News
Working Indigenous Australians 23 May 2012
In an important collaborative partnership, the Workplace Research Centre has worked closely with Aboriginal Employment Strategy Ltd, Generation One and Mission Australia to undertake a review of the current data challenges in the realm of Indigenous labour market analysis.
MoreMake it Work Report 30 Apr 2012
As part of a wider regional workforce development strategy occurring in northern New South Wales, the WRC evaluated a workplace survey with a dual purpose. While collecting information from employees and employers on operational improvements, it also facilitates dialogue about EOC practices. A second report was also commissioned to examine the underlying concepts of EOC, and evidence on what it has been found to deliver.
MoreWRC to prepare a report on the work, wages and living standards of electrical apprentices. 06 Mar 2012
The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) has commissioned the WRC to prepare a report on the work, wages and living standards of electrical apprentices as part of Fair Work Australia's review of modern awards. More
Australia at Work Five Year Study 2007- 2011 12 Jan 2012
In 2007 the Workplace Research Centre began the Australia at Work project - a major ARC-funded longitudinal study of Australian workers. Since the project commenced in 2007, the Australia at Work project team has sought to understand the nature of employment in this country, and how it is changing over time. Below is a link to a number of factsheets reporting on key themes from the study. This includes factsheets on topics including hours of work, working time preferences, employee attitudes to their managers, the gender pay gap, incidence of job change, and factors influencing employee perceptions of risk of workplace injury or illness.
MoreThe relationship between payment systems, work intensification and health and safety outcomes: a study of hotel room attendants 11 Jan 2012
This publication was produced by Sarah Oxenbridge and Maja Moensted as part of the LHMU/WorkCover Assist Funded Research Project into Australian Room Attendants.
This paper examines the impact of payment systems on workers' exposure to body-stressing injuries. Data are drawn from interviews with managers and focus groups of room attendants in Australian luxury hotels. We find that the most important factor predicting work-related bodily injury is the payment system. Payment on the basis of the number of rooms cleaned (piece rates) was found to result in task 'speed-up'. The capacity to earn a living wage was therefore reliant on work intensification, leading to the use of unsafe working methods and injury. By contrast, attendants paid an hourly wage worked at a slower pace, earned a living wage and sustained fewer, if any, injuries. Mediating factors include the shift towards the contracting-out of housekeeping services to labour hire agencies, which typically pay on a per room basis, and their preference for employing migrant workers on temporary work visas. The paper concludes by considering regulatory strategies that might be used to reduce the incidence of work-related injuries among room attendants and workers subject to similar modes of employment in other sectors.
MoreMerry Christmas from the Workplace Research Centre 14 Dec 2011
All the staff from the WRC wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. More
Lessons from Abroad: Improving Australia's Approach to Workforce Planning 10 Nov 2011
Linda Scott, WRC Senior Research Analyst summaries her recent report on international lessons for Australia to improve our approaches to workforce planning. Commissioned by Skills Australia, the research examines data and case studies from the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Norway, making a series of policy recommendations. Norway, chosen for its parallels to Australia's booming resource intensive economy, provides useful policy solutions for avoiding Australia's looming skills shortages. More
Skills for whose prosperity? critical research agendas for workplace learning 18 Oct 2011
You are invited to an October VET event: Skills for whose prosperity? critical research agendas for workplace learning More
The role of VET in workforce development: a story of conflicting expectations 13 Oct 2011
A recent research report by Dr Tanya Bretherton from the Workplace Research Centre is now available online at the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) website. This final report is from a three-year research program that examined the dynamics of workforce development and explored the challenges in maintaining viable labour flows in the child care and meat processing industries. More
Understanding and improving labour mobility: a scoping paper 12 Oct 2011
One of the challenges policy-makers face is the lack of systemic analysis around the concept of labour mobility, especially in relation to how mobility is changing and what can be done to improve it.
MoreJob preservation a concern for nation of 'insecure' workers 28 Sep 2011
Job preservation a concern for nation of 'insecure' workers
AUSTRALIA is lagging behind the developed world when it comes to job security, new research from the Australian Council of Trade Unions has found.
About 40 per cent of the workforce is employed in casual, contract or other ''insecure'' work.
MoreNational Equal Pay Day & Australia at Work 06 Sep 2011
On 1st September - National Equal Pay Day - Unions NSW launched research findings about the gender pay gap. The research on the gender pay gap among full-time and part-time employees was conducted by Professor Alison Preston (Curtin University), Serena Yu and Sally Wright (both researchers from the Workplace Research Centre). More
Addressing the skills capacity crisis in road and rail engineering 20 Jul 2011
A recent research report conducted by the Workplace Research Centre in partnership with the National Institute of Labour Studies (NILS) has examined strategies to overcome the acute skills capacity crisis in road and rail engineering. The research was commissioned by the Australian National Engineering Taskforce which was formed in 2010 with the aim of creating a national strategy for the development of Australia's current and future engineering workforce. More
How can we help all Australian workers to improve their health? 12 Jul 2011
The Workplace Research Centre is working collaboratively with the Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders and the Workforce Education and Development Group in the Sydney Medical School to further our knowledge of how we can improve our health and wellbeing in the workplace. This University of Sydney research consortium has been contracted by the Department of Health and Ageing (DOHA) to develop content and related resources for an online national Healthy Workers Portal. This project aims to assist employers and employees to implement healthy living programs in workplaces as part of the Healthy Worker Initiative. More
Happiness, Health and Wellbeing @ Work Conference, 14th of September 24 May 2011
The Happiness, Health and Wellbeing @ Work conference is facilitated by some of Australia's leading experts on psychology, leadership and Human Resources. The conference, now in it's fifth year, presents the latest research and strategies on workplace health and wellbeing programs.
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This year the first half of the day will be presented by the wellbeing experts from the ABC show 'Making Australia Happy'. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear the lessons learnt from the TV show and how these lessons can be applied to Australian workers and workplaces.Announcing Advocacy in the IR Tribunals - 10 Week Training Course 17 May 2011
Wednesdays 29 June - 31 August, 5.30 - 7.30pm
This long-established course is suitable to aspiring industrial advocates from employer and union backgrounds. MoreSafe As Houses: The many lives of housing and financial markets, Tuesday 19th April 11 Mar 2011
A one-day workshop convened by the AWGF (Australian Working Group on Financialisation) and the Markets and Society Research Network, at The University of Sydney. More
19th Annual Labour Law Conference, 1 August 02 Feb 2011
WRC and Sydney Law School are pleased to announce the 19th Annual Labour Law Conference, Monday 1 August. You can receive a special early bird rate of $700 until the 30th April. Sydney Uni staff and student discounts are also available. For more information go to http://www.wrc.org.au/event-details.php?eventid=103 or download the schedule and speakers flyer here.
MoreEmployment Relations in a Global Context, 30 March 03 Jan 2011
The Global Forum on Employment Relations was a great success. Thanks to all our International and Local speakers for their interesting and insightful presentations yesterday and to our 250 attendees for their participation and discussion throughout the day, we hope you enjoyed it. Read some of the news stories from the Forum. More
New Research Manager joins WRC 16 Dec 2010
The WRC would like to welcome Helen Sargent who has joined the Centre as the WRC Research Manager. Her role is to manage the Centre's research team, coordinate the WRC's overall project management system and to help facilitate business development opportunities. More
Launching - Employment Relations in a Global Context: An international Forum 09 Dec 2010
The Global Forum in 2011 follows the highly successful World Congress on Industrial Relations held in Sydney in 2009 attended by more than 900 participants from over 40 countries. A number of keynote speakers from that congress are returning to Sydney to review international changes which have occurred since the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath. The Forum will also provide an opportunity to review the effects of recent reforms in Australia in the context of the re-elected Labour government from a wide range of employer and union perspectives. More
Nurse Staffing in NSW Public Hospitals - Report release 02 Dec 2010
WRC Report: Work, skills and training in the Australian red meat processing sector - Report 11 Nov 2010
Permanent Full-time work no longer the norm 06 Oct 2010