High Risk Play for Australian Retailers Opening in a Covid19 Constrained Environment

Interesting emerging dynamic about to land on the shop fronts of Australian retailers that pose serious risks to their staff. And few retailers are ready

 

With moderate level of vaccinations targets achieved, the NSW Government has decided to open up from a #Covid19 lockdown. It does so, relying on compliance enforcement to be undertaken by shop staff. There are no QR codes, no tracking mechanisms currently available to assist those staff or retail businesses.
And herein lay a massive risk to those companies. How many retailers have trained their staff to deal with the aggressive antivaxxer behaviours? The kind of behaviour that sees protesters urinate on The Shrine of Remembrance, punch horses, and spit on nurses and admin staff at testing stations? The kind of behaviour that sees the Kar/vins claim they have a right not to wear a mask that helps protect others, whilst doing their attention seeking social media posts, venting on retail and hospitality staff.
What training have you given to your staff that enables them to protect themselves, their coworkers, other shoppers or your retail store?  What explicit permissions have you given them to stay safe? Because one thing seems clear – your HR Department and legal team will need to deal with claims resulting from a lack of on site safety if you have not provided the training and resources needed.
And maybe, rather than rush to open up all locations, you might like to consider over staffing fewer locations until you have a handle on how things will pan out because as the #FakeTradies protests showed, you will be the subject of intense and unjustifiable attention because you want to open up to just those who’ve chose the side of society as a whole. because the anti-vaxxers understand, all though THEY have the ‘right’ not to get vaccinated, you do NOT have the ‘right’ not to serve them

Xmas and all that paper

Dec 24, 2015

In parts of the world it’s Christmas day, a time for excusing your retail spending on a ‘worthy cause’. Which is fun in some ways and delusional in others 🙂 Don’t allow my grinchness deter you from enjoying today. As for me, I’m delighted that a) my present was wrapped in old newspaper and b)…

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Victorian Election – who should you* vote for?

Nov 25, 2015

Part of being effective as a futurist is being able to assess potential issues and their impact over time. The Victorian State Election is on this Saturday and though many say that State elections have little bearing on issues we face, our system means that the fluctuations at a Federal level are often countered by…

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Curing Brain Cancer One Fund-Raiser at a Time

Oct 16, 2015

‘m wrapped to be acting as EmCee for the third year in a row at Blackwood 8’s Celebration of Hope event, raising money to find a Cure for Brain Cancer. And delighted that the event has sold out. But fret not – you can still bid for some great auction items online or make a…

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Memo PM Turnbull – Your First 100 Hours

Sep 14, 2015

The major party in Australia’s dual party Government, the Liberal Party, has removed their leader Tony Abbott, replacing him with the previous leader, Malcolm Turnbull. PM designate Turnbull may be inclined to spend the first few days appeasing and reassuring his party members that everything will be okay. And that would be a mistake. Public…

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Picking the Right Futurist for Your Strategic Insights

Sep 11, 2015

When I look at my overall client types, it seems to me that I have two main types of client. The first is a client that has a good business and is generally successful and wants a futurist to help keep them ahead of emerging issues and opportunities. The second main client type is one…

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The Outsider’s view of the Inside Futures

Aug 26, 2015

As a consultant, one of the great puzzles I consistently discover is the mindset many clients hold with regard to their own abilities to conceive of and pursue, their own approach to futures thinking. I know this is not an issues restricted to futurists as where some clients have a ‘not invented here’ approach to…

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What the Weather Bureau can do to help this Drought

Aug 17, 2015

I’m going to come back to an idea I first floated back in 2004. By and large it is hard to change societal perceptions. Doing so requires on going effort, time and often resources like money to create marketing campaigns of some description. Unless you have a crisis. And right now it might be fair…

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How to Stop Japanese Whaling in its Tracks

Aug 17, 2015

Whilst I appreciate the efforts that Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd and the various Australian Governments have given regarding their aims to have the Japanese cease their annual whale harvests, I’m not quite sure they are tackling the issue through the best means available. Sure the confrontational approach of ramming ships, climbing aboard vessels, getting in the…

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The Quick Low-Down of Corporate Visions and why they Fail

Jul 2, 2015

I’ve just read an article about Corporate Visions and getting employees on the same page. And as happens so often, I shook my head because it offered the same flawed advice about what a leader needs to do to get their employees to buy into the Vision. And therein lays the fatal flaw You CANNOT…

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How California can Learn from the Australian Experience of Drought

Jun 3, 2015

As the drought in California continues to bite hard on the lives of millions, a recent article on Triple Pundit suggested that many people want to help save water, they just don’t know what else to do. Which is why California needs to look beyond its borders to the driest inhabited continent on the planet…

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