November 11, 2026 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Recruitment

Lived experience is expertise. So how should you incorporate it into your recruitment process?

Back in June, the Fair Work Commission made the most significant update to the SCHADS (Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Sector) Award in more than 15 years. One of the fundamental shifts was to formally recognise lived experience as a source of professional expertise when classifying employees’ salaries.

While lived experience has been recognised as valuable across the sector for a while, it’s increasingly shaping the delivery of services.

So what does this mean for NFP employers? What actually counts as lived experience? How should organisations assess it for candidates alongside other forms of knowledge and expertise? And what does meaningful inclusion look like beyond the recruitment process?

October 28, 2026 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Legal Issues, Risk Management

Your employees could be wearing ‘smart’ glasses at work right now. What do NFP leaders need to know and do?

Smart glasses in the workplace: What to know and do

‘Smart’ sunnies and specs made by household names like ‘Ray-Ban’ and ‘Oakley’ now allow you to take high-resolution photos, record high-definition video, speak with an AI assistant, and more. Facebook owner Meta has sold more than 7 million pairs of its glasses, and Google and Apple are both preparing their own versions. Even Kmart was selling ‘camera glasses’ for just $89 until a few weeks ago.

But there are significant risks associated with the technology, especially when it comes to the workplace. Many models available today are almost indistinguishable from a normal pair of reading glasses or sunglasses, meaning they can record people without those around them realising it is happening – raising serious concerns around privacy and consent. An employee could record a conversation with a colleague or capture information on a computer screen without making it obvious that they are doing so.

We spoke with two experts to unpack how to respond to key risks of employees wearing smart glasses in NFP workplaces.

October 14, 2026 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Human Resources

How to address bullying and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace – before it happens

How to deal with bullying and inappropriate behaviour

Imagine discovering that a colleague has been looking at photographs of you in swimming gear, showing them to other workers, zooming in on parts of your body and making inappropriate comments.

Now imagine that, after your employer tries to dismiss them, flaws in the process mean they are reinstated, and you may have to continue working alongside them.

This was the situation at the centre of a recent Fair Work Commission decision. We asked employment lawyer Warwick Ryan about how NFP leaders and HR teams can navigate allegations of bullying and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, how to prevent problems from escalating.

September 30, 2026 Human Resources, Risk Management

Managing people risk: Four ways to stop organisational knowledge being lost at your NFP

4 ways to stop organisational knowledge being lost at your NFP

Organisational knowledge encompasses everything from the judgement built through years of experience to deep and nuanced relationships with stakeholders – and so much in between.

It is often underestimated, sometimes taken for granted and in the worst cases ignored as an organisational asset. And if it isn’t given the thought and attention it deserves, it can create significant organisational problems.

So, how can NFPs identify the knowledge they can’t afford to lose – and make sure it’s shared before the people who hold it move on?

September 23, 2026 Leadership

The most important leadership lesson I’ve learned: Mat Tinkler, CEO, Save the Children Australia

What are the leadership lessons that stay with us long after the books have been read and the courses have finished? In this series, we sit down with some of Australia’s most influential NFP leaders to explore the defining moments and insights that have shaped how they lead.

For our third post in this series, we spoke with Mat Tinkler, CEO of Save the Children Australia. Mat has spent almost a decade with Save the Children, championing child rights in Australia and helping grow its work around the world.

Along the way, Mat’s learned that becoming a better leader isn’t always about learning more – sometimes it’s about unlearning what you thought leadership was supposed to look like. Here, he explains why learning to be more vulnerable has made him a better leader.

September 16, 2026 Culture and Values, Organisational Strategy

How to keep purpose front and centre in your NFP

Decades of psychology research show that humans have a deep-seated desire to find meaning in what they do. For many, that desire is what draws them to a workplace or a particular job. They want to contribute to something bigger than themselves – by improving lives, supporting communities or protecting the environment.

But that sense of purpose in NFP workplaces isn’t always guaranteed. When job demands increase, teams evolve and day-to-day responsibilities become more routine, it’s easy for the bigger picture to fade into the background.

So how can NFP leaders and HR teams keep that sense of purpose alive for their employees as the day-to-day work becomes familiar?

September 9, 2026 Organisational Strategy, Risk Management

How to manage risk in your NFP: A practical guide to the essential elements

Risk management essentials for NFP organisations

Are you ready for a cyberattack on your organisation’s website? How about a key staff member resigning and taking years of organisational knowledge with them? Floods? Fires?

Most NFP leaders don’t need to be told that unexpected things can go wrong in their organisation on any given day. But how ready are you for what might go wrong tomorrow?

This post explains the essentials of risk management and how – whatever size your organisation is – you can begin understanding and addressing your biggest risks thoroughly and systematically.

September 2, 2026 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Organisational Strategy, Recruitment

Could your NFP be hiring (more) refugees?

As the Australia debates whether our intake of refugees is the “right” number, ACOSS has noted that “20,000 refugees per year is . . . just three to five per cent of arrivals.”

But the heated debate over numbers obscures the enormous contribution refugees make to our economy – including as employees, often in regional areas or in less popular jobs that can be impossible to fill otherwise.

Refugees often arrive in Australia with valuable skills but without recognised qualifications and sometimes with challenges that are a result of their experiences of displacement.

For organisations looking to fill vacancies or skills gaps – and potentially make an additional impact by helping some of the most vulnerable people in our community – employing refugees might be an option you haven’t fully considered.

August 26, 2026 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, People Analytics, Remuneration

A workplace that works for everyone: How to tackle socioeconomic disadvantage in your workforce

Most people tend to think of the workplace as a meritocracy: if people have the right skills and experience, work hard and perform well, they have the same opportunity to succeed.

But socioeconomic background can shape people’s working lives in ways that are not easily visible – influencing who gets hired, who progresses, who feels they belong and ultimately who reaches senior positions.

In Australia, one in three children born into the lowest 20 per cent of income-earning families will still be in that group by adulthood.

So what can NFP employers do to work out where those barriers are showing up in their workplaces, and how can they remove them?

August 19, 2026 Human Resources, Legal Issues, Remuneration

Big changes to the SCHADS Award: What NFP employers need to know

On 1 June 2026, the Fair Work Commission handed down a significant decision that will reshape pay and classification structures for most of Australia’s social, community, and disability services employers.

Back in June 2024, the Commission launched a review of five modern awards to understand whether they had been undervaluing work because it was done predominantly by women.

The FWC found that the previous system – inherited from older awards – was outdated, overly complex, confusing, and frequently led to misclassifications and workplace pay disputes due to unclear role descriptions.

The result of the review is a complete overhaul of the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) Award – the most significant reform to the award in more than 15 years. To help unpack the changes, we spoke with Ben McAlpine, director of policy and advocacy at the NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS).

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