What makes a good employer? According to Hewitt – keep your promises.

Details here. 

Close to 1,500 executives participated in our study, so far. Participants offered a rich kaleidoscope of stories, experiences and viewpoints about remuneration, work and the labour market, particularly in the comments section of the survey.  I am reproducing one by Brian Conradsen (with his permission) below:

I am an unemployed  C.P.A. AND Chartered Accountant, with a Master’s in Applied Finance and Investment, who immigrated to this country 6 years ago! SIX YEARS ago …   REPEAT SIX YEARS AGO.  I have no network, I have no prior Australian experience. I have a full log of over 510 resumes submitted to the recruitment industry.  These are the resumes I took seriously – involving focus and long hours to tailor cover letters and re-articulating resumes. I have also submitted countless more – more flippantly perhaps, with a hopeless sense of c’est la vie and abandon. I have not received ONE reply. I have never seen a potential employer, nor less, talk of one.

CPA Australia says we ought to import more CPA’s and motivates that permission through its ties, weight and influence at DIMIA and immigration.  Oy Vey! Why, pray God, would they do that?  Would that they realise they are at game with real peoples lives.   My circumstance is well know through my expatriate network, and these circumstances alone would probably account for  at least 10 Chartered Accountant’s seriously considering my circumstances here in Australia – and declining  Australia as a viable or fair outcome (Please note that my employment pursuit predates the GFC). These are people who have contacted me,  to talk and discuss with me, having heard the potential dour outcome here, and these are mostly past colleagues at KPMG  (South Africa). But I am not sure what the ‘multiplier’ effect is, as I imagine their account is embellished as my incredulous and sorry tale is passed about the SA’n network and water fountain. 

So do I care for perks, or salary sacrificing. Are you serious? What a joke, I have earned $264 GROSS over the 6 year period. That  is slightly in excess of what I used to GROSS hourly – eight years ago. The fact of the matter is – betwixt me, and the labour market, is a buttress of poorly skilled Australian HR consultants, who will forever deny me a fair go…and who will never allow me to recoup my earnings foregone over the prime earnings period  of my life.  It’s my fault, though, and I take full responsibility.  I made a grievous error in my judgment, wrongly assessing my marketable skills and the transportability of those  skills.   But I also sadly misjudged the ‘idiot’ factor in HR, and I mean that with no malice.  As an anecdote I spent about an hour and a half talking to a ‘financial sector’ recruitment consultant, about work availability that could utilise my FINSIA Master’s qualification.  After completing the interview, and as I was shaking hands to say good day, and goodbye, when I was politely asked by him, "err, what is FINSIA?"  Bloody hell, and I don’t have the wherewithal to get a salary! For me – I could care less, but sadly, in my case, its my children who have had to pay for the above misadventure.  

PS I hope my perspective helps you assess the extreme outcomes in the market. Which, damningly, my circumstance has become, and I thank you for taking the time reading to this point, in my grumpable tale of woe!   Cheers

Sincerely   Mr. Brian Conradsen  B Comm (Wits) CTA (Cape Town) MAppFin (FINSIA) SA Fin CPA  

When a qualified individual fall through the cracks who/what is to blame? As recruiters can we do more? As employers have we explored all possible outlets to connect with talent? Can advances in search technology help? As a nation is our skilled migration policy faulty?

There are no easy answers, but that shouldn’t stop us from asking more questions about our industry’s processes and performance. It’s cases like Brian’s which reminds us that we still have a long way to go.

P.S: If anyone can help, let me know.

A new fascinating study by the Centre for Work + Life (University of South Australia) sheds light on the link between home, work and community. The study is a comprehensive (four separate reports) look at how decisions about work are influenced by what happens at home and the wider community. As Dr Pip Williams, Project manager of the report, says: “Planning decisions about work and housing cannot be expressed independently of each other.”

Some interesting tidbits from the study:

“Not working‟ does not mean that you are not linked to the labour market. Firstly, people currently not in  paid work – for example, new mothers, full-time students or retired grandparents – are in close relationship to people who are in work: their partners, friends and adult children”

Work affects life through more than just having a job‟. For good work, home and community outcomes, people need access to a labour market that has depth: that is, offers a variety of job choices, and preferably some occupational depth and breadth.

The growth in participation in paid work is – by definition – accompanied by growth in commuting. Patterns of travel, concern about time wasted in commuting, the cost, quality and accessibility of public transport, not surprisingly, emerge as important concerns.

What makes a good job?
The report also looked at what makes a good job. 

• A good boss: who listens and responds to request for flexibility;
• Working conditions and policies that make flexibility accessible to workers;
• Good leave arrangements;
• Support for learning and education;
• Work arrangements that fit well with care options;
• Jobs that do not demand long hours, and do not overload workers;
• Partners who do not work long hours;
• Partners who share domestic work and care;
• Being married to a tradesman (who has contained hours) rather than a chef, engineer, manager or IT professional;
• Travelling to work with kids or partner;
• Jobs that do not involve long commutes.

The study is rich in data and offer lot of insights into how decisions about a job is shaped.

Dr. Pip Williams interview on ABC (Podcast)