It’s International Women’s Day! Let’s #choosetochallenge to help forge a gender equal world. https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
😷  Health News
- Restrictions in NSW schools have been loosened from today, with parents welcome back on site and no limits on group singing/chanting/recitation, amongst other changes. See https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families for all the details.
- The NSW vaccine program is underway, with 5 regional hubs and 99 regional satellite sites to start opening from 15 March. The initial focus will be on frontline health workers and border control workers, and will be followed by a wider rollout to the general population through their GPs. The aim is to have full vaccination coverage across the Australian population by October 2021.
ℹ COVID in the Workplace Update
- JobKeeper ends in THREE WEEKS on 28 March 2021. Is your business still receiving JobKeeper? Do you have plans to survive and thrive once government wage support ends? If you need help navigating this situation with your staff, let us know.
- Are you back in the office full-time, or is your workplace moving to a “hub and home” model? Does it change how you’re prepared to rent/own business premises? If you’re a landlord or own your own business premises, how are you managing these costs? The post-COVID world will necessarily be very different, with offices in the Sydney CBD at 48% capacity, and Melbourne CBD only 24% – that’s a lot of very expensive real estate left empty.
- Safe Work Australia says that businesses can require customers to provide proof of having had the COVID-19 vaccine. Are you considering this for your business? What impact does it have on your work health and safety obligations?
📰 Business & Employment News
- It looks unlikely that the Federal Government will be able to pass their omnibus industrial relations reform bill in this parliamentary sitting, with the Senate Committee to report at the end of this week, and then one more sitting week before the next recess. The next opportunity to pass the legislation will be at budget time in May 2021.
- With International Women’s Day today, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency has releases its updated gender workplace statistics: https://www.wgea.gov.au/publications/gender-workplace-statistics-at-a-glance-2020. Do any of these numbers surprise you? How is your workplace challenging gender discrimination and access to work?