receives funding from the Commonwealth Government. </span></em></p>Even though enterprise bargaining agreements proved controversial when introduced, their use is actually in decline today.Peter Gahan, Professor of Management + Director, Centre for Workplace Leadership, Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/597382016-05-31T19:49:48Z2016-05-31T19:49:48ZThe penalty rates time-bomb is ticking<p>A <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2016/s4470275.htm?site=eyre">looming decision on weekend penalty rates</a> presents problems for both major parties in the lead-up to Australia’s federal election. The Fair Work Commission seems likely to hand down its decision in the controversial case soon after the federal election. </p>
<p>Nobody knows what the commission’s decision on penalty rates in the retail and hospitality industries will be. There seem to be more tea-leaf readers predicting it will cut Sunday penalty rates to match Saturday rates than who think it will make no changes. </p>
<p>If so, employer organisations would be happy, but many retail employees will be worse off. Pressure would grow for cuts to penalty rates elsewhere.</p>
<p>The commission president’s request for submissions on whether some employees should be given a <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/sites/awardsmodernfouryr/am2014305-dirs-290416.pdf">right to refuse to work on Sundays</a>, perhaps as a trade-off, has added to the confidence of the former group of tea-leaf readers. </p>
<h2>The Coalition dilemma</h2>
<p>For the Coalition, the debate is a reminder of the disastrous political consequences of over-reach in industrial relations. A decade ago, it introduced the WorkChoices legislation, frequently touted as <a href="http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2008/02/spies-butcher_wilson.html">costing the Howard government the 2007 election</a>. The main way in which it had affected workers’ pay was through allowing employers to <a href="http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/29660/59864_1.pdf?sequence=1">reduce penalty rates, overtime pay and shift allowances</a> below the award safety net.</p>
<p>Voters <a href="http://www.essentialvision.com.au/penalty-rates-3">overwhelmingly support</a> the retention of penalty rates. It doesn’t follow that this alone would change their votes, but the “Your Rights at Work” campaign <a href="http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/37764/66954_1.pdf?sequence=1">showed the potential salience</a> of the issue.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124391/original/image-20160529-10041-1vopwa8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124391/original/image-20160529-10041-1vopwa8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124391/original/image-20160529-10041-1vopwa8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124391/original/image-20160529-10041-1vopwa8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124391/original/image-20160529-10041-1vopwa8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124391/original/image-20160529-10041-1vopwa8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124391/original/image-20160529-10041-1vopwa8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ‘Your Rights at Work’ campaign showed the potential impact of employment issues.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Peetz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described the reduction of penalty rates as <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-lower-penalty-rates-inevitable-with-seven-day-economy-20151005-gk1yr5.html">inevitable</a>. While his predecessor, Tony Abbott, was renowned for an extremely conservative social philosophy, he was one of the few ministers at the time of WorkChoices <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/business-spectator/the-dubious-virtues-of-abbotts-revolution-/news-story/5741eb0d22bafbbdac5feb7802e3f990">reported to be hesitant</a> about its direction. While Turnbull was not in the cabinet then, there is little evidence of his being less enthusiastic than Abbott about lowering pay or conditions.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/12/23/show-courage-penalty-rates-lib-senator">enthusiasm of Coalition members</a> has <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-new-disclosures-reveal-about-coalition-ir-policy-17689">not waned</a>. But it must be done without cutting pay below the safety net. And it must be done in a way that enables the government to avoid blame. </p>
<p>That is why so much Coalition hope rests with the Fair Work Commission in this case. It’s partly why it asked the Productivity Commission to <a href="https://ministers.employment.gov.au/abetz/productivity-commission-review-workplace-relations-framework">review the workplace relations framework</a>. The Productivity Commission’s <a href="http://elr.sagepub.com/content/27/2/164.full">recommendations to cut penalty rates</a> attracted more attention than any other aspect of its report, though some parts proposed <a href="https://theconversation.com/workplace-reforms-would-hit-workers-outside-unions-hardest-45772">more radical changes</a>. Employers submitted the report to the Fair Work Commission case without the authors being cross-examined. </p>
<p>When the government commissioned the report, it anticipated it could promise <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pc-review-that-could-bring-the-government-unstuck-36756">major changes to employment relations</a> at the 2016 election. The Productivity Commission would provide <a href="http://elr.sagepub.com/content/27/2/164.full">critical “third-party endorsement”</a> for radical change.</p>
<p>But the polls went south for the government, and now it faces a choice: announce a radical policy and risk voters’ wrath; or announce a mild policy, frustrate employers and hope voters have forgotten that the mild policy it presented in 2004 morphed into WorkChoices after that election. </p>
<p>The issue is so politically sensitive for the government that it declined to make a submission to the penalty rates case. Yet it cannot stay silent until the election. </p>
<p>There is, however, another pathway to satisfying corporate demands. In response to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-franchises-care-more-about-their-coffee-than-their-people-46948">7-Eleven scandal</a>, the Coalition recently announced <a href="https://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2016/05/19/protecting-vulnerable-workers-australia">increased powers for the Fair Work Ombudsman</a> to compel answers to questions. Lacking detail, this hasn’t attracted much attention yet. However, unless the government guarantees otherwise, those increased powers could also be used against workers.</p>
<p>This is not a mere theoretical possibility. Recently, the ombudsman launched <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/fairfax-journalists-to-be-investigated-by-fwo-20160504-gom6ak.html">investigations into journalists</a> who walked off the job after Fairfax announced more redundancies. </p>
<p>One danger of using “union corruption” as the rationale for increasing the powers of the Australian Building and Corruption Commission was that it could be used to justify eventually extending the use of coercive powers <a href="https://theconversation.com/bringing-back-building-watchdog-helps-a-political-agenda-but-not-concerns-about-union-corruption-54051">to all industries</a>. Increasing the ombudsman’s coercive powers could be another way of doing that. </p>
<h2>The Labor dilemma</h2>
<p>The Labor Party, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/sites/awardsmodernfouryr/AM2014305-sub-FOS-210316.pdf">made a submission</a> to the Fair Work Commission case. The main purpose might have been to embarrass the government by consolidating the many instances of Coalition support for cutting penalty rates. Labor did, however, argue against cuts to penalty rates. </p>
<p>That was the easy part. Labor is <a href="https://theconversation.com/labor-struggles-with-the-sticky-paper-of-penalty-rates-59487">under pressure</a> from unions to promise something more concrete – in particular, legislation to protect penalty rates, as <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/05/16/greens-want-weekend-penalty-rates-law">the Greens propose</a>. </p>
<p>Labor hesitates to commit to legislative action. This is partly because it does not want to appear to be undermining the <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/05/17/umpire-will-protect-penalty-rates-shorten">“independent umpire”</a>, which legislation would do. Yet Labor’s own Fair Work Act created a set of legislative obligations, the <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/how-we-will-help/templates-and-guides/fact-sheets/minimum-workplace-entitlements/introduction-to-the-national-employment-standards">National Employment Standards</a>, on matters that had been the sole prerogative of the Fair Work Commission. </p>
<p>Still, setting a precedent for legislative determination of penalty rates could also be used by the Coalition to opposite effect.</p>
<p>More valid would be concern about what legislation would do. Different awards set different penalty rates. This means that a single legislated formula for penalty rates would leave some workers better off and some worse off than at present. </p>
<p>The creation of national “modern awards”, which replaced a variety of inconsistent state awards, did precisely that. Both <a href="http://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/0909/nsw-award-rates-slashed-on-balance-drivers-worse-off/">unions</a> and <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/retail-industry/submissions/sub129.pdf">employers</a> screamed they were worse off, cherry-picking different effects. </p>
<p>It’s a complexity Labor would like to avoid. </p>
<p>If legislation were to avoid greater rigidity than the current system, it would need to allow enterprise agreements to override legislated penalty rates if employees were better off overall, which the National Employment Standards do not allow.</p>
<p>Alternatively, legislation could entrench existing penalty rates (either by directly referring to modern awards, or by a detailed legislative schedule). But such legislation could not be passed before the commission brought down its decision in the current case.</p>
<p>So, legislation may need to lock in penalty rates that existed before the current case. That would undermine the idea of regular reviews of modern awards and the “flexibility” that allowed, which would worry a number of Labor policymakers.</p>
<p>Another approach would be to highlight Sunday penalty rates in the Objects of the Act (as part of the current mention of weekend rates). But that would still be no guarantee current levels would be maintained, and would not affect the current case.</p>
<p>So legislation is feasible, but it’s not easy. </p>
<p>In the meantime, Labor has committed to <a href="https://www.laborherald.com.au/people-families/only-labor-will-protect-penalty-rates-system-for-workers/">intervening in the case</a> after the election, to support penalty rates. </p>
<p>Here it follows a precedent set by the Whitlam government. Then, Labor <a href="https://pmtranscripts.dpmc.gov.au/release/transcript-2734">intervened</a> in the 1972 equal pay case immediately it was elected, after submissions had closed. Days later, the commission issued <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/waltzing-matilda-and-the-sunshine-harvester-factory/documents/equal-pay-case-1972">one of its most famous decisions</a>, endorsing a broader interpretation of equal pay. </p>
<p>Since then, the Commonwealth’s reopening of the case has been lauded as critical in its success. Whether this was really so is impossible to know. But it showed the possibilities, and the symbolic value, of such actions.</p>
<h2>Who’s in the hottest seat?</h2>
<p>The lack of employer outrage at the increased powers of the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate corporations at the top of franchise chains might mean they have been given a nod and a wink that all will be OK. </p>
<p>But voters want more. As the election draws closer, the government must play its hand on penalty rates and its response to the Productivity Commission <a href="https://ministers.employment.gov.au/abetz/productivity-commission-review-workplace-relations-framework">review that it requested</a>.</p>
<p>Labor has already played its hand. In some ways it is a bet each way. But the delegation of part of industrial relations policymaking to third parties holds more risks for the government than for Labor.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article has been amended to clarify the reference to highlighting Sunday penalty rates in the Objects of the Fair Work Act.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59738/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Peetz receives funding from the Australian Research Council and, as a university employee, has undertaken research over many years with occasional financial support from governments from both sides of politics, in Australia and overseas, employers and unions. In the Fair Work Commission case on penalty rates in the retail industry, mentioned in this article, he was co-author of a joint expert evidence report commissioned by one of the unions on the demographic composition of Sunday retail workers.</span></em></p>Cutting penalty rates can be a vote-changer and the looming Fair Work Commission decision is tricky for both sides of politics. So what cards do the parties hold and how might they play them?David Peetz, Professor of Employment Relations, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.