News & Views

The Australian Pro Bono Centre has published the 17th Annual Performance Report on the National Pro Bono Target (Target), reflecting a substantial 11.5% increase in pro bono hours in the last financial year. This year, the Target Signatories reported over 780,000 hours of pro bono work, an average of 39.6 hours per lawyer. 

See the Australian Pro Bono Centre media release HERE which includes a link to the report.

With more frequent and extreme climate events, climate change presents a serious health and wellbeing challenge to Australians. The World Health Organization has described climate change as the greatest threat to global health this century. To understand and address this, the Government and 19 major organisations have announced they will work together to deliver a framework for action on climate and health. This includes supporting a workforce-led health system response to climate change. See the media release HERE

A new research report from WGEA released in September has identified an important shift in how employees choose to engage in the workforce, as they increasingly seek flexibility and opportunities to tailor work schedules and locations to their needs. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the evolving nature of part-time work and implications of this change for the future of work in Australia. See the media release for this report from WGEA HERE

As reported by HR Leader, there is much debate about organisations mandating 'return to work', however there is a belief that our offices are inadequate, lacking privacy and being crude, noisy and cramped. 

This potentially gives rise to psychosocial risks, and can affect team culture and employee engagement and overall employee wellbeing.

See the article from HR Leader HERE

Volunteering Australia has released the "Volunteering Gateway", which is designed to connect Volunteer Managers, Coordinators and Leaders across Australia with the tools and resources to help them succeed.

Volunteering Gateway provides a diverse range of tools and resources which have been carefully selected to help recruit, train, manage, and retain volunteers, improving the volunteer experience and fostering a vibrant community that makes a difference.

There are many resources on the Volunteering Gateway site, so make sure you take a look HERE. 

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has released their 2024 Global Wind Report which shows that the global wind industry installed a record 117GW of new capacity in 2023, making it the best year ever for new wind energy.

The report finds the wind industry is entering a new era of accelerated growth driven by increased political ambition, manifested in the historic COP28 adoption of a target to triple renewable energy by 2030.

Fifty-four countries representing all continents built new wind power installations, totalling 117GW in generation power, an increase of 50% over 2022. 

Go to the GWEC Website HERE.

WGEA report that the national gender pay gap according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics is 11.5%. This is down from 12% in February 2024, and an now at its lowest point since 2014.

As of May 2024, the full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings across all industries and occupations was $2014.3 for men and $1782.8 for women.

While WGEA's pay gap calculations are slightly different to the ABS, (due to the sampling), the downward trend remains the same.

See the WGEA report HERE.

Without wanting to get into a political argument, the request from NSW Premier Chris Minns for Public Servants to return to the office will no doubt rekindle the Working from Home (WFH) debate.

Flexible Working options have been available in law firms for many years, and while amplified during COVID, an article on the subject from HR Leader says that it is clear that "hybrid work is a win-win-win for employee productivity, performance, and retention.

Others will argue that we need the social interactivity of being in the office.

One thing is sure is that this many open the can to many organisations reviewing their flexibily approach.

See the article from HR Leader HERE.

In contrast to the above story, HR Leader reported in July that a study by International Workplace Group (which featured 500 chief executives as respondents) found their fondness of a hybrid working schedule. Nine in 10 are working it themselves, and they strongly believe that it’s led to an improvement in both productivity (75 per cent) and staff retention (76 per cent). 

Apart from the financial benefits, the study suggested that nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) believe they would lose their talented workers if they insisted on their employees being present in a central office every day.

Read the story HERE

The World Meteorological Organisation reported that last month saw another extreme weather milestone with the world’s hottest day on recent record registered on 22 July – yet another indication of the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are changing our climate.

This gives rise to a Call to Action on extreme heat - not just by limiting our GHG emissions, but dealing with the side effects of that, including caring for the vulnerable, protecting workers and boosting resilience of economies, who see a reduction in cultivation of food and an increase in poverty, as a result of extreme heat.

See the UN article HERE.