4 Tips for Strategic Workforce Planning - 2023 - Wattsnext Group

4 Tips for Strategic Workforce Planning

In part 2 of my blog series focusing on Inflation, Minimum Wage and Strategic HR I’ll be covering what SME’s can do to better manage their workforce to set-up for long term success (if you haven’t yet read part 1, check it out here). This blog focuses on Workforce Planning and how adopting a well thought out strategy catering to operational …

Queensland Leaders Update May 2022 - 2023 - Wattsnext Group

Queensland Leaders Update May 2022

On Thursday 12th May, Ben and I attended the Queensland Leaders monthly event at Brisbane City Hall. This time before getting stuck into the Expert Mentoring Sessions, Ben was tasked with delivering one of the three Industry Expert Workshops. He presented some great insights into the concept of Sustainable Culture and provided a quick but very useful Self Audit for the attendees …

wattsnext team

Is your Culture Sustainable?

Is your culture sustainable? To answer this question, we first must define culture. Ask one hundred business owners how they define a good culture, and you will get 90 + different answers based on their individual experiences. We have been HR and Business Advisory Consultants at the wattsnext Group for 15 years and one thing that has never been more difficult …

SHRM22 Sel Speaker

SHRM 22: It’s time to cause the effect

SHRM is hosting a conference in New Orleans, USA, in June 2023 – and we eagerly look forward to having Ben Watts and Sue-Ellen Watts representing wattsnext and how they are bringing their global learning from Australia to provide cutting edge new HR thinking for SME’s. In this session, Sel is one of the only two speakers on the ‘ChangeMaker …

Inflation, Minimum Wage and Strategic HR

We recently discussed inflation in our blog, noting leading economists were predicting an underlying inflation rate of 4.25% for the past year – a figure much higher than what Australia (and the world) has gotten used to. Shockingly, the underlying rate came out at 5.1% – so what does this actually mean for your business and the broader economic conditions? …

The ‘Hybrid Working’ Headache

A part-remote, part-office work-life has been referred to as providing employees and their employers with the best of both worlds, but is this the case? Since the pandemic, many employers and employees across the globe have had to adapt to a seemingly ever-changing work environment. A lot of workplaces took up the ‘Hybrid Working’, a flexible working approach where employees …

Federal Budget Update: Incentives/Subsidies for Engaging Apprentices - 2023 - Wattsnext Group

Federal Budget Update: Incentives/Subsidies for Engaging Apprentices

The Federal Government announced some exciting changes to incentive programs to attract and retain Apprentices, whilst supporting businesses with some of the associated costs. Broadly the 2022/2023 budget confirmed the following: Apprentices – Priority Occupations The Federal Government has not yet clarified what occupations will be included, but we can expect an update on this in the coming weeks/months. Wage …

Queensland Leaders Update April 2022 - 2023 - Wattsnext Group

Queensland Leaders Update April 2022

Ben and Anita attended the Queensland Leaders’ April event. It was the usual hustle and bustle of great local businesses getting together to share ideas and help each other out through what looks like to be another crazy year. Trends in the market for this month appear to be: Candidate shortage! This has now moved to a whole new level …

Easing of COVID-19 restrictions in QLD - 2023 - Wattsnext Group

Easing of COVID-19 restrictions in QLD

From 1.00 am AEST Thursday 14 April 2022, the requirement to check in and to be fully vaccinated in a range of venues and events will end. For more detailed information and a list of venues please refer to the Queensland Government website. Vaccination and check-in requirements will continue for anyone visiting or working in vulnerable settings (hospitals, disability accommodation services …

Flexible Work Policies & Practices - 2023 - Wattsnext Group

Flexible Work Policies & Practices

What a time to be alive in 2022, seemingly overnight the job market has flipped in many sectors across the economy and the power balance between organisations and candidates has changed accordingly. This is why now more than ever developing and implementing a cost-effective, yet proven attraction and retention strategy is the best way to set your business up for …