Productive Workforce articles

Finding a seat on the 7.19 am city loop service to Ringwood seems to be a distant memory for most workers.  Once, you struggled to find car parking at the station.  And hurried towards the platform.  Hoping the heavens didn't open on you in your suit. Of course, if you did find a seat, you'd share the next hour in the packed carriage as the train lurched towards the city.  You would wrestle to open ...

Things that were once staples of our lives continue to change. For example, take food. Melbourne is the foodie capital of Australia.  And you have to look no further than the MCG to see how Melbourians have changed their food habits. Even at the footy.  Once, you would sit in the Ponsford Stand eating a Four'N Twenty pie with tomato sauce, watching the Dees take on the Hawks (Go Hawks!). Now, your hunger competes with ...

Is there anything more Melbourne in the summer than the Australian Open? Balmy summer nights, roof open on Rod Laver Arena and watching the worlds best go head-to-head.  Melbourne Park is renowned for hosting the best grand slam globally. But it hasn't always been that way. When premier John Cain moved the Aus Open to Flinders Park, he faced fierce opposition. He turned a public park into a place for a tennis tournament. However, the ...

The idea of a four-day week or working remotely by a beach may sound bliss.  But it wasn't practical for many businesses until we found ourselves locked down. Businesses and employees adapted quickly to remote working and using digital tools. And suddenly, doing a Zoom meeting from a cafe in Kew or talking to coworkers on a walk around Albert Park lake was the norm. As Melbourne workplaces adjusted, managers started to look for ways ...

Laptops (or Notebooks) are great because you can use them anywhere, thanks to the internal battery. However, once your notebook starts getting a little older, or you’ve spent too much time at the cafe, and there’s no power point in sight, battery life becomes a problem… Laptop owners often neglect battery health, and as your battery's lifespan gets shorter, you’ll probably wish you had it serviced earlier. Thankfully, there are several things you can do ...

After a whirlwind July, we’ve entered the last month of winter. The days are noticeably longer, and the idea of spring doesn’t seem like a pipe dream. If you’re one of the five people that didn’t travel to Europe during July, then you’ll be like me, hanging out for the warmer weather! One of my favourite new technologies is Dall-e-2 (pronounced Dali). You provide a text prompt, and the AI behind the scenes will generate four ...

"Hybrid office" is a relatively fresh buzzword you'll hear used in offices all across Melbourne. A hybrid office means a workplace that caters to a mix of office-based and home-based employees… and now, it's the reality for many Melbourne businesses.  This article published by Melbourne University in 2020 predicted that more businesses would have to adapt to hybrid or flexible post-pandemic. Moreover, this study, also by Melbourne University, showed that 70% of people working from home would ...

Microsoft’s latest operating system is now available to all Windows 10 users. However, before you jump and start upgrading you better read this first. Windows 11 is here. It's been six years in the making and Microsoft has just released the latest version of its operating system — Windows 11. In a time when computers and technology play a more central role in human lives, tech companies are scrambling to deliver the best user experience ...

I am furious. Out and out outraged. I can’t believe it still happens but it does. I was reminded of it again yesterday. Why so mad? Because it gives IT people a bad name and it’s soooo easy to fix. It shouldn’t even be an issue. TEST. YOUR. BACKUPS. Backups are important right? Right. Talking about backups is boring right? Right. But each and every business owner needs to read this and make sure that ...