Press Release
Hamilton James & Bruce Builds A Flexible Workforce
Wednesday April 7, 2008
Despite recent interest rises and the global credit crisis, employment continues to grow in Australia. According to the latest Fairfax Media Employment Forecast, total employment rose 2.8 per cent over the year to December to 10.448 million.
Many employers are also starting to deal with ageing workforces, which will need to be replaced. In New South Wales and Victoria, the proportion of workers aged 45 and over was 37 per cent in 2007, compared with 30 per cent in 1997 (Australian Jobs 2007, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations).
So where do employers turn to find qualified, experienced people to fill the new jobs and replace the ageing baby boomers as they start retire?
According to Executive Chairman and CEO of Hamilton James & Bruce (HJB), Deborah Wilson, the answer is to people who are willing to work in a part-time or flexible capacity.
“This could be women wanting to return to the workforce after having children, or men or women who simply want to work fewer hours per week or spend some of their week working from home,” she said.
HJB actively encourages part-time work and is a positive example of how flexible working practices can increase workforce participation.
“Our flexible working arrangements are market leading in the recruitment industry. They include working from home, flexible work schedules that allow employees to work irregular hours and start/finish early or late, part-time work, job share arrangements, and flexible or extended leave options.
“We also offer various leave options to assist our employees to balance their work, family and lifestyle responsibilities. These include fully paid parental leave of up to four weeks, carer’s leave and “doona days”, which are gifts of paid days off work that reward and recognise employee’s length of service with HJB,” added Ms Wilson.
HJB’s policies have been in place for several years and around 10 per cent of their workforce now takes advantage of flexible working arrangements. For example, a number of recruitment consultants in the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Parramatta offices work three to four days a week, and a key member of HJB’s People & Performance team has just returned to work after having her second child and now works three days each week.
“Thanks to our market leading policies and arrangements, we’ve been able to retain qualified, experienced women at HJB who may otherwise have left the company. They’re also incredibly productive and are great role models for other employees in our offices,” said Ms Wilson.
Established in 1979, Hamilton James and Bruce is renowned for its great people, strong brand name, flexible working policies, learning and development programs, and blue-chip client base. With offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Parramatta, Chatswood and the Gold Coast, HJB can build a national or local solution to meet any recruitment need.