Performance management is key to achieving employee effectiveness and efficiency, but are organisations using probation as a tool to achieve high performance? Deborah Blackman, Fiona Buick, Samantha Johnson, and Michael O’Donnell of UNSW Canberra's Public Service Research Group believe that employers should use probation to help define high performance and encourage desired employee behaviour.
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What can the recent dramas surrounding Barnaby Joyce tell us about progress for women’s equality on International Women’s Day 2018? In today’s post, popular welfare commentator Juanita McLaren (@defrostedlady) and Policy Whisperer Susan Maury (@SusanMaury), both of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, use the headlines as an opportunity to consider how the Coalition’s own policies on welfare would hypothetically impact on Mr. Joyce’s family were he not in politics.
Read MoreIn honour of International Women’s Day on March 8th, the Wiley Network spoke with Associate Professor Helen Dickinson (UNSW Canberra's Public Service Research Group) and Professor Janine O'Flynn (University of Melbourne's School of Government) about their experiences as a successful women in academia and how societies and associations can help to improve gender parity in research fields. This podcast was originally published on the Wiley Network.
Read MoreResearch from UNSW Canberra's Gemma Carey, Helen Dickinson, Eleanor Malbon and Daniel Reeders shows that government must take an active role in ensuring that the important policy goals of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are met through market stewardship, employing more than just light-touch measures. Eleanor Malbon and Gemma Carey explain their research findings in this article from The Mandarin.
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Market approaches have been used in a range of areas in Australia, an example of which is the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). While market approaches may lead to efficiencies in some areas, Gemma Carey of UNSW Canberra and the Centre for Social Impact argues that the Scheme should not sacrifice equity in the name of efficiency. This post was originally published in Pro Bono Australia.
Read MoreLaptops, mobile phones and other technological advances have created a workplace culture where employers and employees work around the clock. But more and more workplaces, and a few governments, have stepped in to ensure that work-life balance is protected to maintain productivity and employee wellbeing. UNSW Canberra's Dr Sue Williamson and Dr Meraiah Foley explain why 'leav[ing] early' should be modeled by public sector leaders to encourage healthier work behaviours. This piece was originally published in The Mandarin.
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How has the Australian Public Service (APS) been progressing and embedding gender equality, and are its efforts working? In the report Embedding Gender Equality in the Australian Public Service: Changing practices, changing cultures, UNSW Canberra's Dr Sue Williamson explains how the Australian Public Service Gender Equality Strategy has started an important conversation about the nature of equality, and where the APS may improve to achieve its goals. This piece was originally published in The Mandarin.
Read MoreThere are a range of approaches and tools that can be used to assess and improve public policy for women. Annie Pettitt, of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, shared her expertise in applying a human rights lens to gender inequality in a keynote address given at the Women’s Policy Forum, held on 22 September 2017 in Melbourne. Today’s piece provides a summary of Annie’s key points, which explains the unique contributions that a human rights frame makes to better policy for women.
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There are high levels of awareness in Australia concerning the importance of men’s mental health. However, in today’s post Sarah Squire, recently appointed as the head of the Women’s Research, Advocacy and Policy (WRAP) Centre at Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, argues that this is coming at the expense of awareness and investment in women’s mental health. There are specific gendered differences when it comes to addressing mental health needs, and the absence of women and girls within national mental health policy is deeply concerning.
Read MoreIn today’s post, Laura Vidal, who recently joined Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, discusses best practice solutions to early and forced marriage, particularly in light of recent Australia policy changes. Due to her work in both service delivery and policy responses to individuals who have experienced human trafficking and slavery, Laura received a 2017 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship, which took her on a study tour to 6 countries (Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Denmark, United States, Canada and Kenya) to inform responses to early and forced marriage.
Read MoreThe ‘gender pay gap’ is a major contributor to conditions that enable and perpetuate domestic and family violence. That women on average earn much less than men increases their vulnerability to financial abuse, makes it difficult for them to leave violent relationships, and leaves them much worse off financially if they do leave. Recent research suggests that it’s the ‘child penalty’ more than anything else that is currently driving the pay gap. ANZSOG Research Fellow Sophie Yates (@MsSophieRae), who is completing a PhD on gender and domestic and family violence, reflects on the importance of changing our expectations about who will take care of children if we want to significantly reduce family violence.
Read MoreIn the new age of big data, firms are gathering comprehensive information about consumers - transaction and consumption data, browsing history, social network, or location data - that is increasingly tipping the scales in the firms' favour. In this post, Lauren Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, reflects on the need to broaden our understanding of consumer data issues in Australia, beyond establishing a Consumer Data Right and the Review into Open Banking. This piece was originally published in The Mandarin.
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The role of government policy is to support its citizenry to thrive. By this measure, Australian policy is failing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and women are bearing the brunt of failed policy through seriously compromised health and wellbeing. In today’s analysis, Vanessa Lee from the University of Sydney applies a lens of political determinants of health to illuminate policy failure for Indigenous women and their communities, and calls for the government to be held accountable to the outcomes of generations of harmful policy. This piece is drawn from an article that ran in the Journal of Public Health Policy in 2017.
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In the US, nine states and the District of Columbia now allow recreational marijuana usage and 30 states allow medical use. Despite a very unfriendly Trump Administration, more states are lining up to join the legalisation wave.
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Charities have long played a role in supporting and advocating for people when markets and governments fail. They have existed in Australian history since well before the welfare state and have continued to fill gaps either on behalf of government (with funding being directed from government to the third sector) or instead of government (with funding via other sources, such as philanthropy).It’s important for a stronger, equitable society that charities are able to continue to advocate for their “charitable purpose”.
Read MoreIn 1991 Carol Bacchi comprehensively introduced poststructuralism and social constructionism to policy studies with her book Women, Policy and Politics: The Construction of Policy Problems. It detailed an approach called ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ and offers a different way of conceptualizing and understanding policy. Whilst usual approaches tend to treat policy as axiomatic or self-evident, Bacchi’s challenges the privileging of all forms of expertise and knowledge. For Bacchi, approaches to policy studies are ‘inherently political’ and need to be treated as such.
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Kym Peake is secretary of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. She previously held senior executive roles in the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. This article is the text of a speech she gave on the ethical challenge of family violence, edited only for clarity by The Mandarin.
Read MoreIn a recent episode of Professor Glyn Davis’ podcast The Policy Shop, Bruce Bonyhady (former Chair of the National Disability Insurance Agency) and PtP Policy Whispere A/Prof Helen Dickinson discussed how the National Disability Insurance Scheme came to be, the scheme’s ongoing rollout, and whether the NDIS will in fact improve the livelihood of people living with disabilities in Australia.
Read MoreAn ANZSOG-funded research project is exploring the increasing use of robots in care services to replace or complement the roles of humans. In this article, researchers Helen Dickinson, Nicole Carey, Catherine Smith and Gemma Carey explore some of the long-term implications for governments from the rise of robots.
Read MoreIn our first post of 2018 (by The Mandarin's David Donaldson and featuring ANZSOG research by Ellie Malbon and Gemma Carey), we look at two images of workplace flexibility - is it geared around benefits for the organisation, or for the individual? And what are the implications for employee health?
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