News & Views

The World Economic Forum recently held its inaugural meeting of Advanced Energy Solutions – a community that aims to speed up deployment of energy solutions, such as clean fuels, hydrogen and new nuclear.

Four CEOs at the forefront of the energy transition area speak about the innovative work their companies are doing in these areas, and what we need to go globally to meet the 1.5 degree challenge in this article and podcast.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has welcomed the passage of the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 in Federal Parliament on 30 March 2023.

The package of reforms will allow employees to have access to the key indicator of how their organisation is performing on gender equality and provides an opportunity for employers who may have been slow to prioritise gender equality to get serious about change. See the WGEA press release HERE.

While many firms already have effective measures in place to deal with diversity, equality and other affirmative action measures, many still may have an element of unconscious bias when it comes to the recruitment processes. Consulting firm ASPL suggest that by improving workplace diversity through minimising unconscious bias can have significant benefits for employers. See five ways that organisations can help remove bias in their recruitment process in their discussion with HR leader magazine HERE.

Smurfit Kappa, a world leader in paper based packaging, recently conducted a survey in conjunction with the Financial Times which reveals that despite more than 50% of businesses believing that sustainability is changing the way they measure financial performance only 11% believe they have a robust sustainability strategy. The survey highlights the importance of transparency underscoring how it is central to building confidence among stakeholders. See the article and the survey HERE

Hot on the heels of the IPCC 2023 climate report, Climate Council of Australia note that we now need to focus on the fact that previous predictions are now becoming observations and that serious climate risks to Australia are likely, but we can substantially limit further harms by moving swiftly in this next critical decade. See the analysis HERE. It's also worthy to take a look at their infographic which looks at the difference in impacts between a 1.5 degree rise and a two degree rise and what we need to do to get emissions to plummet this decade.

HR Leader host Emma Musgrave is joined by Tammy Hewitt for an honest and insightful conversation about addressing family and domestic violence in Australian workplaces.

Recent government efforts to better support employees suffering suffering from family and domestic violence are a step in the right direction, but do they go far enough? Listen to the Podcast HERE

In the latest report from Transport and Environment (T&E), Europe's leading clean transport campaign group, they note that 85% of global companies are failing to set ambitious targets to reduce corporate travel emissions. Reducing aviation emissions is critical to us staying within 1.5 degrees of global warming and if the biggest emitters set just 50% reduction targets this would go halfway toward that goal,  however corporates continue to turn a blind eye to the harms done by flying for work. See the T&E report HERE

If your firm is spending more than $32K per annum on energy, or consuming more that 160MWh, then you might like to have a look at switching to renewable energy and attend this webinar.
Learn how renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) are being used by organisations to manage electricity price spikes and improve sustainability credentials.

The webinar will be held via Zoom on Wednesday 22 March from 12.30 to 1.30pm. REGISTER HERE

Pride in Diversity monthly online learning sessions are open to all employees of  member organisations, and the full year's program is now available in the members section of their website. Click on the headings to go directly to the registration page for that session.

April 2023

LGBTQ Awareness – Tuesday 11th, 12:30pm – 2pm (AEST)

Pride in Diversity will provide participants with an overall understanding of why LGBTQ workplace inclusion is important to an organisation, explore challenges often faced by LGBTQ employees and provide awareness on the impact that a culture has on the lived experience of its employees.

May 2023

LGBTQ Awareness – Thursday 11th, 3:00pm – 4:30pm (AEST)

Pride in Diversity will provide participants with an overall understanding of why LGBTQ workplace inclusion is important to an organisation, explore challenges often faced by LGBTQ employees and provide awareness on the impact that a culture has on the lived experience of its employees.

LGBTQ HR & Recruitment – Thursday 18th, 3:00pm – 4:30pm (AEST)

Pride in Diversity will provide an interactive session on LGBTQ inclusion tailored to HR professionals, recruitment teams and hiring managers to understand the specific issues faced by LGBTQ employees and prospective employees. NB: attendees for this session MUST have completed an LGBTQ Awareness session within the past 12 months.

June 2023

LGBTQ Awareness – Tuesday 13th, 12:30pm – 2:00pm (AEST)

Pride in Diversity will provide participants with an overall understanding of why LGBTQ workplace inclusion is important to an organisation, explore challenges often faced by LGBTQ employees and provide awareness on the impact that a culture has on the lived experience of its employees.

*Please note: online learning sessions are conducted from Sydney, and all times shown are Australian Eastern Standard Time. Please adjust for your local timezone accordingly.

business.gov.au has now opened round 1 of an energy efficiency grant for small and medium enterprises (with a headcount of 1-199 people). The grant opportunity provides up to $25,000 to replace or upgrade existing equipment to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs.

Find out more about the grant HERE