NTEU encourages members to participate in the annual Go Home On Time Day on Wednesday 20 November 2013.

How you participate is up to you. You may wish to hold a morning or afternoon tea, a lunchtime yoga class or a post-work picnic with the kids. And, if you are able to, make sure you go home on time!

Whatever your workplace decides, Go Home On Time Day is about starting the conversation about working hours, overwork, underwork and work/life balance. A mentally healthy workplace is a more productive workplace, and this year Go Home on Time Day participants are encouraged by its organisers, the Australia Institute, to make a gold coin donation to beyondblue.

To support your participation, download free posters, cartoons and infographics at the Go Home on Time Day website.

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Europe’s youth workforce declined by 11% between 2000 and 2010, while the health and social work sector experienced a 3% increase in its workforce, creating more than 770,000 jobs at the same time as there was a five-million decline in job openings elsewhere. Changing workforce and skills needs have important implications for higher education.
The health sector is projected to grow by 5% between 2010 and 2020, meaning that more than a million new jobs will be created, in addition to the job openings that will occur because of replacement needs, estimated at seven million, which will require increased numbers of highly qualified people.
Most member states in Europe are facing critical workforce shortages: in 2009, about 30% of all doctors were over 55 years of age and by 2020, an estimated 60,000 doctors or 3.2% of all European doctors, are expected to retire each year. Important 'shortage countries' such as the US, Australia and Canada also create added competition for scarce human resources.
Projections show that not enough young recruits are coming through the education system to replace those who leave, with several countries already experiencing a shortage of doctors and nurses. At the same time, surveys show that many nurses are leaving the profession, ranging from 19% in The Netherlands to 49% in Finland and Greece. Read more...