Round-up: Term-time contracts, misery index and pride regret

This week in our round-up of HR news, term-time contracts are circulating, and they could be a great way to grant better flexibility to working parents. Meanwhile, Australia’s misery index is at record highs, and some companies are on the fence about whether to participate in Pride Month.

Term-time contracts: A win for parents

Management Today discussed the idea of term-time contracts and how they could be the new four-day week.

Term-time contracts, as the name suggests, require employees to work only during school-term periods. This allows for much greater flexibility and is especially helpful for working parents whose work schedules aren’t interrupted by children on school break.

According to Management Today, Amazon introduced this policy to its UK warehouses for parents and grandparents. This was a welcome introduction for many who have been fighting the company though industrial action for some time.

“There is a mismatch between the holiday you typically get from your employer and the combined length of the school holidays, so I think for many people that certainty will be extremely valuable,” said Carly Mather, managing associate at employment law firm Lewis Silkin.

“There is an underlying indirect sex discrimination risk if you don’t look at ways to support working parents, because it is typically still females who are juggling the lion’s share of caring responsibilities with working obligations. There may be disgruntlement, but those employees do not comprise a protected group that employers need to be mindful of.”

With this in mind, companies could benefit by introducing similar policies to cater for working parents.

The ‘misery index’

Van Badham wrote for The Guardian, outlining how Australia’s “misery index” is on the rise.

The combination of inflation, unemployment, and interest rate hikes has affected the wellbeing of people across the country. Shockingly, 2022 saw the index rise 220 per cent. In comparison, the 2007–08 financial crisis saw an increase of just 62 per cent.

The skyrocketed cost of living is a major contributor to this data, with food, houses, and transport prices out of control.

Ms Badham argued that the reason for these price rises was explained by research from the OECD, which said: “Corporate profits contributed far more to Australia’s rise in inflation through the past year than from wages and other employee costs.”

Ms Badham concluded: “There is no help coming for Australians from the RBA. Perhaps we should ask ourselves how much of this misery we might have power over, after all.”

Social issue regrets

The cost of jumping on board with social issues has hit some companies hard, as reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

In the US, beer company Bud Light faced boycotts after a social media campaign alongside transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Conservative criticised the decision, and after the dust had somewhat settled, some in the LGBTI community criticised the response.

WSJ discussed similar tension as clothing brand The North Face released a video for Pride Month featuring drag performer Pattie Gonia. Calls for boycott flooded in for this brand too, which has some business leaders wondering if weighing in on social issues is worth the stress.

Paint company PPG Industries chief executive Tim Knavish commented: “We run a business. We don’t run a political organisation. We don’t run a religious organisation, and we don’t run a social organisation.”

“However, [we] recognise that we operate in a society. We hire employees with opinions and views. We work with customers that have opinions and views. So, we have to take all that into account.”

The genuineness of many companies that participate in Pride Month is criticised yearly as many that change their company logos to a rainbow-themed flag for their Western audience don’t do the same for their Middle East-based divisions.

Eli David, an Israeli artificial intelligence developer, said on Twitter: “Big corporations are running out of ink in their Middle East pages. What could possibly be the reason?”

“Profit before actual pride,” commented one Twitter user.