This week in HR: Staff exodus, menopause, and school absences

HR has once again been in the headlines this week as reporters considered how working conditions at Services Australia have been pushing workers out the door, expert calls for international protections for menopausal working women, and the impacts of hybrid work on school attendance.

Colossal staff exodus at Services Australia

The Guardian Australia explored the concerning working conditions and consequent surging turnover rate at Services Australia. Each month, up to 180 workers are leaving Services Australia, while close to 20 per cent said they plan to leave in the coming year.

As waiting times skyrocket, a Senate estimates hearing discusses the falling morale and tough working conditions at the agency. A 2022 survey asked how many employees of the agency would recommend it as a good place to work. The answer: -5 per cent. Greens Senator Janet Rice has called for a cultural overhaul at the agency – citing the agency’s failure to strategise to combat the exodus.

“When I questioned Services Australia on this staff dissatisfaction at estimates today, they had no answer for how to address this – they wanted to focus on their positive results. Their heads are in the sand,” said Ms Rice.

The latest data showed an average waiting time for Centrelink calls of 32 minutes, compared with 22 minutes over the same period in the previous financial year.

Menstruation and menopause work protections neglected by international law

This week, the University of Sydney reported on a recent Body@Work Project paper published in the University of Oxford Human Rights Hub Journal that has examined the need for menstruation and menopause work protections.

“It’s now nearly universally accepted that pregnancy and childbirth shouldn’t impact the right to work, but other reproductive issues – notably menstruation and menopause – have not yet received adequate attention in international law,” said lead author and University of Sydney PhD candidate Sydney Colussi.

The paper proposed the express inclusion of menstruation and menopause in existing international human rights conventions to combat cases of discrimination against affected workers.

As noted in the paper, research from the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees suggests misconceptions and failures to properly address menopause cost Australian women $17 billion in lost earnings and retirement savings.

The research came as the Australian government announced a Senate inquiry into the impacts of menopause on women’s careers, finances, and health.

School attendance suffers as parents work from home

The UK is experiencing a crisis in school attendance, said UK charity leader Sir Peter Lampl in an article for the UK’s The Telegraph.

“Nobody should underestimate the scale of this problem right now,” said Sir Lampl. “A staggering 30 per cent of secondary school pupils and 20 per cent of primary school pupils are persistently absent from school.”

Sir Lampl said the crisis is the most concerning threat to social mobility he has seen across his 25-year-long career in the field. Behind the trend, Sir Lampl said, are hybrid working arrangements and ongoing social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As parents choose to work from home, it’s crucial that people “have an honest conversation about how the ease of moving your working day from the office to your kitchen table has, inevitably, affected the obligations parents feel about getting their kids to go to school”.

Similarly, Sir Lampl suggested that school closures over the COVID-19 pandemic have eroded the perception that in-class education is the only, and indeed, the best way for children to learn.