24
 
13/08/2009
Digital Life

Last Thursday, digital radio was launched simultaneously in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide - don’t worry, it went under the radar of most people - at central city locations in an unusual show of bonhomie with all of the major commercial and government funded stations across Australia taking part.

The advantages of digital radio include clearer sound - particularly for stations currently broadcasting on an AM signal - and a scrolling text feature that displays news updates, weather and song titles. Digital radio will provide new stations and, you can tune by station name, not frequency, making it easy to find your favourite programs. But the feature that intrigues me the most is the pause and rewind function that will be available on some digital receivers.

So, in effect, some digital receivers will act as a portable time machine, transporting the listener back in time to listen to the news as it breaks.

In this life, looking back is far different to rewinding. With the passing of time, we can look back at moments in history and challenge the intent, good will and promises made by others and judge their integrity based on their commitment and, outcomes achieved. This is the foundation of trust. Remember Paul Keating’s infamous 1993 back flip on the L-A-W tax cut?

Looking back, maybe our current Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, made the right call on the economic stimulus package. Australia is still not in technical recession - two consecutive quarters of negative growth - in fact the economy is now expected to expand by 0.4% by the end of the year and unemployment at 5.8% is much lower than even the most optimistic predictions. Ah Australia, the envy of every industrialised nation on Earth!

However, if we had the ability to rewind and go even further back to the time of another Labor Prime Minister - Bob Hawke - would he still have made his infamous statement during the 1987 election campaign?

"We set ourselves this first goal: that by 1990 no Australian child will be living in poverty" (Bob Hawke, 23rd June 1987)

Or indeed, with the benefit of hindsight, would there have been greater political, business and community will to see this goal achieved?

For all the 0’s and 1’s, (that’s dollars and cents, not bits and bytes), flowing through our digital economy, Australia’s level of poverty is appalling. A 2005 report from the United Nations says that close to one in seven Australian children live in poverty. According to the Australian Government's own statistics, South Australia has the dishonor, of recording the highest rates of poverty in mainland Australia among adults (10 percent) and children (12 percent). The Brotherhood of St Laurence defines poverty as occurring where:

"People have unreasonably low living standards compared with others; cannot afford to buy necessities, such as a refrigerator for example; and experience real deprivation and hardship in everyday life".(McClelland 2000)

Homelessness, higher rates of infant mortality, higher rates of unemployment and lower life expectancy within specific socio economic groups are all indicators of poverty, as is retirement incomes. Australia has the fourth highest relative income poverty rate for people aged 65 and over in western economies, following a 4.6 per cent increase since the mid-1990s, a 2008 OECD report shows. This is shameful.

Prices for a digital radio set start from $150 and even though you’ll be able to rewind, it won’t change history, so you’re probably better off donating this money to charity, which may change the future for some.

Gary Hatwell
Executive Chairman
PS We’ll be taking a break from writing Status enews next week although we will announce our footy tipping results and profile another of our EHP. FYI, the editor is off for a little R&R. We’ll be back at the writing desk the week after. Until then, keep safe.

Stress

If you don’t think you’ve been psychologically affected by the Global Financial Crisis you better check your pulse because you’re either kidding yourself or dead! Stress has infiltrated every aspect of our lives and has reached epidemic proportions and the GFC has had an enormous effect on the well being of business, employees and "working families".

We all know that a bit of stress can be a good thing. A surge of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol will activate the "fight or flight" response and make you motivated, productive and focused.

Most entrepreneurs thrive on it. But too much stress, over a long period, can have serious consequences leading to an increased risk of heart disease, musculoskeletal conditions such as neck and back pain, and probably Type 2 diabetes.

While it is true that entrepreneurs tend to have a high degree of job control, are better educated and earn good incomes - all factors which point to lower job stress - they tend to work really long hours, which can be a cause of stress, as is employing others and trying to handle too many aspects of the business at once.

Entrepreneurs are also often self-critical and demand more of themselves than other people, and it is these personality traits that can make them more at risk of being stressed and, paradoxically, cause stress for others around them, including employees. So during tough economic times, it is important that business owners and operators are able to recognise the signs of stress and actively promote healthy work environments.

 The complete version of this Status enews article, including useful links, is available here
 
EHP of the week
Kania

♦ Administration
♦ Customer services
♦ Accounts receivable and payable
Kania
ID: 6-00318
Kania has demonstrated a wide range of office duties and skills and developed a high standard of customer service skills and sound business knowledge. Kania experience with accounts payable and receivable and is willing and able to work flexible or permanent hours for your organisation. Kania resides in INGLE FARM.
View resume to employ Kania today!
 

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Status Footy Tipping Competition

Vikki and Angelika
Angelika Kopsaftis, left, with
Status’ Executive Manager - Training Services Vikki Lewis
Round 19 and, watching the Crows live at AAMI Stadium on Saturday evening reminded me of just how far the game hasn’t progressed over the last 30 years. At times it was like experiencing Ground Hog Day, over and over again, as the Crows demonstrated their ability to produce an inspired rendition of the 1970’s style circle-work drill, where the ball is moved from one end of the ground to the other in a circular pattern, and where scoring is not the objective - keeping the ball moving is. And as for the Power, well they were just pathetic - again!

But there were also more than a few upsets, with Carlton beating Geelong, West Coast beating the Western Bulldogs and Essendon and Brisbane drawing. With three rounds to go, the make up of the final eight is anything but a certainty, apart from the fact that the Saints have secured the minor premiership.

And so it is with our footy tipping comp with 8 tippers within 2 wins of the leader, Status’ Lillian Atkinson. However, this week Lillian only managed to correctly forecast 4 wins, normally a disaster but the best of our tippers could only manage 6 wins for the round, and then there was only 3 of them. But with an adjusted margin of 4 points, this week’s winner is Angelika Kopsaftis, alias Snow White, from Status.

Angelika is one of our more consistent tippers having won two weekly rounds in 2008, she’s found form again at the tail end of the season. Congratulations Angelika, enjoy the celebrations and the wizard tipster status now bestowed upon you.

To everyone else, better luck next round and don’t forget to check out the leader board. There are currently more than 80 active tippers in our competition and after logging into the AFL website, you can view your position on the ladder by selecting the Status Employment Services competition.

You can join the competition at anytime during the year and will be allocated all of the away teams from previous rounds as your starting position on the leader board. If you would like to join but are having difficulty registering, please contact our footy tipping administrator, Dora Zalunardo, on 8377 0101, and she will arrange for someone to step you through the process.

To review Status’ footy tipping competition details please click here.
 
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