Customer experience should be a top priority for businesses of all sizes in recent years, and for good reason. In today’s digital age, customers expect personalised experiences that are available when and where they need them.

Almost three-quarters (72%) of customer interactions in ANZ are on digital channels, according to a 2023 study by analyst firm Ecosystm. This highlights the need for businesses to invest in digital experiences that cater to the needs of their customers.

As a customer experience professional, I have observed a concerning trend in the industry. In the pursuit of cost-cutting measures, many businesses are consolidating or eliminating their customer support options. While this approach may seem like a viable solution to reduce expenses, it can have dire consequences on your bottom line.

We’ve all had good, bad, fantastic and awful experiences as customers ourselves – and when it’s bad, it can do a lot of damage to your relationship with that company. The same goes for when a customer receives top-quality, flexible support. Research found that 79% of Australians and 84% of New Zealanders are more likely to remain loyal to an organisation or recommend it to others if they receive personalised customer service and support when and where they need it. 

However, many businesses still struggle to deliver uniquely tailored experiences, leading to customer dissatisfaction and lost revenue. 

In fact, a recent survey found that 59% of consumers are likely to switch to a competitor after just one or two negative support experiences. But it’s not all doom and gloom for small businesses. If anything, this highlights the need for businesses to invest in solutions that enhance the agent experience and improve customer satisfaction.

For small businesses, providing these curated experiences can be a significant challenge, especially when resources are limited. But by prioritising customer needs and leveraging the right technology, small businesses can deliver exceptional customer experiences that keep customers coming back.

Technology plays a critical role in delivering exceptional customer experiences. By leveraging technology like AI chatbots and omnichannel contact centres, small businesses can provide personalised experiences that meet the needs of their customers without straining their resources.

For instance, implementing omnichannel contact centres can provide customers with seamless experiences across multiple channels, while also allowing agents to manage customer inquiries more efficiently. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also helps businesses reduce operational costs and improve agent efficiency.

In addition, implementing chatbots can help businesses handle routine inquiries quickly and effectively, freeing up human agents to address more complex issues that require a human touch. 

With the right technology, small businesses can provide customised experiences that meet the needs of their customers without straining their resources.

Delivering exceptional customer experiences is an ongoing process that requires continuous refinement. By prioritising customer needs, striking the right balance between virtual experiences and human support, and leveraging the right technology, businesses of any size can deliver those flexible, personalised experiences that keep customers coming back for more.

By Phillip Zammit, Zoom APJ Head of Customer Experience

Adobe has announced its plans to expand Adobe Firefly, its family of creative generative AI models, to its Creative Cloud video and audio applications, empowering creators to produce and dramatically enhance video and audio content while streamlining workflows.

Adobe also unveiled new Al innovations in the Lightroom ecosystem – Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Lightroom Mobile and Web – that make it easy to edit photos like a pro, so everyone can bring their creative visions to life wherever inspiration strikes. New Adobe Sensei Al-powered features empower intuitive editing and seamless workflows. Expanded Adaptive Presets and Masking categories for Select People make it easy to adjust fine details from the colour of the sky to the texture of a person’s beard with a single click. Additionally, new features including Denoise and Curves in masking help you do more with less to save time and focus on getting the perfect shot.

Firefly’s addition to Creative Cloud video and audio applications will unlock a wide range of new capabilities, giving creators the power to automatically generate hundreds of content variations needed for film and TV marketing, each designed to be safe for commercial use.

Key concepts for Firefly in Creative Cloud video and audio applications include:

• Text to Colour Enhancements: Creators will be able to change the colour schemes, time of day, or even the seasons in already-recorded videos, altering the mood and setting to evoke a specific tone and feel. Text-to-video prompts will enable a simple prompt such as “make this scene feel warm and exciting” to bring a creator’s visions to life.
• Advanced Music and Sound Effects: Using only text prompts, users will be able to generate custom sounds and music to fit a specific mood and scene, either as temporary or final tracks. This also includes language generation to localise videos.
• Stunning Animated Fonts, Graphics and Logos: In a matter of minutes, subtitles, logos and title cards can be generated with custom animations based on the creator’s preferences, expressed with simple words.
• Powerful Script and B-roll Capabilities: Firefly will dramatically accelerate pre-production, production and post-production workflows, using AI analysis of script text to automatically create storyboards and previsualisations, as well as recommending b-roll clips for rough or final cuts.
• Creative Guide Capabilities: Assisted by generative AI-powered personalised “how-to” guides, users will be able to master new skills and accelerate processes from initial vision to creation and editing.

Big storage needs in your business now you can get a IronWolf Pro 22TB hard drive.

Seagate® Technology Holdings plc , a world leader in data storage infrastructure solutions, introduced the new Seagate IronWolf ® Pro 22TB conventional magnetic recording (CMR)-based hard disk drive (HDD). The company’s highest capacity CMR HDD, the new drives deliver market-leading capacity, dependability, and powerful performance for multi-user workloads and enterprise RAID solutions.

Optimised with Seagate’s AgileArray™ technology, the new Seagate IronWolf Pro 22TB HDD provides exceptional network-attached-storage (NAS), direct-attached-storage (DAS) performance and RAID reliability in multi-bay and multi-user environments. With user workload rates of 550TB/year, the IronWolf Pro 22TB HDD enables commercial and enterprise NAS users to seamlessly store, share, and collaborate on large amounts of data over a network. It also offers an SDR of up to 285MB/s so users can seamlessly share files, back up, and tackle heavy workloads in multi-user NAS environments. With built-in rotational vibration (RV) sensors to provide RV mitigation, the HDD consistently delivers high performance and reliability in multi-bay systems.

The drive delivers a five-year limited warranty and up to 2.5M-hr MTBF for hassle-free data storage and best-in-class TCO. Also equipped with Seagate’s IronWolf Health Management system and three years of complimentary Rescue Data Recovery Services, the Seagate IronWolf Pro 22TB HDD gives users peace of mind knowing their data is secure. The Seagate IronWolf Pro 22TB HDD is available now for a list price of AUD $1,179 at all Seagate leading resellers.

Curious about how ChatGPT can help you at work? Be careful what company information might be given away while experimenting, warns a UNSW Business School professor. 

Whether it’s mild curiosity or the business imperative of starting to use artificial intelligence (AI), as part of a unique selling proposition, many people now use ChatGPT, either at work or at home.   

When it launched, the user-friendly AI large language model went from zero to 100 million users in only 60 days. Since then, Microsoft has invested $US10 billion dollars in start-up Open AI and embedded GPT4 into Bing. Dedicated Bing apps with GPT4 are now available on the App Store and the Play Store.  

Part of the user experience of OpenAI’s ChatGPT is that AI tools can generate really useful text from a specific prompt, making for possible opportunities to save time in the day-to-day at work with machine learning – for example, when writing emails.  

You can even use the job description provided in an advertisement to get ChatGPT to write the “perfect” cover letter. Or the staff member from People and Culture can generate the “perfect” job advertisement for LinkedIn from the scratchy brief provided by the business unit.   

Trying out ways ChatGPT can be used comes with some risks at work

As a starting point, let’s look at the example of the job advert.  

If the role is one which is commonly advertised, then little is lost by sharing the form of the job description with a couple of hundred million other uses of ChatGPT. 

But if the job description includes information which could be used by a competitor to identify your business, then the risks are significantly higher (especially if recruitment is an important part of insider business strategy in your workplace).   

With companies like Samsun having recently been stung by staff members inadvertently giving away material via ChatGPT, it is important to consider the risks carefully before using it at work.  

And just like that – the code was gone  

This issue is particularly challenging if staff members have started using ChatGPT as part of the code development process.   

It’s really appealing to do so. One of the great aspects of ChatGPT is its automation use case in reducing coding time in software development projects for programmers. This can be done at a design level “How do I sort job application letters using Natural Language Processing in Python?” or at the code level “How do I use Gaussian Naive Bayes in scikit-learn?”.   

(One really useful feature is the ability to paste code in as a prompt to ask ChatGPT to improve it. This is as simple as “what is wrong with the following code?”. ChatGPT can even recognise the coding language that you’re using!)  

The problem is that ChatGPT can then include the material that you have used as a prompt to improve its answers in the future, “training” the algorithms. This is precisely what happened to Samsung developers who used ChatGPT to both improve code and keep meeting notes.  

Material that would have been regarded as some of the most sensitive by Samsung was available to developers outside of Samsung, simply because Samsung engineers used ChatGPT to decrease their development time.   

Will GPT4 make using ChatGPT at work riskier?  

The latest in the GPT series after GPT3, GPT4 has an incredibly accurate voice to text feature. But the risk of the text becoming part of the training set to improve the generative AI is high.  

It’s a simple way to both transcribe work meetings and, even better, to generate the minutes before the end of the meeting. However, the transcription will also be part of the GPT4 ecosystem before the end of that meeting. There have been news headlines about Italy’s decision to “ban” ChatGPT over privacy concerns.   

Essentially, the argument made by Italian authorities is that the data collected by ChatGPT was in breach of the European General Data Protection Regulation. However, and consistent with other European countries, it seems likely that Italy will walk back from this approach by the end of April. The only change required will be to have an age verification (over 18) check on users.  

Generative AI uses billions of data points in order to be able to create text on a predictive basis. It improves in response to user feedback. The challenge faced by businesses that employ curious people is that this feedback may include company confidential material.   

The solution is simple in theory, but much harder in practice. If material would not normally be disclosed outside of the business, it should not be used as a prompt for ChatGPT or for Bing.   

The practical difficulty with this rule is that search engines, including Google with its generative AI called Bard, are an essential business tool. The issue may be to decide whether search engines are there to provide information, or to provide answers.  

So, I should avoid using ChatGPT at work?  

Not sure what you should (and shouldn’t) share with our friend, ChatGPT? Try this simple test:  

Is the output of the ChatGPT session a document that would normally be regarded as confidential by your business? Then it should not be shared on ChatGPT.  

If you did write your cover letter or resumes using ChatGPT, the AI system used to filter applicants could also run your cover letter through GPTZero. This online tool from Open AI can detect whether text was written by a generative AI by examining that text’s “perplexity” (a measurement of the randomness of the text) and “burstiness” (a measurement of the variation in perplexity).  

But of course, the improvement in ChatGPT’s text output is challenging these tools. So, who is to say how this will change into the future with developing AI technology? 

Opinion piece by Associate Professor Rob Nicholls, School of Management and Governance, UNSW Business School 

An innovative new program aims to narrow Australia’s digital marketing skills gap as Melbourne Business School Online partners with FourthRev to launch a Career Accelerator in digital marketing strategy and analytics.

The program has been designed and delivered with Melbourne’s leading academics, Semrush Academy and other industry experts to combine academic rigour with real-world application to prepare marketing leaders for a data-driven future.

Registrations are now open for the Digital Marketing: Analytics and Strategy Career Accelerator at Melbourne Business School Online, the new online learning destination launched by the home of Australia’s foremost MBA and business analytics degrees.

This marks the first introduction of the Career Accelerator to Australia, initially launched at prestigious institutions in the UK: the London School of Economics and King’s College London.

The entry of this Career Accelerator is timely given the scale of Australia’s digital skills crisis in the post-pandemic landscape. Australia’s digital skills gap is estimated to be costing $3.1bn per year, with 58 percent of employers lacking a workforce with the right digital skillset to grow their businesses. The digital industry is expected to grow by 8.1 per cent over the next decade.^[1]

On launching the Career Accelerator, Professor Ping Xiao, Associate Professor of Marketing at Melbourne Business School, said, “We have developed these online programs with the intention of giving learners an opportunity for sustained career progression. The Career Accelerator model allows us to collaborate intimately with world-leading industry practitioners and bring their authentic challenges into the programs, to ensure students achieve tangible job outcomes and work-ready capabilities.”

The Digital Marketing Career Accelerator program offers a differentiated curriculum that addresses many of the major gaps in the digital marketing workforce and prepares those with a few years of experience in marketing, branding or communications to become employer-ready in six months.

Maria Sevastianova, Head of Semrush Academy, said, “The power of digital marketing strategy and analytics is undeniable – and essential to any business’ growth. Appropriately skilled marketers can help their company achieve long-term viability, which is why career acceleration is crucial in this dynamic industry.

“Semrush Academy grabbed the opportunity to collaborate on this Career Accelerator with FourthRev and Melbourne Business School as we believe it will produce digital professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to help organisations drive change and achieve business objectives.” 

Omar de Silva, FourthRev Co-founder and Co-CEO, adds: “Australia needs to train its workforce to meet the real-time demands and expectations of the modern-day digital economy. Learners will become equipped with the knowledge and skills to define strategic goals and objectives, critically evaluate approaches, optimise functional performance, make data-driven decisions and communicate insights and recommendations to key stakeholder groups, which will help them to advance their organisation’s commercial objectives.

“A Career Coach works with every learner throughout the program, on a one-to-one basis, to ensure they build the right mindset and confidence needed to advance their Digital Marketing career.”

The first cohort of the program starts on 3 July 2023. Learn more by downloading a program brochure or booking a call with an enrolment advisor here or register directly here.

Upon completion of the course, learners will receive a certificate from Melbourne Business School.

[1] Burning Glass Digital Marketing Occupational Analysis, 2021.

Australia’s CEOs and top business leaders are for sale!

From $1000 you can now buy a 45-minute meeting with heavy hitters such as (Airwallex) founder Lucy Liu  

It’s a problem that’s long demanded a solution. Businesses want to spruik their wares to senior decision-makers at big companies, but those decision-makers guard their scarce time ferociously. 

But what if there was a triple-win solution where charities benefited when executives who wanted to book a sales call with a vendor to learn about useful products, all benefited?

The magic of meetmagic to meet top business leaders

This is where meetmagic comes in. Imagine there’s a tech start up with a new product or service it wants to present to the CMO, CTO, CFO or CEO of a large company. That start-up can use meetmagic to purchase 45 minutes of the relevant decision-maker’s time from $1000 – a fraction of what it would spend on a marketing campaign. 

Even better, that meeting fee, as well as meetmagic’s new AI-based ‘matching technology’, acts as a barrier to entry, ensuring time-poor decision-makers are only spending their precious time with businesses that are sure they have a relevant product or services to discuss. Whether the decision-maker makes a purchasing decision or not, 70% of the meeting fee goes straight to a charity such as Starlight Children’s Foundation. Or to the immediate retirement of carbon. 

Bumble for business 

Well-connected tech-industry figure Carl Gough first conceived meetmagic, which he envisaged as a ‘Bumble for business people’, in 2017. His ‘business-meeting dating service’ soon attracted the interest of both large companies and charities. It quickly signed up senior decision-makers at Westpac, NAB and Macquarie Bank and became a Platinum Partner of the Starlight Children’s Foundation alongside EB Games and Virgin Airlines, (meetmagic has raised more than $1 million for Starlight within 2 years.)

Gough believes that every meeting should be productive and be an opportunity to do good. Over 1000 C-suite executives and company founders in five countries signed up to the meetmagic program and some have become vocal supporters. For example, Rory Sutherland, the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, has described meetmagic as a “genius idea” and observed “meetmagic stops unnecessary meetings from polluting your schedule [and] enables all the efficiencies of bribery with none of the corruption”.

meetmagic is leveraging the latest AI breakthroughs

Getting the right people together in the right room has long been more of an art than a science. But meetmagic is hoping some recent AI investments will further increase the odds that a meeting is productive both for potential partners.

In a few weeks, meetmagic will launch a new matching platform that uses cutting-edge AI. “It’s a new chapter for meetmagic,” Gough says. “Now the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror, the goal is to scale up massively. One day soon, I hope there will be thousands of meetmagic meetings taking place all over the world every week. That will mean meetmagic will be able to raise lots more money for charity and start having a significant global impact. It will also allow companies to meet their ESG commitments and demonstrate they are good corporate citizens at a time when many people are growing increasingly sceptical about big business.”    

New research reveals that 2 in 3 Australian online retailers increased their revenue in 2022 despite inflation and rate rises, and 9 in 10 plan to invest more in their business to protect against current economic pressures. These include expanding their product ranges, improving their customer experience online, and offering more delivery options.

The findings were derived from a survey of 200 online retailers by leading parcel delivery service CouriersPlease. Business owners and senior decision makers across different retailer sizes – micro (1-15 employees), small (16-50 employees), medium (51-200 employees) and large (more than 200 employees) – were asked whether their revenue increased in 2022, and what investment plans they had to help protect their revenue this year. 

Nine in 10 online retailers have at least one business investment plan this year, to help protect their business from lower consumer spending.

How small business plan to stave off economic pressures

• 42 per cent will expand their product range
• 38 per cent will improve their E-Commerce stores
• 34 per cent will invest in marketing
• 31 per cent will expand into new markets
• 31 per cent will implement new technology such as customer service chatbots, automated fulfilment in their warehouses to improve their customer service
• 18 per cent will introduce more delivery options
• 15 per cent will create a better returns or exchange processes

Richard Thame, CEO at CouriersPlease, says the results are encouraging and indicate online retailers’ commitment to their business growth. “Online retailers are still enjoying the positive effects of the E-Commerce boom, and total revenue for the Australian market is forecasted to continue growing steadily year-on-year, with the market projected to reach US$35 billion by 2025.^[1] But the survey shows that retailers are not naïve to economic fluctuations and are acting now to prepare for potential future challenges.” 

Between the States, investment priorities vary. Online retailers in Queensland led the way with plans to invest in product range expansion, with just under half (48 per cent) of Queenslanders investing in this option, compared with only 20 per cent of West Australians.

The highest proportion of retailers planning to improve their E-Commerce store are in Victoria – at 40 per cent – compared with an equal 27 per cent of South Australian and West Australian retailers who plan the same.

The highest proportion of retailers planning to invest into new markets are in NSW – at 38 per cent – compared with just 13 per cent of West Australians.

Micro businesses are most likely to neglect the need to invest in their business to generate sales in a tough economic period, with one fifth (20 per cent) of this group admitting they will do nothing to hedge against an economic slowdown. This was followed by only 10 per cent of medium-sized businesses and 4 per cent of small businesses. Zero per cent of large businesses are willing to resign to fate in the event of economic turndown.

The proactive planning and resilience of these online retailers is exemplified by their positive results for 2022. Two-thirds (64 per cent) of online retailers reported increased revenue in the last calendar year, despite inflation and increasing interest rates throughout 2022. Just over a quarter (28 per cent) of respondents said their 2022 revenue remained the same as in 2021, and only 8 per cent of online retailers reported lower revenue in the last calendar year. 

A closer look at the data reveals 69 per cent of online retailers based in NSW reported a revenue increase in 2022, closely followed by Victoria with 66 per cent, then Queensland with 58 per cent. Given online retailers in these States are already planning ways to tackle recessionary impacts for the year ahead, it is arguable that NSW, Victorian and Queenslander online retailers will report another positive revenue year for 2023.

Larger retailers were more likely to have increased their revenue in 2022 from 2021 levels, chosen by an impressive 91 per cent of large retailers, 68 per cent of medium-sized retailers, 62 per cent of small retailers and 53 per cent of micro retailers.

Similar proportions of micro, small and medium-sized retailers achieved the same levels of revenue in 2022 as in 2021, all between 30-32 per cent. This compares with just 5 per cent of large businesses whose revenue did not change in the same period.

Richard says: “The link between scaling and investing in different areas of the business, and a positive revenue report is clear. It makes sense that the online retailers that are forward-looking in their business development will help keep their customers engaged and interested in their products and services. By offering new products, easier pathways through their E-Commerce store, or a range of delivery options, retailers provide customers with a positive user experience that can help convert sales and increase revenue, even during more challenging economic times.”

The full survey results, including age and State breakdowns, can be found here: Couriers Please Economic Pressures 

Women & Leadership Australia (WLA) is proud to share the agenda for the upcoming Australian Women’s Leadership Symposium, being held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on May 12. 

The Australian Women’s Leadership Symposiums are a national series of events, and one of the largest gatherings of professional women in Australia. More than 1,000 women are expected to attend the symposiums, with leadership, gender equity, diversity and inclusion and this year’s UN International Women’s Day Theme ‘Cracking the Code’ just some of the items on the agenda. 

Recipients of the Australian Awards for Excellence in Women’s Leadership will also formally accept their awards, with Rochelle Courtenay (QLD state recipient) and Karen Mundine (National recipient) accepting their awards live in Brisbane. 

Speakers in Brisbane WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP SYMPOSIUM include:

• Em Rusciano, Comedian; Writer; Singer; Radio, Television, and Podcast Presenter 
• Tiarne Shutt, Associate Director – Business Advisory, First Australians Capital 
• Breeanna Brock, Chief Executive Officer, Brisbane Lions Women’s Team 
• Candice (Yeong) Lam, Associate Director, Aurecon; Director, Change & Advisory, Engineering New Worlds
• Alina Dini PH.D., Founder, Whirl; Director, Energy, Climate & Circular Economy, Deloitte 
• Dr Mellissa Naidoo, Chief Health Officer, Viridis Consultants; Non-Executive Director and Board Member 
• Astrid Jorgensen, Founding Director of Pub Choir™ and Couch Choir; Finalist, QLD Young Australian of The Year 2020  
• Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM, Award-winning Doctor; Co-founder, Doctors with Disabilities Australia; Disability Advocate; Researcher; Lawyer 

EPOS, the premium global audio and video brand, has announced the IMPACT 1000 – an on-ear, future-proof Bluetooth® headset. The IMPACT 1000 Series is the first headset designed to meet the challenges of a call in the New Open Office[1]* workspace. This headset for talk-centric professionals ensures that all sides of the meeting can stay focused for an impactful dialogue while minimising the brain energy spent on listening and understanding the essentials. EPOS IMPACT 1000 is designed to help the brain listen and understand, with at least one on the call being in a noisy environment. This reduces brain fatigue on both sides of the meeting through hybrid adaptive ANC and industry-leading adaptive voice pickup powered by EPOS AI™.

The IMPACT 1000 leverages industry-leading speech intelligibility technology. By harnessing machine learning technology, the IMPACT 1000 works to identify which sounds should be suppressed in a user’s environment and which sounds should be enhanced. Together, this first-of-its-kind solution addresses the challenges of modern work environments, empowering workers in open-plan offices to block out unwanted noises and create disturbance-free work experiences for both sides of a call.

The IMPACT 1000 delivers on the EPOS mission of unleashing human potential by perfecting audio experiences. Leveraging powerful technologies, the IMPACT 1000 mitigates brain fatigue by reducing disruptive sounds and enables both sides of a call to unlock new levels of productivity and performance.  
 
Powered by EPOS’ BrainAdapt™ technology – EPOS designs audio solutions built on EPOS BrainAdapt™, a group of pioneering technologies that work together to improve cognitive performance. IMPACT 1000 is built on EPOS BrainAdapt^™ technology to reduce brain fatigue with adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and industry-leading voice pickup powered by EPOS AI^™, making sure you’re getting your message through.
 

• Uses EPOS AI™ to adapt to environments – EPOS machine learning technology scans user environments 32,000 times per second to suppress disruptive sounds and enhances desirable audio to ensure only the relevant sounds slip through to the person the user is talking to.
• Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) – Featuring hybrid adaptive hybrid ANC, the IMPACT 1000 ensures unwanted background sounds are blocked out to enable an undisturbed conversation and reduced brain fatigue.
• Built with layers of smart features – Triple Bluetooth connectivity lets users stay connected to three devices at the same time to enable movement while on a call. TalkThrough features allow users to communicate with colleagues without removing the headset while the 360 busy light signals when users are on a call.  
• Designed for comfort – Users can experience all-day wearing comfort with a lightweight design, soft cushions, headband padding, and Super Wideband for natural sound. Enjoy total ease of use with a contactless charging stand, intuitive on-headset controls, and a suite of smart features.  

The IMPACT 1000 is a top-of-the-line headset designed to address the challenges of modern work environments. With its powerful technologies and user-friendly features, it mitigates brain fatigue, reduces disruptive sounds, and enables users to unlock new levels of productivity and performance.  
 
Theis Mørk, VP of Product Management at EPOS, says: “The IMPACT 1000 is a true game changer. As businesses navigate the complexities of the New Open Office, it’s crucial to invest in products that deliver long-term benefits for both employees and the bottom line. Powered by our cutting-edge technologies, the IMPACT 1000 is the ultimate solution for talk-centric professionals, empowering them to achieve more, even in challenging environments. Our latest addition to the IMPACT product line is a testament to our commitment to providing durable, high-performance solutions that meet the evolving needs of the modern workforce and reducing listening fatigue.” 
 
Ecosystem certifications for collaboration platforms are pending. Click here for further information about the IMPACT 1000.  

Availability: June 2023  
MRSP: Prices start from $485.00 AUD

Australia’s gig workers are missing out on $400 million a year in super contributions, a new Industry Super Australia report has found.

Delivery drivers, disability carers, IT professionals, education workers and other services all make up the 275,000 workers Industry Super Australia (ISA) estimates are in the gig economy.

ISA analysis for the extending the super guarantee to gig workers report shows, the average gig worker could have up to $29,000 more in their retirement nest egg if super was paid to the on-demand workforce.

This mostly young workforce are often students, otherwise unemployed and many live with a disability, getting small super contributions from gig work would make a meaningful difference at their retirement.

ISA analysis shows the typical transport and food delivery driver gig worker misses out on $1,900 super contributions a year when working an average of 14.5 hours a week, earning $24 per hour.

Spending three years in the industry would mean these super contributions would reach $17,200 at retirement and $28,700 if in gig work for five years.

A caring gig worker – a growing part of the on-demand workforce – who earns the average $23.40 an hour and averages 8.6 hours a week would get $1,100 extra a year in super contributions.

After three years in the industry these super contributions could mean an extra $10,800 at retirement or $17,500 after five years of work.

Not only would this extra money improve the quality of life for individuals at retirement it would reduce the burden on the age pension.

Paying super to gig workers is becoming more important as the on-demand workforce grows. A 2019 academic survey with 14,000 responses estimates that within a 12-month period about seven per cent of Australians were in on-demand work and 13 per cent had undertaken digital platform work before.¹

More than half of Australia’s gig workers are under-35 and not earning super deprives them of decades of compounding earnings. Many also live with a disability, are students or otherwise unemployed. Small super contributions from gig work could make a big difference in these workers’ quality of life at retirement.

The Federal Government has flagged it will legislate to extend the Fair Work Commission powers to set a minimum set of employment standards for many gig workers, which would include the payment of super.

Industry Super Australia supports moves that upholds the flexibility and convenience of gig work but also ensures a minimum set of employment standards.

Comments attributable to Industry Super Australia Chief Executive Bernie Dean:

“Being a gig worker should not mean you miss out on the opportunity to save for a decent nest-egg at retirement.”

“Paying gig workers super isn’t just the right thing to do, it makes economic sense because they’ll be more self-sufficient in retirement and less reliant on the age pension, which we all pay for through taxes.”

“These workers are critical to caring for our elderly, delivering food and driving us home, they have every right to share in the benefits of what is meant to be a universal saving system.”