Every working day, for 45 years, my cousin has caught public transport to her job at ACTIV Industries in Perth. A sick day is out of the question and sleeping in is unforgiveable. She simply must get to work. Her friends are waiting. The tea trolley is waiting. She has envelopes to stuff, Christmas crackers …
My youngest son is twenty-one and recently told me that, amongst his mates, there is a strong sense that they will never be able to retire. They believe that the age at which a pension can be collected, will keep moving out of their grasp. This will happen insidiously, while they pay taxes and keep …
One of my undergraduate tutors gave out a list called Winners and Losers, a page of career tips that he thought might improve our chances in life. Calling us winners or losers is an awful notion, but it was the eighties. We were watching Dynasty and Dallas. I lost that page a long time ago, …
Astronauts were once picked for their individualistic traits. They had to have supreme confidence and ‘unflinching bravado.’ They needed ‘ice in their veins’ according to the psychiatrists who once recruited them in the early days of the space race. In the December issue of The Economist, an article called Fighting Fit, described the challenges NASA …
In trying to find the origins of one ancestor, I have gone down many of the 4000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire looking for a boy called George. That’s the name of my research file, Boy George. One day my heart stopped, and I confess I had a tear in my eye. There was a girl …
There’s a lot of chatter about the post-Covid return to a ‘new normal’ office existence and exactly what is changing. Important questions are being raised, such as whether we are tired of wearing our old track pants and whether the pencil skirt will die. Some of us are concerned about whether our favorite curry stand …
Mike Nesmith died on December 12, 2021. A musical friend told me that this was National Sound Check Day. One Two, One Two. I’m sure he would have liked that. He was on stage only recently, doing a final show with Micky Dolenz after having a quadruple bypass. I first loved Mike Nesmith as the …
The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is a fabulous psychometric, and the great aim of Isabel Myers and Katherine Briggs was to help people to be more tolerant of each other’s differences. When used as intended, it works. You can witness people stepping up a level in self-awareness and having the confidence to talk openly and …
Over four million Americans resigned from their work in August. Four million quit the month before in July and there are concerns that these numbers are abnormally high. The talk is of a ‘Great Resignation’ and the phenomenon is expected to hit the Australian workforce early next year. Estimates are hovering around the 40% turnover …
On August 31st, we had an ironically named event in Australia: Equal Pay Day. I say ironically named, because in the last year, the gender pay gap in Australia went backwards. Women doing the same work as men, are earning 14.2% less income every hour. We must now work more than 8 weeks a year …