What are you looking for in your next job? Most jobseekers have a list of things they ideally want to achieve in a new job. From future development opportunities to mental health and wellbeing initiatives and the salary and benefits on offer, we all prioritise certain things when we job search.   Increasingly, jobseekers are adding an equal, diverse and inclusive workplace to their...

The COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for employers but supporting mental health in the workplace, and in particular employees who are struggling, has perhaps been one of the most complex.  From anxiety over their physical health to loneliness while working remotely, many people have experienced additional mental strain in 2020. In fact, according to findings in our Hays...

If you’ve been struggling to look after your mental health at work during the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re not alone. We’ve all faced countless and at times unexpected challenges on the long road out of this crisis, which have knocked our confidence and made us more anxious and worried.   According to findings in our new Hays Barometer Report, less than half of professionals now rate...

Equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace remain high on the agenda of organisations as we transition to the next era of work. Despite COVID-19 headwinds, the continued rise of progressive movements such as Black Lives Matter and resulting demonstrations around the world have brought the issue of equality, diversity and inclusion, or ED&I, firmly to the fore and shone a...

To say that 2020 hasn’t turned out the way we were expecting would be the understatement of the century. Needing no introduction at this point, the COVID-19 outbreak is the single biggest disruption of a generation. While different countries are at different stages of this pandemic, personal circumstances continue to play a huge role in each individual’s experience. We have all lost...

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers took swift action to create a mentally healthy workplace – often while simultaneously navigating the challenges of an entirely remote workforce for the first time. Now, as workplaces adopt a hybrid model, in which they combine remote and onsite working, employers again need to face the challenge of how to care for the mental health and...

Upskilling is not a new concept. Before COVID-19, employers were investing in upskilling to boost employee attraction, retention and engagement and to gain a competitive advantage when faced with constant technological change.  Today, as some organisations return to growth and others chart their way back to recovery, upskilling is gaining focus once more to ensure teams are prepared for what is...

Interrupted education. Internships withdrawn. Cancelled graduation ceremonies. First job offers retracted. First jobs furloughed. First jobs completely lost. The COVID-19 crisis has robbed many of the younger generation - those just on the cusp of starting their professional lives - of experiencing so many of life’s important milestones. It has disrupted the very rhythm of their lives, and,...

The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed today’s world of work. Along with remote and hybrid working, perhaps the greatest impact has been on hiring intentions and the skills now sought by employers. The IT sector in Australia and New Zealand has been strong for several years. Driven by business transformations and the adoption of new technology, there have been candidate shortages...

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world of work has undergone unprecedented levels of change. However, change is nothing new. Even before this crisis, organisations were pivoting products or services, introducing new digital tools, responding to disruptions and even transforming their workforce in response to the changing needs of customers and emerging technology. Now, as we...

Recognising top performers has long been viewed as a good strategy to motivate future performance. Along with proven engagement and retention benefits, offering employee rewards or recognition allows you to acknowledge the results or behaviours that help your organisation achieve its objectives, which incentivises future similar behaviour.  But when budgets are tight, how can you reward...

Shaking hands enthusiastically before a face-to-face meeting, sharing pens to scribble down ideas during a brainstorming session, bonding with our colleagues whilst taking part in a team building session. These are all innately human social interactions that we wouldn’t have thought twice about doing before the pandemic hit. In our pre-COVID working world, it was interactions like these that...

Most of us, at some stage or another, question ourselves. We question our abilities, our skills, our judgement. We worry that we’re not good enough. We listen to the self-deprecating thoughts buzzing around in our minds and we take those thoughts to heart. After all, we’re all human and all of us experience a dent to our self-confidence at some stage or another, some more regularly than...

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced organisations to undergo significant change and adjust to an unexpected new reality. From adapting products or services to adopting new technology to run their business, in a matter of weeks organisations have undergone levels of change that, pre-crisis, we wouldn’t have thought possible in years. Consequently, the people working in these organisations have...

In light of recent events, it’s easy to forget that performance review season is fast approaching. Most managers have spent the last few months grappling firstly with the logistics of moving their entire team to a remote working model, followed quickly by determining how best they could manage this remote workforce. Before we knew it, the pendulum began to swing back, and the focus shifted to...

There are certain times when employee motivation is easier to achieve than others. If your organisation has recently been forced to reduce headcount, it’s understandable that remaining staff may feel anxious and worried about their future. Knowing how to motivate employees during such times is crucial to bringing them together and keeping them focused. This will help to maintain peak...

If there’s one thing social distancing measures have shown us, it’s that a large percentage of the workforce can work productively and successfully from home. The traditional perspective that people must be physically present in one set workplace during standard business hours has been turned on its head. Scepticism has been replaced with a new-found awareness that output, performance and...

Social distancing rules aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus forced mass remote working onto a significant percentage of Australia and New Zealand’s skilled professionals. While this was designed as a temporary stop-gap, many employees have come to appreciate the benefits of working from home and wish to retain some form of flexibility once they transition back into co-located...

For so many of us, the coronavirus crisis has led to a feeling that the world as we know it has been put temporarily on pause. While government restrictions have taken some of life’s simple luxuries away from us momentarily, one luxury that most of us aren’t lacking right now is time – bar, of course the heroic healthcare and essential workers who are currently doing so much to keep our...

Our lives will never be the same again. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration, it’s a fact. COVID-19 has already, in a matter of just a few weeks, completely changed our world. If you take a step back and really think about the magnitude and speed of what’s happening around us, it’s remarkable - we probably won’t experience anything like it again in our lifetimes. It feels like a line has been...