In this section we provide synopses of the latest news articles from leading Australian newspapers and magazines relating to staff attraction and retention. Many have relevant statistics on latest turnover figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics as well as demographic forecasts. There are also comments from specific companies about the ways in which they are tackling turnover and their current strategies in this area.

Skills shortage to intensify with budgets still tight
HR Daily (Nov 2009)

An employer group survey of 500 Australian CEO’s exposes plans for more training budget cuts over the next year, which will exacerbate the skills shortage it says....... More

Retention Deficit: Leo D’Angelo Fisher
BRW (Nov 2009)

As the economy recovers, employers must meet the needs of a restless workforce....... More

Engagement is not about being nice
(HR Daily Oct 2009)

Employers need to stop viewing engagement as “being nice” and start to see it as a way to genuinely drive commercial returns says RedBalloon CEO and founder, Naomi Simson....... More

Do-it-yourself employee surveys useless, says psychologist
HR Daily (August 2009)

Employee surveys are critical to effective workforce management, but employers that design their own are wasting their time, according to a corporate psychologist....... More

Money not the key, worker survey finds: Jacqueline Maley
(AFR August 2009)

Employees are far less focused on salaries than they were before the global financial crisis, according to a new survey which shows the main reason workers leave jobs is because they don’t see a career path with their employer, not because they are lusting for more money....... More

Foster workforce mobility and slash labour costs
HR Daily (July 2009)

Fostering workforce mobility is the secret to attracting and retaining top talent while containing burgeoning labour costs, according to a new report....... More

Crisis calls for communication: Fiona Smith
(AFR July 2009)

Ignorance isn’t bliss in uncertain times. Keeping staff in the dark will hurt productivity, writes Fiona Smith....... More

Downturn will not tie-down unhappy employees: Jacqueline Maley
AFR (July 2009)

Employers should not grow smug or complacent in the face of the deteriorating job market, according to recruitment experts. They say employees are still restless despite the downturn and many expect to leave their current job....... More

Promote wellbeing and avoid widespread disengagement
HR Daily (June 2009)

Employers that fail to promote employee health and wellbeing in conjunction with retention and attraction strategies can expect up to 93% of their workforce to be disengaged, according to new international research....... More

Situations Vacant: Leo D’Angelo Fisher
BRW (June 2009)

In a slumping employment market, being small and nimble can be an advantage for recruitment firms riding out the economic troubles....... More

Slickers adapt to work in the burbs: Fiona Smith
(AFR May 2009)
Working in the central business district used to mean you had made the big time. You felt you were in the living, beating heart of the city – the place where critical decisions are being made every day....... More

Buckle up for a bumpy ride
Canberra Times (April 2009)
Everythings relative. As Australia’s unemployment rate shoots up a full half-percentage point in a single month 5.7% and spreads alarm on our hot cross buns this Easter, it’s worth recalling where we have come from and where we haven’t gone. As much as where we
might....... More

The cost of staying motivated: Fiona Smith
AFR (April 2009)
As the economy sours, employers should know how to retain their best workers and motivate them....... More

Onboarding strategies more important than ever
HR Daily (March 2009)
The economy may well be on a slide and headcount freezes in force but its vital to get the talent you are hiring as productive as possible....... More

A rude awakening for Generation Y: Alex Boxsell, Katja Buhrer and Khia Mercer
AFR (March 2009)
Generation Y may have met its match in the recession, write Alex Boxsell, Katja Buhrer and Khia Mercer....... More

Smart branding: Look inward to engage beleaguered staff
HR Daily (March 2009)
Smart employers are directing their branding strategies inwards to engage workers who survive staff cuts and to maintain positive relationships with the talent they’re forced to let go, says MD of The Face, Adam Shay....... More

Switched off and employed: Fiona Smith
AFR (March 2009)
Research by the Right Management group shows that 49% of workers in Australia and New Zealand doubt the ability of their senior management to cope with the looming
recession....... More

Mature-age workers the “white knights” of the economic crisis
HR Daily (January 2009)
“Smart employers are looking to mature-age workers to fill contract positions during the economic slowdown to reap the benefits of their experience in challenging times....... More

Culling recruits a risk to the future: Joanna Mather and John Kehoe
AFR (January 2009)
Employers have been warned to resist scaling back university graduate recruitment programs amid predictions that talent shortages will be back with a vengeance once the economy begins to recover....... More

Staff turnover fails to please: Georgina Dent
BRW (December 2008)
Staff retention has long been the Achilles’ heel of law firms. The fight to attract and retain quality staff is an important battle for any professional services firm to win....... More

Companies will keep top staff: Fiona Smith
AFR (December 2008)
If jobs have to go, the smart companies will protect their best and brightest to help with the eventual upturn....... More

Any Questions: Alice Snell
The Age (November 2008)
Are talent shortages set to continue and, if so, what are the impacts?....... More

All present but not all there: Hannah Tattersall
AFR (November 2008)
Vigilance may be required to prevent your workers losing motivation during these testing times. In uncertain times employees work harder and longer, because they worry if they don’t show their face at work, they’ll lose their job....... More

Rewards for Results: Megan Byrne
The Age: November 2008
Now is not the time for companies to cut corners. The economic outlook is looking dim – wages are set to drop, unemployment is forecast to rise and Treasury has no estimates for job growth. But this not the time to be cutting corners when it comes to taking care of employees....... More

Keeping High Earners
Company Director (October 2008)
In a recent survey of more than 100 high salary earners Six Figures found that there were three key drivers associated with changing jobs or career – leadership, career prospects and salary, in that order....... More

Dearth of skilled engineers poses a major dilemma: David Binning
AFR (October 2008)
The demand for construction, property and engineering staff remains critically high, with salaries to match. At any given time Australia is short of 300-500 professional engineers. Out of sheer desperation in the last three years, companies in the mining and construction sectors have added on average price increases of $50,000 for three major categories at the senior level....... More

Skills Shortage means more work, harder work, higher pay: Christopher Jay
AFR (October 2008)
One issue looming over the 2008 National Conference of the Australian Institute of Project Management is the effects of the present short supply of project managers – particularly multi-skilled individuals able to operate at a high level....... More

Y Us? Gen Y feels economic pinch: Nicola Smith
The Age (September 2008)
Generation Y members are worried about their jobs and one-third believe employers will lay off staff, a survey has shown. Human resource firm Talent2 asked 2700 people about their economic outlook and found many were worried about financial decline – including Generation Y, who’ve never experienced tough economic times....... More

For Young and Old: Ainslie Chandler
BRW (September 2008)
Attracting Gen Y and keeping the Boomers requires a special kind of workplace. The deluxe workstations at property group Lend Lease’s new environmentally friendly Melbourne HQ The Gauge were designed with employee input – and with staff retention in mind....... More

I can’t get no satisfaction: Fiona Smith
AFR (June 2008)
Employers often have no idea why staff are leaving – when people tell their bosses why they are leaving, they often lie. It is not that they have something to hide, but they figure it is better to give an innocuous reason than have a difficult conversation....... More

System renewals drain near-empty talent pool: Paul Smith
AFR (July 2008)
The IT recruitment industry faces a tough task meeting surging demand for skills as the major banks start replacing core technology, writes Paul Smith. The Big Four Banks are facing off in a war for IT talent to resource more than $2 billion worth of core banking technology projects over the next 3 years.... More

Flight of the Legal Eagles: Georgina Dent
AFR (July 2008)
The battle to keep talent is forcing partners to get serious about staff retention strategies. More than other professional services firms, law groups struggle to retain talent.... More

Power to the People: Jim Bright
The Sydney Morning Herald (March 2008)
Employers are being forced to tailor jobs to suit their employees.... More

Saving Planet not as important as retaining staff: Leon Gettler
The Age (February 2008)
Businesses are still lukewarm about saving the planet.... More

Look after Needs if you want Fidelity
AFR (March 2008)
Loyalty is out when it comes to today's employees but there are ways to keep them..... More

Attracting and retaining staff a pressing concern
AFR (February 2008)
Almost one in two Australian employers rate staff development and retention as their top priority in 2008, according to the results of The Hudson Report: HR Priorities 2008 an annual survey of over 7000 employees..... More

The working week: David Wilson
The Age (January 2008)
The Trickle-Up effect. The employment markets continuing strength is reflected by the success of the Federal Government's mutual obligation scheme where the unemployed are being forced into jobs..... More

Keeping Staff is top priority: Matthew Drummond
AFR (December 2007)
Finding and retaining staff rather than lifting productivity, is the biggest issue among law firms as the labour market continues to tighten into the new year....... More

Succession Planning is weakest point: Damien Lynch
AFR (December 2007)
Professional services firms were among the weakest at implementing succession planning strategies despite the fact that the industry has been one of the most affected by the skills shortage over the past few years....... More

Bosses put on notice: shape up or lose valued staff: Ari Sharp
The Sunday Age (December 2007)
It is time for companies to get more creative in attracting and retaining staff, recruitment agencies say, with a number of surveys revealing almost half of all employees are planning to look for a new job in the New Year....... More

One third of Employers Struggle with Retention: Craig Donaldson
Human Resources Magazine (November 2007)
Recent research has found retention is a problem for almost one third of Australian employees, and retention problems most commonly manifest into serious productivity problems, a decrease in company morale and damage to business relationships.

Generational Change: Amita Tandukar
BRW (November 2007)
The challenges for the economy created by Australia's ageing workforce are becoming clearer, particularly the need to rethink how staff are managed. Whilst it is questionable that generations are sufficiently different to make such assumptions - the difference within groupings tend to be greater than the differences between. Workforce planning does require an understanding of the underlying social trends, which at the very least act as levers on the recruitment and retention of staff....... More

In Brief
Sydney Morning Herald (November 2007)
One in five Baby Boomers plans never to leave paid work, a survey by the Australian Psychological Society has found. 56% of the 1500 respondents said enjoying work and keeping an active mind (55%) motivated them to stay in the workforce. Income and social interactions in the workforce were ranked lower.

Company focus: News and Features
The Australian Financial Review (November 2007)
What does it take to hang onto the best and brightest lawyers? More

The Smart Art of Retention: Rachel Nickless
BRW (October 2007)
Research undertaken for the BRW Fast 100 survey of 100 of Australia's fastest growing small and medium businesses shows that the key to keeping staff motivated and focused, rather than looking for other job opportunities, is the development of flexible work practices...... More

More than Money: Jane Searle
BRW (October 2007)
While money still matters, companies are finding that the key to keeping the right people lies in providing innovative benefits packages...... More

Retention deficit disorder: Chris Larsen
BRW (October 2007)
The secret to keeping staff isn't money or benefits programs but smarter management...... More