This week's top stories in brief

The articles summarised below are accessible with a free subscription to HR Daily.

Remote work has passed the honeymoon phase for many employees, who are now struggling with their work/life integration, according to Gartner HR vice-president Aaron McEwan. "A lot of employees are working much harder than they ever have, so there are real risks of burnout because we haven't quite learned how to do it properly."

Now is the time for employers to rethink returning to "business as usual", with new research showing flexible work drives high performance and wellbeing, Diversity Council Australia CEO Lisa Annese says. Also in this article: the Federal Circuit Court has rejected an injured worker's adverse action claim; new rulings on standdowns, JobKeeper disputes and more; and fewer employees are coming out at work.

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Employers have abandoned the enterprise bargaining system "in hordes", but they could be encouraged back with a "reawakening" of some forgotten practices, says HWL Ebsworth partner Brad Swebeck. He suggests one part of the approval process that should be scrapped is the better-off-overall test, because the previous no-disadvantage test was "very effective" and something similar could be returned.

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In this Zoom Q&A, HR Law practice group leader Kristin Ramsey discusses what happens next for stood-down workforces, including where to start when standing back up a workforce in 'phases'; navigating the complexities of returning some workers and not others; when a standdown becomes unlawful; how often employers should review standdowns; and much more.

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An employee has failed to prove she was bullied by her supervisor, but her claim has exposed "severe limitations" in the HR support provided to her. The Fair Work Commission chastised the HR department for its "significant failure" to assist the employee.

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Coles people and culture central GM Tammy Ryder has shared how it handled recruitment demand escalating by more than five-fold over four weeks at the height of COVID-19's impact on supermarkets. The playbook effectively went out the window, and her team realised they had to go "back to basics" and engage all stakeholders, operators and field HR teams to work out which options and tools were available.

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