Our week at work, October 25-31
By Josephine Asher
Australian workers are rolling in cash.
OK that might be a slight exaggeration, but we are taking home more money than our peers in the US and the UK. And for that we can thank the global financial crisis.
The average Australian annual wage of $51,084 compares with 25,428 pound sterling ($42,973) in the UK and $36,587 ($40,611) in the US, an Advertiser CareerOne investigation has found.
The figures are based on the average exchange rate of the Australian dollar over the past six months.
Australian accountants and teachers earn more than those in the UK and the US but Australian registered nurses are not as lucky.
Prescott Securities chief economist Darryl Gobbett says Aussies were receiving less than their counterparts in the US and UK before the GFC. Demand for skilled workers and the strength of the economy have pushed wages up.
“It may not be so much as a change in the Australian dollar of up to 20 or 30 per cent but the availability of work,” he says.
However, money just doesn’t do it for us anymore, according to the Dream Employers Survey 2010.
Brand reputation, culture and work-life balance were all ranked above salary as reasons for choosing a dream employer in the survey.
After quizzing nearly 3,000 people in Australia and New Zealand the ultimate dream employer was announced this week.
And no surprises for which employer claimed the title. Google employees enjoy on site perks such as yoga, massage and food in addition to its work challenges and recognition programs.
Virgin Group, Apple, Qantas and self employment also made the top five.
The results pointed to a growing trend towards “life balance” and mixing work with play.
Getaway presenter Jason Dundas says his job allows him to “live life in front of the camera” but denied 15 hour days are like a holiday.
Founder of website for small business operators Flying Solo Robert Gerrish says owning a business has been proving especially attractive as a successful lifestyle option for Generation Y.
“A lot of their work life is their social life also,” he says. “When [business owners] get it right we realise the balance is within our day as opposed to saving it up for the weekend.”
The results found that business owners are overall the most satisfied group but sadly, less than a third of us are actually working for our dream employer.
The results are made even gloomier if we also look at another recent study by The Australia Institute.
Australians are sacrificing our health for our work and one in four people report being too busy to go to the doctor, the study found.
Last week we found out that one in three lawyers will develop depression to the point of debilitation at some point in their career, which led to the College of Law developing a new module about depression to young law students.
Earlier this year, unions and employers came together to launch the Queensland arm of OzHelp to support male construction workers who have a suicide rate 1.93 times higher than other male workers.
Some workplaces are starting to get serious about supporting staff while others are still nowhere on the issue.
According to psychiatrist Dr Ian Chung, people fail to take action when things start getting out of control out of a “misguided sense of pride that they are somehow lesser if they have something wrong with them …they are not strong enough, they are weak.
“That is completely incorrect. True strength is when one can look at oneself and see, ‘I am not travelling so well’. In all the time that I have been in practice the greatest cause of people failing to do something is because of fear.”
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Our week at work, October 18-24
Our week at work, October 11-17
Our week at work, October 4-10
Our week at work, September 27 – October 3
Our week at work, September 20-26
Our week at work, September 13-19
Our week at work, September 6-12
Our week at work, August 30-September 5
Our week at work, August 16-22
Our week at work, August 9-15
