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Addressing job and economic insecurity requires greater focus on meeting workers’ needs, says expert panel of legislators, business leaders and advocates

Sydney, Australia 1 March 2022: A panel of legislators, advocates and business leaders has agreed that addressing job and economic insecurity could have tremendous opportunities for Australian workers, but it ...

Addressing job and economic insecurity requires greater focus on meeting workers’ needs, says expert panel of legislators, business leaders and advocates

Sydney, Australia 1 March 2022: A panel of legislators, advocates and business leaders has agreed that addressing job and economic insecurity could have tremendous opportunities for Australian workers, but it will require stronger efforts to meet workers’ work life balance needs. 

A panel discussion hosted by ELMO Software and Australian think-tank the McKell Institute has explored the future of work and what challenges lay ahead for legislators and businesses alike. 

Panellists included Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Hon Tony Burke MP, Executive Director of The Parenthood Georgie Dent and ELMO Software CEO Danny Lessem.

Drawing on data and insights from the ELMO Employee Sentiment Index, Danny Lessem noted that when workers have low economic security their wellbeing suffers. 

Mr Lessem also noted that with 43 per cent of workers preparing to search for a new job this year, employers will need to adapt their offering to meet the needs of workers’ personal and professional lives.

“Workers’ economic outlook has a profound impact on their mental stress and feelings of burn-out. When they have a balanced view of the economy they have a balanced view of the workplace.

“Addressing job and economic insecurity will be something that legislators will need to grapple with.

“It’s clear that the workplace of tomorrow will be very different to the workplace of today. This is a big wake up call for employers who have not put in place the structure that helps their workers balance their way of life. Workers are looking for work to be parallel to their lifestyle,” said Mr Lessem.

The importance of supporting the needs of workers was made strikingly clear by Georgie Dent who noted that for working parents to be able to effectively move between work and home life they need adequate and equitable parental leave arrangements and early childhood education in place. 

“None of us work in a world where our work and our family are in two separate vacuums; they coexist. 

“Even before COVID-19 a lot of parents struggled because they didn’t have the bridges built which meant moving between work and home was much more difficult than it needed to be. COVID-19 has exacerbated challenges that were already there.

“Having a great quality early education system is going to give parents the comfort that their kids are being cared for while they can work and support the family,” said Ms Dent.

In discussing job and economic security, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Hon Tony Burke MP noted that significant changes to the nature of work and job security were having an impact on how workers’ viewed their own security. 

“Insecure work is very different to what it was 20 years ago.

“Insecure work used to be you were either permanent or you were casual. These days, there are people who are classified as part-time workers who are rostered for nine hours but they work 30 hours or more. 

“It’s important to remember what insecure work means when you’re not at work. Your salary might not be reliable but your bills are reliable and you may not have the money coming in to cover them. 

“Without addressing insecure work we may see ourselves moving backwards,” said Hon Mr Burke. 

A recording of the panel discussion is available here

Media Enquiries

Mick Gibb | Media & Communications Manager
+61 423 149 494 | 
michael.gibb@elmosoftware.com.au

About ELMO Software

Established in 2002, ELMO is a cloud-based HR, payroll, expense management and rostering / time & attendance software provider. The company offers customers across Australia, New Zealand and the UK a unified platform to help organisations streamline their people, process and pay. ELMO operates on a software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) business model based on recurrent subscription revenues.  For more information, please visit www.elmosoftware.com.au.