Pay alignment: Fact or fallacy? The project will make an important contribution to our understanding of the impact of employee pay system configuration on firm performance and, in turn, on national productivity and Australia's social and economic fabric. The findings will enrich pay system theory and guide evidence-based improvement in firms' pay practices. It will help employers to identify the most contextually appropriate and effective ways to manage pay level, structure and plan choice and t ....Pay alignment: Fact or fallacy? The project will make an important contribution to our understanding of the impact of employee pay system configuration on firm performance and, in turn, on national productivity and Australia's social and economic fabric. The findings will enrich pay system theory and guide evidence-based improvement in firms' pay practices. It will help employers to identify the most contextually appropriate and effective ways to manage pay level, structure and plan choice and thus to design pay systems that employees in different workplace contexts perceive as fair and that enhance organisational performance and ability to attract, motivate and retain high calibre staff.Read moreRead less
Mapping the missing grassroots: ethnographic action study of local grassroots broadband content (co) creation and consumption. This project contributes to the National Research Priority, Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries. Innovative digital technologies which contribute to the development of broadband content and uptake of broadband constitute a key technological frontier for Australia. Broadband and digital media, and the overall new media literacies requ ....Mapping the missing grassroots: ethnographic action study of local grassroots broadband content (co) creation and consumption. This project contributes to the National Research Priority, Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries. Innovative digital technologies which contribute to the development of broadband content and uptake of broadband constitute a key technological frontier for Australia. Broadband and digital media, and the overall new media literacies required for their effective use, are a major contributor to national productivity, competitiveness, and growth. This project develops frontier technologies for collaborative production, exhibition, and evaluation of broadband content by grassroots creative producers, promoting an innovation culture as well as exploring innovative uses of broadband and digital media forms.Read moreRead less
Full Time Workers Caring for Children with Chronic Illness: A National Study. With advances in medical technology more Australian children with chronic illness are surviving. The support needs of full time workers who care for these children are under acknowledged. This three-phased study will identify these support needs from the workers' perspective. In-depth interviews and population survey will provide data. Synthesised data will provide recommendations that health workers, employers and ....Full Time Workers Caring for Children with Chronic Illness: A National Study. With advances in medical technology more Australian children with chronic illness are surviving. The support needs of full time workers who care for these children are under acknowledged. This three-phased study will identify these support needs from the workers' perspective. In-depth interviews and population survey will provide data. Synthesised data will provide recommendations that health workers, employers and support services can use to develop home, community, employment and information support for these workers. Policy makers and the community can use the findings to address this complex problem of the support needs of full time workers caring for chronically ill children.Read moreRead less
Small business job creation: employer and employee perspectives of job quality. Small business is high on the policy agenda as employment growth is trending downwards. Recent recommendations to increase small business employment highlight the importance of both quantity and job quality. This project will investigate what is a quality small business job from employer and employee perspectives. The research will focus on new small business jobs in the Latrobe Valley - a 'less favored' region. The ....Small business job creation: employer and employee perspectives of job quality. Small business is high on the policy agenda as employment growth is trending downwards. Recent recommendations to increase small business employment highlight the importance of both quantity and job quality. This project will investigate what is a quality small business job from employer and employee perspectives. The research will focus on new small business jobs in the Latrobe Valley - a 'less favored' region. The findings will fill a significant gap in knowledge about the process of job generation and lead to a better understanding of the determinants of job quality from different perspectives, which can assist economic policy development.Read moreRead less
WorkChoices and the Evolution of Australian Working Life: The Changing Role of the Labour Contract. Both internationally and nationally, there is much speculation as to how the transformation of the industrial relations framework will impact on workers and the broader community. Knowledge of the impact of WorkChoices is vital for employers, unions and governments to understand the influence the industrial relations framework has on Australia's social and economic fabric. The survey will address ....WorkChoices and the Evolution of Australian Working Life: The Changing Role of the Labour Contract. Both internationally and nationally, there is much speculation as to how the transformation of the industrial relations framework will impact on workers and the broader community. Knowledge of the impact of WorkChoices is vital for employers, unions and governments to understand the influence the industrial relations framework has on Australia's social and economic fabric. The survey will address some of the social issues that are debated widely in Australia such as the impact of the industrial relations changes on wages and wage inequality, work and family balance, skills development and shortages, workers in regional areas, and workers in low skilled and low paid jobs.Read moreRead less
Girls and Information Communication Technology (ICT) Career Pathways: Tackling the Upper Middle School 'Turn Off'. This project aims to develop strategic responses to factors associated with girls forming such negative perceptions of Information Communication Technology during their upper middle school years that they overwhelmingly reject Information Communication Technology as an option for advanced study and future careers. This project will contribute towards Australia's National Research Pr ....Girls and Information Communication Technology (ICT) Career Pathways: Tackling the Upper Middle School 'Turn Off'. This project aims to develop strategic responses to factors associated with girls forming such negative perceptions of Information Communication Technology during their upper middle school years that they overwhelmingly reject Information Communication Technology as an option for advanced study and future careers. This project will contribute towards Australia's National Research Priority 3 of building and transforming frontier technologies to maximize creative, technological capability by collaboratively developing a strategic model for responding to factors identified as 'turning girls off Information Communication Technology'.Read moreRead less
Testing for Age Discrimination in Hiring in the Australian Labour Market. This project will raise awareness in the community of the extent, or lack thereof, of age discrimination in the Australian labour market. This is particularly important as no other investigations of this nature have been made. The findings will provide a valuable and important complement to the surveys of employer's attitudes towards older workers. There will be policy implications for the structure and operation of anti-d ....Testing for Age Discrimination in Hiring in the Australian Labour Market. This project will raise awareness in the community of the extent, or lack thereof, of age discrimination in the Australian labour market. This is particularly important as no other investigations of this nature have been made. The findings will provide a valuable and important complement to the surveys of employer's attitudes towards older workers. There will be policy implications for the structure and operation of anti-discrimination legislation in Australia. The technique of using written applications to apply for jobs can highlight deficiencies in the current legislation and ways in which the legislation can be modified to make it more effective. Read moreRead less
Developing and testing a best practice model of enterprise bargaining in the retail sector. Recently, the Australian labour market has seen a decrease in the manufacturing sector and an increase in the retail sector. The SDA with over 230,000 members is the largest trade and industrial union in Australia. It negotiates EB Agreements on behalf of employees. This research will assess improved job satisfaction and job conditions - a key EB goal, which will have tangible benefits in reducing turnove ....Developing and testing a best practice model of enterprise bargaining in the retail sector. Recently, the Australian labour market has seen a decrease in the manufacturing sector and an increase in the retail sector. The SDA with over 230,000 members is the largest trade and industrial union in Australia. It negotiates EB Agreements on behalf of employees. This research will assess improved job satisfaction and job conditions - a key EB goal, which will have tangible benefits in reducing turnover of retail sector employees, recognised as a major problem for employers. This research will enhance effectiveness for unions and employers in the implementation of agreements commensurate with the needs of employees, the findings of which will have broad applicability across Australian industryRead moreRead less
An econometric analysis of the effects of family benefit policies on fertility, saving and labour force participation in Australia. This project will help to 'strengthen Australia's economic fabric' by improving our understanding of the effect of family benefit policies on fertility, saving and labour force participation. This is important because boosting fertility and labour force participation are both seen as ways of mitigating the economic burden of population ageing, thereby helping Austra ....An econometric analysis of the effects of family benefit policies on fertility, saving and labour force participation in Australia. This project will help to 'strengthen Australia's economic fabric' by improving our understanding of the effect of family benefit policies on fertility, saving and labour force participation. This is important because boosting fertility and labour force participation are both seen as ways of mitigating the economic burden of population ageing, thereby helping Australia to 'age well, age productively' in a national sense. Also, achieving a desired level of national saving is a medium term goal of government economic policy. Hence it is important to understand the interaction of saving, fertility and labour force participation in order to develop compatible and effective economic policies.Read moreRead less
Understandings of Women's Disadvantage at Work: Discourses of Discrimination in the Workplace. In analysing the persistence of women's disadvantage in the workplace, research has focused on the inadequacy of anti-discrimination law and both government and corporate EEO policies. Less attention has been paid to the myriad ways in which these proscriptions of discrimination are understood and implemented in the workplace. This project will examine workplace discourses around sex discrimination in ....Understandings of Women's Disadvantage at Work: Discourses of Discrimination in the Workplace. In analysing the persistence of women's disadvantage in the workplace, research has focused on the inadequacy of anti-discrimination law and both government and corporate EEO policies. Less attention has been paid to the myriad ways in which these proscriptions of discrimination are understood and implemented in the workplace. This project will examine workplace discourses around sex discrimination in a range of industry case studies. It will contribute to a better theoretical understanding of the ways in which women's workplace disadvantage is constructed and negotiated within specific organisational contexts and cultures and also provide practical guidance for human rights agencies.Read moreRead less