Not that long ago, “flexible work” in many workplaces meant maybe leaving half an hour early for a dentist appointment without too much fuss. Fast forward a few years, and flexibility has become one of the biggest workplace conversations facing Australian businesses — and it doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. With the […]
The One Thing AI Can’t Replace in Recruitment
Last week, Kara and I had the opportunity to attend the Talent X Recruitment Expo hosted by the RSCA at the Convention Centre in Melbourne. It was an early and chilly start to the day, but after reviewing the packed schedule for the day we were looking forward to a full day of learning and […]
HR Health Check: 8 things every workplace should review each year
As a business owner or manager, HR compliance is often one of those things that sits quietly in the background… until something goes wrong. Then suddenly it becomes urgent. I recommend undertaking a quick annual HR health check that can save a lot of stress, confusion and backtracking later. It doesn’t need to be complicated […]
The Energy We Bring to Work and the Ripple Effect It Creates
Our motivation and energy speak long before our words do. It walks into meetings before we do. It shapes how safe people feel around us. It influences momentum, morale, motivation, and even conflict. Whether we realise it or not, every workplace interaction creates a ripple and the energy we bring often becomes the energy others […]
The “Quiet Quitting” Phenomenon: Addressing Employee Disengagement Before It Slows You Down
If you run a small or medium-sized business, you don’t need a report to tell you when something feels “off” in your team. Energy drops. Motivation fades. People do what’s required—but not much more. That’s what’s often labelled “Quiet Quitting”. And in a small team, the impact is anything but quiet. In a large organisation, […]
From Insight to Action: Turning Self-Awareness into Everyday Practice
What is self-awareness and why does it matter? At its core, self-awareness is the ability to recognise and understand your own behaviours, preferences, and impact on others. It’s not just about knowing what you do, but noticing how and why you do it especially in real time. It also means understanding what motivates you, what […]
Four Years In: Lessons, Growth and Looking Ahead
On Tuesday, I marked my four-year anniversary with Inspire HQ. It’s hard to believe how quickly that time has passed. Along the way, there have been challenges and my fair share of ‘perceived failures’ some of which have also served as useful lessons for those around me on what not to do! But through those […]
Contractor vs Employee: What you need to know
Engaging people as Contractors has been on the rise over the last few years. More and more often I am asked ‘can I engage this person as a Contractor as opposed to an employee?’ Sometimes it is the individual that is wanting to be engaged as a Contractor and sometimes it’s the business wanting to […]
Why Employee Engagement Surveys are Worth the Effort (and how to do them well)
In small to medium-sized organisations, it’s easy to stay close to your people. You see them every day, you have regular conversations, and you often feel like you’ve got a good sense of how things are going. But here’s the reality — even in the most connected teams, there are always perspectives, concerns, and ideas […]
Beyond the Tick Box: Using Compliance Training to Drive Real Cultural Change
There’s something I’ve been mulling over lately. As an HR professional, I spend a lot of time working with organisations to ensure employees complete essential policy training — bullying and harassment, workplace behaviour, code of conduct. These sessions are important and necessary. They’re often mandatory. But I keep coming back to a slightly uncomfortable question: […]