Latest news with #InnesWillox
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Penalty rates and BREAKS could be on the chopping block under new work from home rules
Professionals working from home could be denied the right to take breaks or be paid penalty rates for weekends and public holidays if an employer group had its way. The Australian Industry Group, which represents 60,000 businesses employing a million workers, has asked the Fair Work Commission for permission to take away entitlements in exchange for allowing WFH privileges. The employer group had made the application to vary the clerks award, covering administration support staff. It has confirmed it has been participating in confidential discussions with the workplace umpire. 'It would be highly inappropriate for any party to comment on or otherwise disclose the content of discussions or developments that have occurred in the context of those proceedings,' a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Austrtalia. 'To do so would be a clear and deliberate breach of faith.' AI Group chief executive Innes Willox argued he supported work from home, after former Liberal leader Peter Dutton lost the election with an aborted plan to force Canberra-based public servants back into the office. 'The last election demonstrated the importance people place on working from home, and we know that accommodating this, when they can, is also important to many employers,' he said. 'Sadly, some in the union movement seem determined to cling to the notoriously complex web of outdated workplace laws instead of constructively and cooperatively exploring how regulation of working arrangements can be genuinely modernised in a way that is both fair and flexible for all parties.' A little more than a third or 36 per cent of Australians are now working from home with Covid lockdowns normalising the practice.
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Showdown looming at key summit hosted by Anthony Albanese affecting millions of Australian workers
Business groups and unions are on a collision course over priorities for a planned productivity summit despite the prime minister's optimism they can find common ground. Anthony Albanese has dismissed suggestions the roundtable, which will take place in August and is aimed at finding ways to lift the nation's economic output, would amount to little more than a Canberra talkfest. 'It is not unreasonable to bring people together ... business and unions have common interests, we have a national interest in boosting productivity,' he told ABC Radio on Wednesday. But Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said it was disappointing the union movement had taken the view that 'there's nothing to see here and that is all about cutting jobs and cutting wages and it demonstrably isn't'. 'One of the frustrating conversations to have with unions is to hear them say: 'Yes, of course there'll be AI but everyone's job will stay the same,' he told Sky News. 'Unfortunately it won't but we have to prepare people for that - and that will be a massive exercise in reskilling and retraining ... that's where this productivity summit is going to be so important.' Experts are concerned about Australia's lagging growth in productivity - a key economic measure of efficiency and long-term driver of improved living standards. Working Australians must be at the centre of the summit, ACTU secretary Sally McManus said. 'We need to leave behind the idea that productivity is equated with cutting pay and making people work harder for less,' she said. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said he was realistic about the potential for tangible outcomes at the roundtable. 'If it was easy, it would have been done already,' he told AAP. The scope of the Fair Work Act had grown significantly in recent years, which had a 'significant impact' on small businesses trying to hire staff, Mr McKellar said. Planned payday superannuation reforms also needed to be implemented in a way that didn't 'create a significant additional burden for small business', he added. 'We don't expect (the government) to revisit all of the industrial relations changes, but ... let's make some practical changes that make it easier for small business to create jobs and employ more people to promote productivity,' Mr McKellar said. Tax changes, cutting the regulatory burden and encouraging the uptake of digital technology would all be priorities for the business lobby, which singled out AI as a field that could make a big difference to productivity. Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood said it was important to be clear the target was 'not about working longer hours'. 'When we're talking about labour productivity, all it means is producing more for each hour worked,' she told ABC TV. 'This is about making sure Australians have the skills, that they have access to the technology, that we have great business processes that allow all of us to get more out of each hour that we put in.' Higher productivity was ultimately what drove improvements in incomes and living standards, and technological change was the most important driver of growth, Ms Wood said. 'Australia is lagging in the adoption of AI ... so that's certainly one of the areas of opportunity that we will be looking to,' she said. The commission's most recent report showed labour productivity fell 0.1 per cent in the December quarter and dropped 1.2 per cent in the past year. Shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien said the opposition gave the government some credit for calling the summit. 'A round table. Yay!' Mr O'Brien joked during an interview on Nine's Today program. 'But look ... to be fair, at least they're recognising the problem ... so let's take that as a partial tick.'
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Huge work from home deal about to be struck: What it means for you
Millions of workers could soon be allowed to work from home hassle-free as a growing number of bosses accept hybrid working arrangements are here to stay. Since August, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has been reviewing the Clerks Award – which sets out the minimum legal entitlements for those in clerical and office jobs - to test its relevance for work in post Covid workplaces. The FWC will hear from employers and unions as new models are developed for hybrid workers who spend half of their work week at home. Innes Willox, the chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, said the award was being updated to fit 'modern day reality' as working habits changed. 'Essentially, since Covid, we've had a work from home free-for-all which is now starting to get more structure and shape around it,' he said. 'The industrial relations (IR) system is not set up for work from home or flexible work. The award system is set up around nine to five work, basically.' It's predicted the review will result in a clause to 'remove any existing impediments' to WFH and that the award will be used as a model for others. Unions want their members to earn the 'right to request' WFH days. Currently, employers can reject requests on reasonable business grounds. Some employers have argued a 'free-for-all' attitude towards WFH since the pandemic has impacted on productivity. Critics also say connections are lost in workplaces if employees are at home and that mentorship and leadership is difficult to enforce. But, a landmark government report recently found working from home is actually more productive than going into the office - in moderation. 'Allowing workers to work from home some days can improve worker satisfaction and allows people to benefit by avoiding the commute to work, meaning they have additional time for other purposes,' the Productivity Commission said. Working from home has proven particularly popular with women, who can save on childcare costs and complete other tasks in the hours they usually spend commuting. A hybrid model, mixing work from home and the office, was seen as the best approach to encourage creative interactions. 'Workers do not need to be in the office full-time to experience the benefits of in-person interactions,' it said. 'As a result, hybrid work (working some days remotely and some days in the office) tends to be beneficial to productivity, or at least, is not detrimental to productivity.' The Productivity Commission, however, said in-person interactions were more likely to spark initial breakthroughs. 'A key reason for this is that in-person interactions may be better for collaborative tasks and idea generation,' it said. 'Experimental evidence from engineering firms indicates that idea generation benefits from in-person interactions but in-person and virtual teams were equally effective in evaluating and selecting ideas that have already been developed.'
ABC News
16-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Business leader Innes Willox begs Coalition not to reopen climate wars
Another battle within the federal opposition over net zero would "hobble" the Australian economy, a prominent business leader has warned, urging the parliament to focus on the mechanics of the climate transition. New Liberal leader Sussan Ley this week stated her belief that Australia should reduce emissions "appropriately" but could not say whether the Coalition would continue its commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Prominent business lobbyist Innes Willox said reconsidering net zero would be like "re-opening an old wound" and would undermine the confidence of investors. "Oh god no, no, anything but, please … For many in business there would be a lot of eye-rolling about this, simply because business had hoped that the broad fundamentals were settled," he told the ABC's Insiders: On Background podcast. "Business has been locked into net zero now for a long time [and] has already made investment decisions predicated on emissions reduction heading towards net zero by 2050. To reopen that now would put a lot of potential investment decisions on hold." Mr Willox, who is chief executive of industrial business lobby Ai Group, said there was room for debate about how to achieve the target including the future role of nuclear, but that net zero was a "north star" which let the market price and compare alternatives. "We have an agreed position that both political sides have settled on for some time, and that's given business and industry some certainty around investment. To go back on that now would make things very difficult." The Coalition's internal debate about climate policy has spilled out into the open since its heavy election defeat, with both Liberals and Nationals calling for a rethink. Matt Canavan, who challenged David Littleproud for the leadership of the Nationals, was explicit that net zero should be dropped and coal embraced, and while his leadership bid did not succeed his view is shared by several party colleagues. Liberal views are split between those who want the nuclear power policy ditched for more ambitious emissions reduction policies, those who want it retained but with less taxpayer money involved, and those who to double down or ditch net zero entirely. Even moderate Andrew Bragg has welcomed a rethink of that target, while Ms Ley has said energy policy should "start from the position of affordable, reliable, baseload power" and consider the energy needs of the manufacturing sector. Mr Willox said certainty about targets was important for the manufacturing sector, not just for investments in energy generation itself. "The one thing Peter Dutton said during the election campaign that was right on the money was that energy is the economy, and if we don't have energy right … Then we're really going to hobble ourselves as an economy," he said. "Energy is so important to a range of businesses, not just energy-intensive industry or generators or utilities, there is a whole range of things that are at stake here." He welcomed the nuclear debate and said there was merit in lifting the moratorium on nuclear energy, but that there were more pressing priorities. "The fact is that it is a longer-term option … Nuclear may have made things easier towards the end [of the transition] but as of now, it's not there. So we have to plan without it," he said. "What I kept hearing from the private sector was that in the Australian context, nuclear in the time frame that was being talked about wasn't going to stack up … Business needs to know that projects will be viable for a long time to make the investments they need to make, and at the moment it doesn't add up for nuclear for the private sector. "That's not to say that it won't in the future, but we're dealing with the here and now. That's why I think the Coalition went down the path of government funding to try to speed that up … [But] that changes the ball game when it comes to level playing fields around investment." Mr Willox said the debate the parliament needed to have was how to achieve the net zero transition, citing regulatory blockages as a major obstacle. "The government has through this last term had a whole range of objectives around renewable build and we just haven't achieved that as a country. We haven't built the solar farms, we haven't built the wind that was expected… "So we've got to look at a whole range of things around planning, around permitting, around construction time [and] construction cost." Mr Willox welcomed comments by Treasurer Jim Chalmers that productivity would be a focus for the Albanese government's second term. After the election, Mr Chalmers had said the economic priority of the second term would be "primarily productivity without forgetting inflation", inverting the priorities of the first term. New Environment Minister Murray Watt told the ABC this week reforming environment approval laws was one of his "highest priorities … Current environmental laws aren't working for the environment and they're not working for business." Mr Willox said productivity was "a very core message", including in the energy space. "We're really interested in what the government is saying it will do with Murray Watt in the environment portfolio, to see how we can unshackle [the approvals process] to allow the build to occur… "We have to get the social licence in place, the approvals, the permitting, and we've got to build it … Or else we're not going to achieve our targets. We're not going to achieve a 2030 target, let alone a 2035 target or a 2050 target."
Sky News AU
04-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Labor faces ‘immense challenges' ahead following historic win in the 2025 federal election
Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox claims the Albanese government has 'immense challenges' ahead following Labor's major win in the federal election. 'This election result hasn't magicked away the problems and challenges and issues that Australia faces as we try and struggle to become more prosperous,' Mr Willox told Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood. 'The government has immense challenges ahead; they were elected very clearly, and they deserve congratulations for that election but now the hard work begins.'
