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Damning report exposes toxic workplace culture at Channel Nine

<p>A damning culture investigation has revealed a history of systemic bullying and harassment within the Channel Nine workplace. </p> <p>The <a href="https://www.nineforbrands.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Intersection-Nine-Entertainment-2024-Report-FA.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, which was conducted by independent investigators, revealed their findings on Thursday, sharing the extent of the disturbing behaviour going on inside the network's offices.</p> <p>As stated in the report, Nine has “has a systemic issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment”, with several employees sharing their own horror stories of working for the network. </p> <p>Dozens of female workers came forward with allegations of sexual assault, with one employee saying, “When I was in (location), (employee) tried to groom me. He also touched me on the bum at the Christmas party and at other times he would rub my legs under the table."</p> <p>“I saw him do it to other women.”</p> <p>Another staff member was warned not to let a senior male employee “touch (her) boobs”, adding, “His comments about my body were constant.”</p> <p>“He made me feel like I was just a piece of meat to be ogled at, and that he was the credible one just because he was the older man. Over time, this eroded my confidence. It just chipped away at it.”</p> <p>Other employees said the culture at Nine “destroyed (them) as a human being”, left them “broken” and a “shell” or gave them “debilitating” anxiety.</p> <p>“I was broken,” one former employee said. “I left the newsroom after a year. By the time I left my soul was gone.”</p> <p>If anyone complained about the toxic culture and inappropriate behaviour, they were allegedly sent to what was known as “punishment island”.</p> <p>“I have only been at the company a short time, but in my opinion there is a concerning culture among senior older men of sexual(ly) inappropriate jokes. There is sexual intimidation against young women and I find this completely unacceptable. I will always call them out,” another said.</p> <p>Others said talking about getting bullied at Nine had become commonplace, with one employee saying, “We used to talk about being bullied, harassed or publicly humiliated like you’d talk about the weather. Now when I look back it horrifies me how normalised it had become."</p> <p>Nine’s new chair Catherine West released a statement on Thursday after the report finding, saying, “We are deeply sorry ... I unreservedly apologise.”</p> <p>“Today is an incredibly difficult day for Nine as we confront these findings and reflect on serious cultural issues as an organisation."</p> <p>“The behaviour outlined in the report is unacceptable. Abuse of power, bullying, sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct is not OK. This behaviour has no place at Nine.”</p> <p>The report concluded with 22 recommendations to address the negative culture, including training, accountability and another external review in three years.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <div class="hide-print ad-no-notice css-svlwa0-StyledAdUnitWrapper ezkyf1c0" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: #292a33; color: #292a33; font-family: HeyWow, Montserrat, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </div>

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Bombshell allegations of "toxic" Channel Seven workplace aired

<p>Allegations of a "soul crushing" and "degrading" workplace at Channel Seven have been aired by ABC's <em>Four Corners</em>, with current and former staff members lifting the lid on the "toxic" and "sexist" culture. </p> <p>The ABC program spoke to more than 200 people from Channel Seven for the bombshell expose in which staff made allegations of a “boys club” where women were forced to work harder than men.</p> <p>One female journalist claims she was told to handover her hard-won stories to male journalists while another said she had to work late while her male colleagues went out and got drunk.</p> <p>As a result of the culture at Seven, one woman allegedly was left feeling suicidal over the work conditions and threw herself in front of a car outside the network’s Brisbane office after allegedly working extremely long hours for not much more than minimum wage.</p> <p>The woman had tried to resign from her job, but claims the network wouldn't accept her resignation and was kept on for another six months. </p> <p>“The only way I can describe it is I felt like I had a noose around my neck,” the young woman told Four Corners.</p> <p>One of the woman’s colleagues received a call from her in which she was “wailing, hysterical, incredibly emotional”, and in notes taken of the incident, they wrote, “Couldn’t understand what she was saying apart from ‘they won’t let me go’, ‘i’ve f**ked up my career’, ‘I want to be hit by a car’.”</p> <p>The woman attempted suicide and mercifully, the car didn't hit her. She was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and never returned to Channel Seven. </p> <p>Another woman, who is suing Channel Seven for sexual discrimination, said she was left feeling suicidal after working on the network’s <em>Spotlight</em> program.</p> <p>She claims she was forced to work 10-12 hour days, seven days a week and was once forced to use her own money to finish a story, leaving her with no money for rent while she waited for expenses to be reimbursed.</p> <p>“[It was] incredibly stressful,” she said.</p> <p>The woman then fell ill with a serious respiratory illness, and doctors told her she needed some time away from work to rest and recover. </p> <p>“I just started sobbing because the pressure of going home and not going back to the office and what the retribution would be if I did that was so great,” she says.</p> <p>“[The doctor] said, ‘If you don’t go home now, you’re going to be in bed with pneumonia for six weeks … I’ll call an ambulance to your office if I have to.’”</p> <p>The journalist claims that the network wanted her to keep working at home.</p> <p>“I got to the point where I was suicidal, and I remember in one particularly dark moment where I’d worked all weekend,” she says.</p> <p>“I rang Lifeline, and I made a doctor’s appointment because I knew I was so close to taking my own life. And I had a child that I couldn’t do that to because I was a single parent.”</p> <p>One Seven employee, Olivia Babb, told <em>Four Corners</em> of the unsustainable salaries within the network, revealing how many of her colleagues have been forced to take up second jobs to make ends meet. </p> <p>On top of her fears of becoming homeless due to the minimum wages, Olivia also claims  she was “harassed and bullied” during her time at Seven.</p> <p>“It is one of the most degrading, soul-crushing places you can work,” the former reporter said.</p> <p>Solicitor Josh Bornstein, who has multiple clients taking legal action against Seven, said there was “enormous hostility to women”.</p> <p>In a statement after <em>Four Corners</em> aired, Seven West Media said it was “clearly concerned about allegations of poor behaviour and mistreatment of employees”.</p> <p><em><strong>Need to talk to someone? Don't go it alone. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or <a href="https://www.lifeline.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lifeline.org.au</a></strong></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Four Corners</em></p>

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20 years of tracking sexual harassment at work shows little improvement. But that could be about to change

<p>The fifth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces shows little has changed since the last survey in 2018 – or indeed since the first survey in 2003.</p> <p>It points to the importance of the legislative changes being pursued by the Albanese government, including reforms that passed parliament on Monday.</p> <p>The <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/time-for-respect-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey of 10,000 Australians</a> was commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Commission and conducted by Roy Morgan Research in August and September. It shows 33% of workers were sexually harassed at work in the previous five years – 41% of women and 26% of men.</p> <p>This compares with 39% of women and 26% of men <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/AHRC_WORKPLACE_SH_2018.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in 2018</a>, and with 15% of women and 6% of men <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sexual-harassment-workplace-key-findings-overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in 2003</a> (though these results cannot be easily compared with the latest figures due to changes in survey methodology).</p> <p>The most common form of sexually harassment were:</p> <ul> <li>comments or jokes (40% of women, 14% of men)</li> <li>intrusive questions about one’s private life or appearance (32% of women, 14% of men)</li> <li>inappropriate staring (30% of women, 8% of men)</li> <li>unwelcome touching, hugging, cornering or kissing (28% of women, 10% of men)</li> <li>inappropriate physical contact (26% of women, 11% of men).</li> </ul> <p>Men were responsible for 91% of harassment of women, and 55% of harassment of men.</p> <p>Most of those harassed said their harasser also sexually harassed another employee. Just 18% formally reported the harassment. Of those, only 28% said the harassment stopped as a result, while 24% said their harasser faced no consequences.</p> <h2>Slow work on reforms</h2> <p>These results highlight the importance of the reforms now being made by the Albanese government, implementing the recommendations of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2020 <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/publications/respectwork-sexual-harassment-national-inquiry-report-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Respect@Work</a> report.</p> <p>That report made 55 recommendations. The Morrison government acted on just a handful.</p> <p>It amended <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us-legislation-fair-work-system/respect-work-reforms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Fair Work Act</a> to enable individuals to apply to the Fair Work Commission for a “stop sexual harassment” order, and to make it clear sexual harassment is grounds for dismissal.</p> <p>But it ignored the key recommendation: placing a positive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment, requiring them to treat harassment like other work health and safety issues.</p> <p>This was needed, the report argued, because treating sexual harassment as being about aberrant individuals led to a workplace focus on individual complaints. It did little to change structural drivers of such behaviour.</p> <h2>Albanese government commitments</h2> <p>On Monday, the Albanese government finally made this pivotal reform, when parliament <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/media-releases/passage-respectwork-bill-major-step-preventing-harassment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed its Respect@Work bill</a>.</p> <p>It is now no longer enough for employers to have a policy and act on complaints. They must also take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation.</p> <p>The government has committed to implementing all 55 recommendations. The Respect@Work bill implements seven.</p> <p>Others should be achieved with the omnibus industrial relations bill now before the Senate. Improving the conditions and bargaining power of those in insecure and low-paid work, and reducing gender inequalities, should lessen the vulnerabilities that enable harassment to flourish.</p> <h2>Ratifying the ILO convention</h2> <p>Last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/address-international-trade-union-confederation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">committed</a> to ratifying the International Labor Organisation’s convention on <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/violence-harassment/lang--en/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eliminating Violence and Harassment in the World of Work</a>.</p> <p>So far, <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:11300:0::NO:11300:P11300_INSTRUMENT_ID:3999810" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22 nations</a> have ratified the treaty. Ratification will oblige Australia to align its laws and regulations with the treaty’s provisions.</p> <p>This is significant not just because the convention is the first international treaty to enshrine the right to work free from violence and harassment as its focus. It also breaks with the historical framing of sexual harassment as an individual interpersonal conflict.</p> <p>The convention calls for an integrated approach to eliminating workplace violence and harassment. In Australia’s case, this will require developing approaches that break down the policy and regulatory fences between anti-discrimination measures, and those covering workplace rights and work health and safety.</p> <p>This could prove challenging – with sexual harassment being only one form of gender-based violence. But implementing all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report is a good start.</p> <p>Hopefully the sixth national workplace survey will have a better story to tell.</p> <p><strong>This story originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/20-years-of-tracking-sexual-harassment-at-work-shows-little-improvement-but-that-could-be-about-to-change-195554" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

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Lookism: beauty still trumps brains in too many workplaces

<p>Universities position themselves as places where brains matter. It seems strange then that students at a US university would rate attractive academics to be better teachers. This <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/attractive-female-academics-rated-better-teachers">was the finding</a> of a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272775719307538?dgcid=coauthor">recent paper</a> from the University of Memphis, which concluded that female academics suffered most from this.</p> <p>It raises an uncomfortable proposition, that beauty trumps brains even in 21st century workplaces. It would certainly be supported by veteran female broadcasters <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/sep/22/bbc-subjects-older-women-to-lookism-says-libby-purves">such as</a> radio presenter Libby Purves, who recently complained about the way the BBC dispenses with women of a certain age.</p> <p><a href="https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news/articles/quarter-of-women-asked-to-dress-more-provocatively-for-video-meetings">Another survey</a>, this time in the UK, gave a deeper sense of the problem. It reported that employers were asking female employees to dress “sexier” and wear make-up during video meetings.</p> <p>Published by law firm Slater and Gordon over the summer, and based on a poll of 2,000 office-based staff working from home during lockdown, the report found that 35% of women had experienced at least one sexist demand from their employer, usually relating to how they dressed for video meetings. Women also reported being asked to wear more makeup, do something to their hair or dress more provocatively. Reasons offered by their bosses were that it would “help win business” and be “pleasing to a client”.</p> <p>It seems as though the shift to more virtual working has not eradicated what Danielle Parsons, an employment lawyer at Slater and Gordon, described as “archaic behaviour” which “has no place in the modern working world”. When employees’ performance is judged on the basis of their physical appearance, potentially shaping their pay and prospects in work, it is known as lookism. It’s not illegal, but arguably it should be.</p> <h2>Beauty and the boss</h2> <p>The Slater and Gordon survey findings affirm that many trends that we describe in our recent book, <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/aesthetic-labour/book232313">Aesthetic Labour</a>, are widespread and continuing despite remote working. Our book reports over 20 years of research and thinking about this problem. Although our research started by focusing on frontline work in hospitality and retail, the same issue has expanded into a diverse range of roles including academics, traffic wardens, recruitment consultants, interpreters, TV news anchors and circus acrobats.</p> <p>Companies think that paying greater attention to employees’ appearance will make them more competitive, while public sector organisations think it will make them more liked. As a result, they are all becoming ever more prescriptive in telling employees how they should look, dress and talk.</p> <p>It happens both to men and women, though more often to women, and is often tied in more broadly with sexualising them at work. For example, while Slater and Gordon found that one-third of men and women had “put up with” comments about their appearance during video calls, women were much likelier to face degrading requests to appear sexier.</p> <p>When we analysed ten years of employees’ complaints about lookism to the Equal Opportunities Commission in Australia, we found that the proportion from men was rising across sectors but that two-thirds of complaints were still from women. Interestingly, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272775719307538?dgcid=coauthor">University of Memphis study</a> found no correlation for male academics between how their looks were perceived and how their performance was rated.</p> <h2>Society’s obsession</h2> <p>Of course, workplaces cannot be divorced from society in general, and within the book we chart the increasing obsession with appearance. This aestheticisation of individuals is partly driven by the ever-growing reach and importance of the beauty industry and a huge rise in cosmetic – now increasingly labelled aesthetic – surgery.</p> <p>These trends are perhaps understandable given that those deemed to be “attractive” benefit from a “beauty premium” whereby they are more likely to get a job, more likely to get better pay and more likely to be promoted. Being deemed unattractive or lacking the right dress sense can be reasons to be denied a job, but they are not illegal.</p> <p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/146954050200200302#:%7E:text=DEFINING%20THE%20AESTHETIC%20ECONOMY%20An,omic%20calculations%20of%20that%20setting.">Some researchers</a> have described an emerging aesthetic economy. Clearly this raises concerns about unfair discrimination, but without the legal protection afforded to, say, disabled people.</p> <p>Not only has this trend continued during the pandemic, it might even have been compounded. With the first genuine signs of rising unemployment <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/employmentintheuk/october2020">reported this month</a>, research already suggests a <a href="https://www.recruitment-international.co.uk/blog/2020/08/job-applications-spike-by-more-than-1300-percent-for-some-roles">14-fold increase</a> in the number of applicants for some job roles. For example, one restaurant in Manchester had over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/28/eight-people-claiming-employment-support-for-every-vacancy-says-thinktank">1,000 applicants</a> for a receptionist position, while the upmarket pub chain All Bar One reported over 500 applicants for a single bar staff role in Liverpool.</p> <p>Employers are now clearly spoilt for choice when it comes to filling available positions, and those perceived to be better looking will likely have a better chance. We know <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2020-0314/full/html?skipTracking=true">from research</a> by the University of Strathclyde’s Tom Baum and his colleagues that the hospitality industry was precarious and exploitative enough even before COVID.</p> <p>It all suggests that lookism is not going away. If we are to avoid the archaic practices of the old normal permeating the new normal, it is time to rethink what we expect from the workplace of the future. One obvious change that could happen is making discrimination on the basis of looks illegal. That would ensure that everyone, regardless of their appearance, has equal opportunity in the world of work to come.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/lookism-beauty-still-trumps-brains-in-too-many-workplaces-148278" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

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Neurodiversity can be a workplace strength, if we make room for it

<p>Emma can recognise patterns within complex code. James can develop several different solutions when faced with complicated problems. But it is unlikely either will find a job where they can put their specialist skills to work — or any job, actually.</p> <p>Emma has dyslexia. James has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These conditions mean communicating can be a challenge, particularly in a stressful situation such as a job interview. They may also find it difficult to work in a typical office environment with noise and bright lights.</p> <p>But often the significant challenges is other people assuming they will be less capable or difficult to work with.</p> <p>About 15-20% of the <a rel="noopener" href="https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/135/1/108/5913187" target="_blank">global population</a> are “neurodiverse”. This term, coined by Australian <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.autismawareness.com.au/news-events/aupdate/in-conversation-with-judy-singer/" target="_blank">sociologist Judy Singer</a> in 1998, conveys <a rel="noopener" href="https://autismawarenesscentre.com/un-adopts-new-goals-disabilities/" target="_blank">the idea</a> that the neurological differences shaping how people think and interact are natural variations to the human genome. Neurodiversity therefore isn’t something to be “fixed” but understood and accommodated.</p> <p>But despite this understanding, and the gains made more generally in promoting workplace diversity, prejudices keep the employment prospects for neurodiverse individuals shockingly low.</p> <p>The cost is personal — denying individuals the chance to do meaningful work — as well as social, sending individuals to the dole queue. It also means workplaces are failing to benefit from highly valuable employees, and missing the opportunity to become better organisations in the process.</p> <p><strong>What neurodiversity covers</strong></p> <p>Neurodiversity is often referred to as an ‘invisible disability’ and covers a range of conditions. The most common are:</p> <ul> <li> <p><strong>Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder</strong> (or ADHD) manifests as inattention, distractability and impulsivity. It affects about <a rel="noopener" href="https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/social-economic-costs-adhd-Australia.html" target="_blank">4% of children and 3% of adults</a>.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Autism Spectrum Disorder</strong> (or ASD) typically involves degrees of difficulty in communicating with others and sensory overload. About <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.autism-society.org/what-is/facts-and-statistics/" target="_blank">1% of the global population</a> is estimated to be on the spectrum, with higher rates being diagnosed among children.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Dyslexia</strong> involves difficulties with reading and spelling. There is no agreed diagnosis. Estimates of its prevalence range from 3% to 20% (with <a rel="noopener" href="https://dyslexiaassociation.org.au/dyslexia-in-australia/" target="_blank">10-15%</a> commonly cited).</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Dyspraxia</strong> involves challenges with coordinating physical movements, including muscles for speaking. About 2% of the population are severely affected, with <a rel="noopener" href="https://adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/92/6/534.full.pdf?casa_token=s2n80xJNuhAAAAAA:kzF2QsFQRlR_rmpi80YkV9N8Lp8YT9bIXb1cwOEbaiZUm3f5KfRO4xPk8_F2YoXm6-bM7rHANPkqIQ" target="_blank">6-10%</a> estimated to be affected to some degree.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Dyscalculia</strong> involves challenges with numbers. It affects <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4461157/" target="_blank">up to 10%</a> of the population, with <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dyslexia.uk.net/specific-learning-difficulties/dyscalculia/" target="_blank">3-6%</a> commonly cited.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Tourette syndrome</strong> causes involuntary physical and vocal “tics”. It affects an estimated <a href="https://tourette.org/spectrum-tourette-syndrome-tic-disorders-consensus-scientific-advisors-tourette-association-america/">0.6% of the population</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <p><strong>High unemployment</strong></p> <p>The capabilities of neurodivergent people can vary considerably from severely challenged to gifted. Some are nonverbal and fully reliant on care givers. Others have special abilities in things such as <a rel="noopener" href="https://hbr.org/2017/05/neurodiversity-as-a-competitive-advantage" target="_blank">pattern recognition, memory or mathematics</a>.</p> <p>Yet even those with exceptional talents find it hard to get and hold a job. While unemployment estimates are imprecise, they suggest these conditions are the least accepted in the working world.</p> <p>For autistic adults aged 16-64, for example, UK statistics suggest <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/disability/articles/outcomesfordisabledpeopleintheuk/2020" target="_blank">78% are unemployed</a>. This is the highest unemployment rate of any group, compared with 48% for all disabled people and 19% for all adults.</p> <p>Australian statistics put the unemployment rate for people with autism <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/disability/disability-ageing-and-carers-australia-summary-findings/latest-release">at 34%</a>. That’s still more than three times the unemployment rate of 10% for people with disabilities and almost eight times the 4.6% rate for people without disabilities.</p> <p><strong>Supporting neurodiversity at work</strong></p> <p>One problem, as Joanna Szulc and her fellow researchers at the University of Huddersfield <a rel="noopener" href="https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/publications/amo-perspectives-on-the-well-being-of-neurodivergent-human-capita" target="_blank">have put it</a>, is “management practices frequently overlook the relationship between the above-average human capital of neurodivergent employees, their subjective well-being in the workplace and performance outcomes”.</p> <p>In other words, with understanding colleagues and a flexible work culture, neurodiverse individuals can reach their potential and be recognised as highly valuable employees.</p> <p>One case study demonstrating this is professional services giant Ernst and Young, which globally employs close to 300,000 people.</p> <p>In 2016 it established its first “<a rel="noopener" href="https://www.ey.com/en_us/diversity-inclusiveness/how-neurodiversity-is-driving-innovation-from-unexpected-places" target="_blank">Neurodiversity Center of Excellence</a>” as part of a pilot program to offer jobs to neurodiverse candidates.</p> <p>The company says it “considered business metrics only” in evaluating the program. It concluded the neurodiverse employees were comparable to neurotypical staff in work quality, efficiency and productivity. The bonus was “the neurodiverse employees excelled at innovation”.</p> <p>Australia’s Department of Defence has employed high-performing autistic individuals in its <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.defence.gov.au/annualreports/16-17/Features/CyberCapabilityTalentAutism.asp" target="_blank">cyber security</a> work. Their strengths for this work include “a remarkable eye for detail; accuracy and consistency; a logical and analytical approach to detecting irregularities; pattern-matching skills; and a high tolerance for repetitive mental tasks”.</p> <p>These lessons are being taken on board by others. In July, Google’s cloud computing division announced its <a rel="noopener" href="https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/inside-google-cloud/google-cloud-launches-a-career-program-for-people-with-autism" target="_blank">Autism Career Program</a>, which includes training up to 500 managers “to work effectively and empathetically with autistic candidates”.</p> <p>We all vary naturally. By understanding and encouraging neurodiverse individuals to be fully engaged in society, we will all reap the rewards.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164859/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/miriam-moeller-357407" target="_blank">Miriam Moeller</a>, Senior Lecturer, International Business, <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805" target="_blank">The University of Queensland</a>; <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dana-l-ott-1252533" target="_blank">Dana L. Ott</a>, Lecturer, International Management, and <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emily-russo-1252532" target="_blank">Emily Russo</a>, Industry Fellow, <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805" target="_blank">The University of Queensland</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/neurodiversity-can-be-a-workplace-strength-if-we-make-room-for-it-164859" target="_blank">original article</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">igor kisselev/Shutterstock</span></span> </em></p>

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Beautiful people don’t always win in the workplace

<p>Research has shown people deemed attractive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2015.04.002">get paid more</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8116(99)00014-2">receive better job evaluations</a> and are generally <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1927">more employable</a>. It’s even been shown that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2357756">good-looking CEOs bring better stock returns</a> for their companies.</p> <p>In part, this may be because companies believe consumers are more likely to buy things from beautiful employees, which is perhaps why <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/02/the-rise-and-fall-of-abercrombies-look-policy/">retailers like Abercrombie &amp; Fitch</a> have used looks as criteria in their hiring process. Abercrombie says it <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/24/abercrombie-ditches-shirtless-models-with-new-policies.html">stopped doing that</a> in 2015.</p> <p>There’s some evidence, however, that this worker “beauty premium” may be wearing off – at least when it comes to employees who interact with consumers. In television commercials, for example, <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/18/17995804/bumble-spotify-dove-real-people-in-advertisements">retailers and other companies are increasingly using real people</a> – with all their physical flaws – rather than photoshopped models to give their brands an “authentic” feel.</p> <p>Research several colleagues and <a href="https://udayton.edu/directory/business/management_and_marketing/zhang-chun.php">I conducted</a> recently suggests that companies may be wise to take this approach with customers. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.04.016">Our studies</a> show occasions where the beauty premium doesn’t hold – and can even backfire.</p> <p><strong>Beauty can create distance</strong></p> <p>In our first study, we wanted to better understand how consumers respond to attractive service employees.</p> <p>We invited 309 college students to read the same description of being served dinner at a restaurant and then look at an image of a person we described as their waiter.</p> <p>Participants randomly viewed either a male or female server whose facial features were edited to depict high or low levels of attractiveness, based on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/676967">prior research defining beauty</a>. Separately, we used similar objective measures of attractiveness to rate participants on the same scale.</p> <p>We then asked participants to rate the attractiveness of the server and how “psychologically close” they felt to him or her. Participants also graded customer satisfaction, the service quality and the likability of the waiter on a scale from low to high.</p> <p>We found that how close a consumer felt toward the waiter correlated with how they rated the quality of service they received. That is, if they felt distance from the waiter, they were more likely to give him or her poor marks. Furthermore, we found that people who thought the server was attractive but were themselves not good-looking – using our objective beauty assessment – were more likely to feel distance.</p> <p>We wanted to know whether this distance was actually more about how they perceived themselves than any objective measure. So we conducted a second similar study for which we recruited 237 people who were waiting to board a flight at China’s third-largest airport, located in Guangzhou. We asked them to read a scenario about receiving meal or other service from a flight attendant while aboard the plane and view a picture of the employee. Just as in the first study, participants randomly viewed either “attractive” or “unattractive” flight attendants.</p> <p>They then rated the attractiveness of the attendant as well as themselves and indicated whether they believe there’s a connection between beauty and skill. They also rated the service received.</p> <p>We found that participants who saw themselves as less good-looking felt more distance from an attractive flight attendant and were also more likely to perceive the service as lower quality. In addition, participants who said there isn’t a connection between beauty and skill also tended to assess attractive employees’ service as low quality.</p> <p>A third and final study, in which we surveyed consumers at a shopping mall who had just had a face-to-face encounter with a service employee, further confirmed the results of the first two. In each study, we found a clear connection between beautiful workers and unpleasant customer experiences for people who are less attractive.</p> <p>So in a world that admires and hires beautiful people, our research suggests there’s a potential downside, at least in the service sector.</p> <p><em>Written by Chun Zhang. Republished with permission of </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/beautiful-people-dont-always-win-in-the-workplace-123235"><em>The Conversation.</em></a></p>

Beauty & Style

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New research shows baby boomers are less threatened by technology in the workplace

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">New research commissioned by technology leader </span><a href="http://links.erelease.com.au/wf/click?upn=5eYQ-2B9hvLjY4F2EakWBi1ZLO7jaULuWnZBmbjF1-2FN2Awx-2F-2FA9sj0-2BQL-2BinGrP-2BrI_hfIqhjxrH5PXl2rHT1sLDTWyF1R6hGp8veDS2OqJRfJ2gqdnaHEljBkVvra9aGlx4VjSVUbKFpLRdZf3fB2LscCpfNHBZj472Ly9XaNbOKGSrO9w0nJWn8lTtojc5Iz41jlOpJCekIRYEVTulwB977Q2DlfgspDP1rDMixltb-2FDHmXx8SrNCmjiIToeB0EoXDNalY9E7KRn64YmdzVzUef-2B6t6bZP3-2FzMJbnfRI54eK0ZKR120HaEiYqQz5nWbnR"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Genesys</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has shown that older generations are significantly more positive towards artificial technology in Australia and New Zealand.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The new research also suggested that older generations are more comfortable with the implementation of modern workforce tools as opposed to younger respondents.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">70 per cent of respondents aged 18-38 years believe there should be a minimum requirement of human employees over AI/bots compared to 59 per cent of respondents aged 55-73 years. The younger respondents appear to be more cautious of the implementation of this technology compared to more senior respondents.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">All age demographics have reported seeing the benefit of advanced technology in the workplace, with an average of 87 per cent stating that it has a positive impact.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, 23 per cent of respondents aged 18 – 38 reported feeling threatened by new technology in the workplace. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gwilym Funnell, Vice President of Sales and Managing Director for Genesys in Australia and New Zealand said, “Older generations are valuable members of our workplace, and these results dispel the myth that they are averse to technology. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The evolution of business is calling for greater adaptability; this is when experience can be leveraged for greater success.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The survey also uncovered another key difference between the generations, which was the perception of the impact of technology on social interactions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">44% of respondents aged 55-73 years report technology does not inhibit social interactions at all, while those aged 18-38 years report it does – 7% more than their older peers.</span></p>

Technology

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Flight Centre accused of "ripping off" customers and underpaying staff in "cult" workplace

<p>Australian travel giant Flight Centre is facing allegations of ripping off customers and underpaying staff, with some ex-employees dubbing the company as a "cult".</p> <p>In a report by the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au."><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>ABC</em></strong></span></a>, former employee Olivia Little revealed that staff are encouraged to add hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars to customer bookings.</p> <p>"In training, they are telling you that you can mark-up flights," said Olivia, who worked as a travel consultant at a Flight Centre store in 2016.</p> <p>"It's not a secret thing."</p> <p>She added, "Say the flight was $1,500 — they would mark-up and say, 'Oh the flight is $1,800'. Or if it's a huge business class flight they would mark up a couple of thousand."</p> <p>According to Ms Olofsson, who worked at one of the company’s stores, the practice was encouraged by managers.</p> <p>"It definitely wasn't hinted at. It was, 'This is how we operate. This is how you make money. This is part of your job'," she said.</p> <p>"It wasn't uncommon actually that I would have a manager physically adjust the mark-up using my logins and on my customers."</p> <p>In a statement to the ABC, Flight Centre said the extra cost to the customer was justified by the service provided, saying the company does not engage in “excessive marking-up”.</p> <p>"A central team in Australia proactively monitors margins on individual transactions and action is taken if the margin earned is considered excessive. Action can and has included dismissal," a Flight Centre spokesperson told the ABC.</p> <p>"The company strongly believes in a fair margin and refers to this in its philosophies."</p> <p>One reason why Flight Centre staff are motivated to mark-up bookings comes from the company’s low and confusing method of paying staff.</p> <p>The current base salary for full-time Flight Centre travel consultants is $33,500, with the rest of their salary made up of commissions.</p> <p>However, staff claim the pay structure makes it almost impossible to earn a decent wage without resorting to marking-up.</p> <p>"Towards the end of the month, if you're struggling to hit your target, you kind of have to pull the strings," a current staff member told the ABC.</p> <p>"You have to do what you have to do to get you there."</p> <p>If the staff fail to make enough commissions over a month, it is understood Flight Centre tops up their pay to meet the minimum industry award wage.</p> <p>Former employees also criticised the company’s heavy party culture, with mandatory monthly booze-soaked “buzz nights”.</p> <p>She said herself and another staffer would refer to the workplace as “the Flight Centre cult”.</p> <p>"It works for people who want work to be their life — who only want to be friends with people from Flight Centre and date people from Flight Centre," she said.</p> <p>"It's very culty."</p> <p>Now, Flight Centre is under investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman for its questionable practices.</p> <p>Flight Centre has started negotiations with staff over a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.</p> <p>Wages, commissions, working conditions and the company’s price beat policy feature are all being reviewed.</p> <p>A spokesperson from Flight Centre said: “At the moment, our people are having their say on what they feel are the key terms and conditions of employment that they would like to see included in the EBA. This is a normal part of the process and it's progressing well.</p> <p>"We believe that we can deliver a better system that benefits both our people and the company's other stakeholders, through a tailor-made enterprise agreement."</p>

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