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- [Re-sent] 10SEP2021-FRI
[Re-sent] 10SEP2021-FRI
R U OK? A more important question than ever in 2021
Friday 10th September 2021
Let’s Talk: Customer Loyalty Programs – What incentives work?
Designed correctly, customer loyalty programs deliver many benefits. They strengthen brand loyalty, improve customer retention, encourage repeat business, and increase customer lifetime value. They also allow you to avoid competing on price.So, how do you create a program that offers rewards that are meaningful to individual customers, and they will want to join?Let’s Talk…
Generation Australia partners with Xceptional to employ neurodivergent Australians
Generation Australia, a non-profit education-to-employment pathways provider, has collaborated with Xceptional — a leader in improving job opportunities for neurodivergent Australians — in an Australian-first pilot programme to establish a talent pipeline for the tech sector.
R U OK? A more important question than ever in 2021
With the disruptions caused by the pandemic and the isolation of lockdowns taking a toll on many Australians’ mental health, this year’s R U OK? Day may be the most important since its inception in 2009.R U OK? Day is being held on Thursday, 9 September, a day dedicated to checking in with those around us and supporting them in their mental health struggles.
Pandemic fuels startup ingenuity
For inventive startup projects, COVID-19 has provided inspiration to innovate. Startups are creating new technology and enterprise designed to serve the post COVID world. These startups have seized the opportunities the Pandemic has thrown at them and turned ashes into diamonds.
In August 2021, preliminary skilled job vacancies declined by 5.6 per cent (12,828 job advertising) to 216,031 available positions. While it was the third monthly fall following a 12-year high in May (240,039 advertising), recruitment activity is still up 55.6 per cent (or 77,177 ads) year on year. In February 2020, vacancies were still up 35.7 per cent (or 56,820 positions) from pre-Covid-19 levels. Vacancies in NSW declined by 9.2%, followed by the ACT (down 9.0%), Victoria, and Queensland (down 5.9 per cent).
According to ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, the residential construction industry will resume on Friday as anticipated. Mr Barr stated that COVID-19 safety rules will be strictly implemented in order to minimise the risk to workers. “There is to be no interaction between workers and residents within a construction site, a renovation site, any premises,” Mr Barr said.
In May, China warned Australia of “economic pain” by reducing its iron ore purchases, predicting a $32 billion hit to GDP. And it appears to have been effective. Earlier this week, the price of iron ore fell by 9% in a single day, the second-largest drop on record. However, a new export, coal, has replaced iron ore as the dominant commodity. When markets closed on Monday, metallurgical or coking coal was selling for $274 per tonne, which was very close to the all-time high of $299.33 per tonne set in November 2016.
Microsoft has completed its first acquisition in Australia in over a decade, acquiring Brisbane-based video editing business Clipchamp for an undisclosed sum. Clipchamp, a company that creates easy to use video software, was founded in 2013 by a group of former SAP employees. Its team will now join Microsoft under the terms of a deal regarded as “a very good outcome” by local investors Steve Baxter and Brisbane-based investment syndicate TEN13.
Many of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies dropped overnight as a result of a Bitcoin flash crash. The sell-off comes with El Salvador’s official adoption of Bitcoin as legal money, making it the world’s first country to do so. Many of the largest cryptocurrencies lost more than 10% of their value, wiping out an estimated $400 billion ($A541 billion) from the global crypto market.
PayPal is buying Japanese startup Paidy, marking the latest major tie-up in the fast-growing space of buy now, pay later companies. The US giant announced a cash deal, which is worth 300 billion Japanese yen (about $2.7 billion).In a statement, PayPal said that the acquisition was to extend its “capabilities, distribution and relevance in the domestic payments market in Japan, the third-largest e-commerce market in the world.”
Vodafone Idea, India’s troubled telecom provider, is expecting that the government will take action to resolve the telecom sector’s problems. In his annual report to shareholders, Chairman Himanshu Kapania said, “As the industry continues to remain under unsustainable financial duress, your company is hopeful that the government will provide the necessary support to address all structural issues faced by the sector.”
The Reserve Bank has extended its bond-buying stimulus programme, which is now worth $4 billion per month, until at least mid-February. The move is in response to the economic effects of lockdowns in New South Wales, Victoria, and the ACT. Banks have been lowering variable and short-term fixed interest rates while rising longer-term fixed interest rates from record lows earlier this year.
Consumer fears about rising living costs reappeared last week, with the ANZ/Roy Morgan measure of consumer inflation expectations over the next two years reaching a 33-month high of 4.7%. Households are concerned about rising fuel and food prices, as well as rising utility bills and annual insurance price increases, at a time when hours worked are being lost due to lockdowns.
Keith Pitt, Australia’s Minister for Resources and Water, believes coal will be a major contributor to the Australian economy “well beyond” 2030. The remarks come in the middle of renewed calls from the United Nations for Australia to phase out coal by 2030. Minister Pitt said coal is a “crucial industry” whose future will not be decided by a “foreign body” that wants to close it down, costing thousands of jobs. Climate change, according to UN Special Envoy on Climate Change Selwin Hart, will affect the Australian economy if the world does not “rapidly” phase out coal. The Morrison government has previously stated that Australia is on track to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, but no timeline has been set.
Millions of unemployed Americans have lost their unemployment benefits, leaving only a few economic aid programmes for people who are still financially impacted by the year-and-a-half-old coronavirus outbreak. On Monday, two important programmes expired. One provided jobless assistance to self-employed and gig workers, while the other provided benefits to people who had been out of work for more than six months. In addition, the Biden administration’s $300 weekly additional unemployment compensation also expired on Monday.
Apple announced a special event on September 14 that most industry observers believe will be utilised to launch a new line of its flagship iPhones.
Toyota Motor said it expects to invest more than $13.5 billion by 2030 on battery development and its battery supply chain, in an effort to gain a competitive advantage in the key automotive technology over the next decade.
With the waning of the Covid-19 pandemic in most parts of the country and increasing capacity deployment, India’s domestic aviation traffic is showing signs of sustainable growth. Domestic air passenger traffic increased 31 per cent to 6.6 million in August, according to credit rating agency ICRA (5.1 million). However, the agency stated that demand remains low as passengers board aircraft mostly for necessary travel, according to the Press Trust of India.
