THE SERIOUS PROBLEM COSTING AUSTRALIA $200 BILLION;  FIRST BIG FOUR FIRM TO REPAY ENTIRE PANDEMIC PAY CUT

THE SERIOUS PROBLEM COSTING AUSTRALIA $200 BILLION;  FIRST BIG FOUR FIRM TO REPAY ENTIRE PANDEMIC PAY CUT

Welcome to this week’s business and media intelligence update, with insights collected over the past seven days by the Cannings team.

WORKING FROM HOME? YES, YOU ARE WORKING LONGER

  • Australians are working more than five hours of unpaid work every week, according to new research that put the annual figure of unpaid work at $98.6 billion. The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work annual survey found 70 per cent of employees working from home were working after hours. Read more here.

 WOMEN ON BOARDS – THE NEWS IS MIXED

  • The proportion of women on ASX 200 boards increased to 32.1 per cent at the end of October, up from 29.8 per cent a year ago. However, the fall in the number of women being appointed to senior operational roles threatens to put the brakes on this achievement. According to a study by Chief Executive Women, between 2018 and 2020 the number of female CEOs at ASX200 companies dropped from 14 to 10. Read more findings in The AFR.

 FIRST BIG FOUR FIRM TO REPAY ENTIRE PANDEMIC PAY CUT

  • Deloitte will repay the equivalent of 2.5 months of pandemic-related staff pay cuts after recording better-than-expected results in the first half of the firm’s 2021 financial year. The move, along with an already announced 10 extra days of COVID-19 leave for staff, means employees will be completely repaid the pandemic pay cut. Read more in The AFR.

 THE SERIOUS PROBLEM COSTING AUSTRALIA $200 BILLION

  • The long awaited Productivity Commission report into mental health revealed that the financial cost of mental illness and suicide in Australia costs the country $200 billion a year. The final report documents the longstanding problems in the system and says implementing its 21 recommendations would create $18 billion a year worth of improved quality of life, and an extra $1.3 billion a year in increased economic productivity. Read the full report here.

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