NewsBite

Life after Lockdown

October

Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has been appointed chair man of Melbourne-based youth mental health research body Orygen.

Andrews’ appointment to mental health role ‘wrong on many levels’

The ex-Victorian premier has been appointed chairman of a youth mental health research body in a move the state opposition called a travesty.

  • Gus McCubbing

July 2023

Premier Daniel Andrews shakes hands with former deputy premier James Merlino, who was last week named chairman of the Suburban Rail Loop Authority.

Victoria must wake up from Stockholm syndrome

All Australian taxpayers should be concerned about the nepotism, financial recklessness and disregard for good government in the state.

  • Updated
  • John Kehoe

June 2023

Pandemic-era policies have taken an unacceptable toll on young people.

COVID-era policies cost young people $116b

Because policymakers gave in to political temptations and fear, the lives of our young people – and indeed all our lives – will be worse.

  • Gigi Foster

January 2023

Jacinta Ardern faced divisions in he country over pandemic handling.

COVID-19 may have been forgotten but it has not gone

The coronavirus and its long-term effects continue to linger in Australia, under the radar of the public and officialdom alike.

  • Laura Tingle

December 2022

Life began returning to normal in Beijing this week as restrictions were eased.

COVID-zero exit another test for Xi Jinping

The policy switch was unavoidable and is good news, but it could come at a cost if omicron sweeps through the elderly population in particular and the death toll mounts.

  • The AFR View
Advertisement

November 2022

Coopers Brewery managing director Tim Cooper says keg sales are starting to increase again in the past few months after a rough time in hospitality because of COVID-19.

Beer no longer recession-proof, says Coopers Brewery boss

A hefty government excise increase and soaring input costs meant beer prices climbed in August, and consumers are re-assessing.

  • Simon Evans

July 2022

XY Sense CEO and co-founder,  Alex Birch

XY Sense dodges the downturn, thank you COVID

Other start-ups might be getting lower valuations when they put their hands out for funds during the tech downturn. But not this Melbourne AI firm.

  • John Davidson

May 2022

Terraces in south London. Some heat is coming out of the residential property market.

UK housing market starts to slow as more sellers cut prices

More than one in 20 homes for sale had their asking prices slashed last month, by an average of 9 per cent.

  • George Hammond
A resident in a locked-down compound in Shanghai.

Jobs situation in China is ‘complicated and grave’

Chinese Premier Li Kequiang instructed all government departments to help businesses keep workers while major cities endure COVID-19 lockdowns.

  • Bloomberg News

April 2022

Marc Benioff is backing “ecopreneurs”, as well as running an ever-expanding empire at Salesforce.

Benioff says braver politics and business can let tech save the world

The influential Salesforce CEO says politicians must be braver on climate and immigration policy, while innovators can ride financial waves to help save the planet.

  • Paul Smith

March 2022

Joint CEOs of MA Financial, Chris Wyke and Julian Biggins, in their new office space in Sydney.

Can ‘hotel-style’ offices tempt workers back to the CBD?

Companies like MA Financial and SafetyCulture are welcoming staff back to workplaces that don’t look like the offices they left in 2020.

  • Tess Bennett
  • Exclusive
  • AI
Warwick Shaw

Johnson & Johnson turns to Aussie AI to speed up surgeries

Software engineering firm Max Kelsen is helping J&J speed up the supply of surgical instruments to hospitals, helping to alleviate pandemic-era surgery backlogs.

  • John Davidson

February 2022

“We believe there is real demand right across our teams to have some form of face to face connection on a weekly basis,” Sian Lewis says.

CBA confident staff will want to return to the office

The country’s biggest bank doubts it will have problems with employees who refuse to return to the office.

  • Sally Patten
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has become an important part of a political arms race in chip production; appearing at a White House news conference in January to announce Intel’s new manufacturing site in Ohio.

Intel boss has a stark warning for governments around the world

CEO Pat Gelsinger is taking an unexpected but key role in the geopolitical realm, as the world’s supply of vital semiconductor chips hits worryingly low levels.

  • Paul Smith
The desire to retain and attract staff  is prompting companies to offer more flexible work conditions, says Sarah McCann-Bartlett.

Employers offer greater flexibility in an effort to retain staff

As some employers brace to deal with staff who refuse to return to the office when guidelines are relaxed, others plan to offer even greater flexibility.

  • Sally Patten
Advertisement
Remote work can erode loyalty to an employer.

Employers beware: hybrid work weakens loyalty

If workers spend less time together, their social ties will weaken, as will their attachment to an employer.

  • Emma Jacobs
Bret Taylor has worked for some of the biggest names in tech and is now in leadership roles with tech giants Salesforce and Twitter.

Lessons from Zuckerberg, Benioff and Mayer for tech’s new star

In just two days Bret Taylor rose from relative obscurity to become one of the most powerful individuals in tech, but the Salesforce co-CEO and Twitter chair says he still has lots to do.

  • Paul Smith
Matt Heine reduced his work week from between 60 and 70 hours a week, to a more do-able 52 hours during the lockdowns.

How these executives slashed meetings

The Australian division of a fast-moving consumer goods company eliminated 25,000 hours of meetings across its 130 staff over a 12-month period.

  • Sally Patten

January 2022

Here’s how we get to COVID-boring

The road to rendering COVID-19 boring will be a long and hard grind. But grit and ingenuity can get us there.

  • Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden
Patrick Holmes has a flourishing framing business.

How COVID forced this business to become a better version of itself

Patrick Holmes has been framing fine art for more than three decades, but the pandemic forced him to ‘leap into the 21st century’.

  • Tess Bennett

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/life-after-lockdown-1ngm