When it’s not your job to be friendly with clients

Firms need to step in when customers harass service staff, argue Laura Good and Rae Coope

Addressing cultural and gender project bias: engaged learning for diverse student cohorts

Engaged student learning is based on creating significant learning experiences for every student. Attracting a more diverse student body into Engineering requires a re-evaluation of the conventional project topics that dominate the discipline. Recognising and addressing cultural and gender bias in the development of project work allows for the education of Engineering faculty on the development of a range of project work opportunities that support the learning for a more diverse cohort. The selection of set project work has the potential to negatively impact the learning experience of minority students. This chapter considers the elements influencing set project work and provides strategies for understanding cultural and gender bias, and for redesigning project work that provides for a more diverse cohort.Arts, Education & Law Group, Queensland College of ArtNo Full Tex

A New Coupling Potential for the Scattering of Deformed Light Heavy-Ions

This letter introduces a new coupling potential to explain the experimental data over wide energy ranges for a number of systems. Within the coupled-channels formalism, this letter first shows the limitations of the standard coupled-channels theory in the case where one of the nuclei in the reaction is strongly deformed and then, demonstrates that a global solution to the problems of light heavy-ion reactions such as $^{12}$C+$^{12}$C, $^{16}$O+$^{28}$Si and $^{12}$C+$^{24}$Mg can be found using a new second-derivative coupling potential in the coupled-channels formalism. This new approach consistently improves the agreement with the experimental data for the elastic and inelastic scattering data as well as for their excitation functions using constant or slightly energy-dependent parameters.Comment: 4 Pages, 5 Figures, submitted to the Phys. Lett.

Beyond the Pale: Cultural Diversity on ASX100 Boards

This report presents a qualitative study of the cultural diversity of Australian boardrooms, a significantly under-researched, yet critical area of organisational leadership. The evidence we present was gathered through in-depth interviews with 18 ASX100 board members who were questioned on aspects of cultural diversity on boards; and 9 representatives from leading executive search firms responsible for board recruitment. The interviewees are key insiders into the dynamics of boards and gave fascinating insights into the research question: What are the key inhibitors and enablers for cultural diversity on Australian boards? The findings indicate that there are both perceptual and systemic barriers to cultural diversity on boards and also highlight the complexity of cultural diversity, raising issues around how we define cultural background and ‘fitting in’, influence, contribution, voice and leadership.Australian Institute of Company Directors; Australian Human Rights Commissio

‘One of the boys?’: The work and career experiences of Australian women working in automotive trades occupations

This report forms part of a larger study of women working in three highly male-dominated sectors and occupations: investment management, automotive trades, and pilots. In Australia, women comprise 10-14 per cent of employees in investment management occupations, 2.5 per cent of automotive tradespeople, and 6 per cent of commercial pilots. In this report we profile the work and career experiences of women in automotive trades occupations and automotive industry occupations, using data collected between July and September 2018. We analysed data drawn from three sources: 12 face-to-face and telephone interviews with industry stakeholders; an online survey of 119 female employees in automotive trades occupations; and 20 telephone interviews with female apprentices or qualified automotive tradeswomen

A Physiologic Evaluation of the Sports Massage

This study determines the physiological responses of 10 healthy college-age subjects during submaximal exercise on the treadmill with and without a prior 30-minute sports massage. The Beckman Metabolic Measurement Cart was used to determine the subjects\u27 steady-state responses. Cardiac output was determined by the indirect CO2 Fick method; mixed venous PCO2 was calculated using the equilibrium CO 2 rebreathing method. No significant differences in central (HR, SV, Q) or peripheral (a-v~O2 diff) responses were found between the two submaximal exercise tests. Also, there were no significant differences in lactic acid (LA) and blood pressure responses. The results indicate that massage immediately prior to submaximal exercise at 80% intensity had no effect on the subjects\u27 cardiovascular systems

Covid-19, gender and work, October 2021

This Insights paper written for the Gender Equality in Working Life Research Initiative provides a high level summary of the evolving impact of the 2021 lockdowns on workforce gender inequality, based on ABS Labour force data published in October 2021. We include a special focus on NSW, home to about one third of the national workforce

What do women want from work post-pandemic? A qualitative study of women in Western Sydney.

This report shows that the working women of Western Sydney expect and want to work in good jobs that provide economic security for themselves and their families. They want access to high-quality flexible working options, and in 2022 they are especially interested in hybrid working arrangements. They want good care systems that are affordable, match the realities of their working lives, and allow them to meet both their economic and their family needs. Currently, they face several barriers to achieving these aspirations including current employment in insecure work, undervaluation of their skills, a lack of good flexible working options, and care systems that do not match the realities of work and family life. Moving into recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, working women have clear ideas about what they want from work and the kinds of policy measures that will support them to participate in the labour market. We highlight the voices of Western Sydney’s women workers and their ideas for an inclusive pandemic recovery. The report highlights what women want at work under three themes: Good Jobs, Good Flexibility and Good Care

Women and the Future of Work: Report 1 of The Australian Women’s Working Futures Project

This publication reports the findings from a combined quantitative and qualitative study of Australian working women, aged under 40. It draws together four separate data sources: a nationally representative online survey of (n=2,109) working women under 40; a smaller comparative survey of (n=502) working men under 40; additional boosted survey sample among (n=53) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander working women aged under 40; and the findings from five focus groups of (n=41) working women under 40. Quantitative fieldwork was conducted between September and October, while qualitative fieldwork was conducted in November 2017. At the time of being surveyed: over half of the women in the sample (55%) were working full-time or part-time for an employer, a fifth (19%) were working on a casual, freelance or short-term contract basis and 6% were self-employed. Half of the women (55%) were working in the private sector, 28% in the public sector and 6% for not-for-profit organisations. Over half (56%) were working in four industry sectors: retail trade, healthcare and social assistance, education and training, and accommodation and food services. A sample profile is included at the end of the Methodology section (Section 2)

UNUSUAL BREEDING BY SEABIRDS AT MARION ISLAND DURING 1997/98

In 1997/98, breeding at subantarctic Marion Island was exceptionally good for five species of seabirds capable of foraging over wide areas and for a tern. The number of king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus chicks surviving to the start of spring in 1997 was considerably more than previously recorded. Greater numbers of wandering Diomedea exulans and grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma albatrosses, northern giant petrels Macronectes halli and Kerguelen terns Sterna virgata bred than previously recorded, and more southern giant petrels M. giganteus did so than in any other year since 1994. For southern giant petrels, reproductive success was higher than in any other year, as was survival of chicks of northern giant petrels. Conversely, for two seabirds that feed close to the island, gentoo penguin Pygoscelis papua and Crozet shag Phalacrocorax [atriceps] melanogenis, 1997/98 was a particularly poor breeding season. Gentoo penguins initiated breeding later than usual and fledged few chicks. The number of Crozet shags that bred decreased; probably about 25% of the adult population did not breed. For two species with an intermediate foraging range that eat mainly crustaceans, macaroni Eudyptes chrysolophus and eastern rockhopper E. chrysocome filholi penguins, breeding was not noticeably different from normal except that chicks of rockhopper penguins fledged with a slightly heavier mass than in other years. However, for both these penguins, the mass of adults on arrival at colonies decreased substantially in the following (1998/99) breeding season. The unusual breeding by most of the seabirds coincided with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event of 1997/98. This synchrony contrasts with lagged responses to ENSO events of seabirds that breed farther south in the Southern Ocean. Continued monitoring of seabirds over well-separated sites in the Southern Ocean may elucidate how climatic perturbations operating at a global scale impact seabirds in the region.Afr. J. mar. Sci. 25: 453–46