Wage increases across small organisations and firms in Japan are becoming more widespread on the back of labour shortages and price increases, according to a recent government white paper. The 2024 White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises, published in Japan, has shared that small and medium enterprises, which make up 70% of the productivity in the country, need to step up moves to pass on higher costs via pricing and secure sufficient funds to boost wages to achieve sustainable wage growth. According to the white paper, which was adopted at Friday’s Cabinet meeting, 61.3% of small organis ..read more

While more workplaces in Australia are looking to push more policies that promote gender equality, a new study has shown that the challenges for working parents and caregivers to counter the pressures of family and work have not changed much in five years, with most of the strain faced by female employees. These findings are part of the initial results from the 2024 National Working Families Report, which surveyed over 6,200 working parents and caregivers. The report compared these results with those from its 2019 edition to gauge shifts in family and employee behaviours amidst the global pand ..read more

Time in lieu for work overtime and additional leave – these are must-haves for more than a third of job applicants in Australia when it comes to considering which job position to apply for, as revealed in new data collected in SEEK’s Laws of Attraction (LOA) portal. The survey saw more than 14,700 respondents in the current market over 18 and looking to change jobs in the next two years share their opinions on what they considered important when it comes to applying for a new job. Respondents in the survey scored work-life balance as the most important quality in their consideration of applyin ..read more

More working mothers must learn time management techniques to balance professional and personal demands, as significant challenges continue to arise in the Asian workplace. This is according to Milieu Insight’s newest quantitative study, which polled 3,000 working mothers across South-East Asia covering Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand. They found that three out of five respondents in South-East Asia are struggling to find adequate time to manage both work and family commitments, along with managing the overwhelming burden of self-care due to the relentles ..read more

Pursuing happiness in the workplace is not just a personal endeavour but also a strategic imperative for organisations aiming to foster a productive and engaged workforce. New findings from The Gallup Organisation’s World Happiness Report 2024 revealed that while happiness is rising in Central and Eastern Europe and East Asia, a gap is emerging between generations in the Asia-Pacific region. The report attributed the happiness increase in East Asia and South-East Asia to six major factors: GDP per capita, social support, health life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and perception of corruption ..read more

When it comes to adopting artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the workplace, Singapore is ahead of its neighbours within the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, with a good majority having already implemented AI programmes within its work processes and more planning to do so in the future. PERSOLKELLY, one of the largest workforce solutions providers in the APAC region, has released the 2024 APAC Workforce Insights Report, detailing the most recent APAC development and trends for the adoption of AI in the workplace. According to the report, 45% of organisations within Singapore are already using AI ..read more

One in seven employees in Australia are sexually harassing their colleagues via various tech platforms. This is according to new data from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), which saw more than 3,000 people across the country surveyed. Across the genders, men were more than three times as likely to harass their colleagues via work email, social media and text messaging apps, with the perpetrators admitting to doing so to humiliate and frighten the victims rather than wanting to pursue a sexual or romantic relationship with them. Those subject to these ty ..read more

Several significant megatrends are reshaping the HR role today, requiring HR leaders to upskill to keep up with the pace of change. That is according to Dieter Veldsman, Chief HR Scientist and organisational development specialist at the Academy to Innovate HR, who spoke at the Elevate People, Ignite Change (EPIC) conference in Las Vegas. These global influences are already moulding the future of work, giving HR a glimpse of how the landscape is going to continue to change, said Veldsman during his EPIC presentation, Unlocking the Future of HR: Navigating Meg ..read more

Scrap the minimum wage in Hong Kong? No way, said unionists, who are calling for a “reasonable and objective” discussion on the issue. This is after Liberal Party legislator Tommy Cheung suggested scrapping the basic hourly rate to boost the city’s competitiveness. The Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) said the statutory minimum wage, currently at HK$40 (US$5.11), is essential to protecting employees, with Kingsley Wong, FTU Chairman, stating that having a minimum wage in place is a common practice worldwide. “The main purpose of the minimum wage is to be a policy safety net, to ensure grass ..read more

While more than half of the number of graduates from private universities in Singapore find full-time jobs within six months of graduation, their starting salaries continue to lag behind others in independent universities. The latest Private Education Institution Graduate Employment Survey, released by SkillsFuture Singapore, found that the full-time permanent job placement rate for graduates from private universities in 2023 dipped slightly to 58.7%, compared to 60.9 in 2022. Of the 2,400 economically active graduates – those who are working, or not working but actively looking and available ..read more