Special Report: Chasing the workers

Wesfarmers has become Australia’s largest sector employer, but like all employers it has to grapple with labour shortages.

Every year, usually over the March long weekend, accounting firm Gooding Pervan shouts its 45 employees to an overseas holiday in a five-star hotel.

Ernst & Young is prioritising staff retention as an area of focus for its business advisory services in WA, having recently transferred senior partner and head of the company’s national people advisory business, Bill Farrell, to the Perth office.

Playing an Xbox computer game at work in the middle of the day may sound like some university students’ fantasy job, but for employees at Como-based online flower company, Ready Flowers, it’s all part of the culture.