The gender pay gap is stuck at 22.8%, while more than 40% of employers that analysed the disparity between men's and women's pay in their workplaces over the past year took no action, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency's latest scorecard.
In findings unlikely to get a good reception in Canberra, the Productivity Commission has come down firmly against the federal government adopting a policy of preferring direct employment in the aged care sector.
The Senate Work and Care inquiry's Labor and Greens majority is urging the Albanese Government to move swiftly to consider a right to disconnect, make flexibility requests an enforceable right and provide "roster justice" by ensuring workers with variable hours have predictability and certainty, in a 152-page interim report tabled this afternoon.
Many workers would forgo a pay rise of up to 10% to secure more say in where and when they work, according to a study that says the Fair Work Act is failing to keep up with flexible practices, while other research says WFH employees save an average of $10,000 a year.
To address Indigenous Australians' under-representation in the workforce, employers need to create employment targets and inclusive leave policies and recognise workers' diverse needs, according to a new report.
Long-time online hearings proponent Commissioner Leigh Johns says the FWC will survey self-represented applicants and respondents to obtain the views of "outsiders" on the way forward for digital proceedings, after "insiders" appeared to hanker for the "good old days".
The NFF says the Federal Government should use its existing powers to routinely and rapidly refer all potential waterfront disputes to arbitration so that importers and exporters are no longer "held to ransom as a bargaining chip" between maritime workers and infrastructure owners.
A Productivity Commission inquiry will explore whether to permit "informal carers" to take extended unpaid leave to support elderly friends and relatives, while submissions are due in April on a study of what might happen if priority is given to direct employment of aged care workers.
The insights gained from the rapid shift to working from home during COVID-19 could lead to the adoption of a "genuine consultation" requirement under the Fair Work Act's "right to request" flexibility that might start "a conversation aimed at reaching a mutually suitable arrangement", according to a new paper by two leading IR academics.
