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This article builds on recent research into both casualization and job quality or 'decent work' by exploring the qualitative aspects of casual employment in the education industry. The article attempts to bridge two distinct positions in the literature on decent work between research that identifies objective components of decent work, and research that focuses on subjective perceptions of job quality. The article focuses on objective aspects of quality work but draws in subjective perceptions both as a path of additional evidence and as a way of capturing the crucial level of personal experience. The article draws on a recent study that explored the experiences of casual school teachers in the New South Wales public education system. It finds that casual employment can erode the job quality of otherwise decent work within professional occupations.

Objective: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and well-being of rural paramedics, police, community nursing and child protection staff.Method: An online survey was distributed to investigate the sources of stress and support across individual, task and organisational domains. Setting and Participants:The survey was completed by 1542 paramedics, police, community nurses and child protection workers from all states and territories of Australia. This study describes the data for the 632 rural participants. Main outcome measures:The main measures of well-being were the Public Health Questionnaire (PHQ9), the Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD7), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), workplace engagement, intention to quit and COVID-19-related stress. Results:The mean depression and anxiety scores were 8.2 (PHQ9) and 6.8 (GAD7). This is 2-3 times that found in the general community. Over half (56.1%) of respondents showed high emotional exhaustion (burnout). The emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment mean scores were 28.5, 9.3 and 34.2, respectively. The strongest associations with burnout and psychological distress were workload, provision of practical support, training and organisational communication. A significant proportion of respondents were seriously considering quitting (27.4%) or looking for a new job with a different employer (28.5%) in the next 12 months. Conclusions: COVID-19 has increased the workload and stress on rural frontline community staff. The major sources of stress were related to organisations' responses to COVID-19 and not COVID-19 per se. The data suggest the most effective mental health interventions are practical and preventive, such as firstly ensuring fair and reasonable workloads.

What is resilience in the context of work environments where women face barriers as significant as career discrimination and harassment? In such a context, is resilience an individual responsibility? How can organizations contribute to and support employee resilience? And where is gender in this equation? This conceptual paper explores these questions using aviation, the skilled trades (i.e., carpentry, welding, plumbing) and the military as case studies to understand how gender inclusion could be better supported by resilient organizations. The barriers for women in male-dominated industries include social exclusion, marginalization, discrimination, harassment, and other forms of social closure. How these barriers can be overcome is not well understood. We argue that individual resilience plays a part in women thriving and developing enduring careers but can only occur in combination with support from gender inclusion strategies and organizational resilience. We have developed the Resilience for Gender Inclusion (RGI) model combining gender inclusion strategies with organizational resilience strategies. The RGI model demonstrates how employee and organizational resilience intersect and may lead to the transformative potential of inclusive cultures of diversity. This will improve employee wellbeing and self-efficacy and create a much needed sense of belonging and social inclusion for women in male-dominated occupations.

Aims To examine the perceptions of leadership by leaders within residential aged care and to identify the crucial requirements for successful leadership in this complex industry. Background As an industry capitalizing on the concept of ‘care’, one of the critical attributes this research has found to be absent in many aged care leadership approaches is compassion. Methods A qualitative methodology using thematic analysis was used to explore the construction of leadership attributes needed within residential aged care, as perceived by leaders in these organisations. Results Senior staff in the aged care industry believe that compassion is both a key component and a gap in the skill set of aged care leadership and leaders. While most studies define good leadership and care in relation to clinical ‘safety’ and ‘efficiency’, this research demonstrates that compassionate caring is central to high‐quality care in residential aged care. Conclusions The aged care industry needs to enhance and encourage compassionate leadership as a cornerstone of humane and dignified care. Implications for Nursing When developing theoretical explanations for the role of leadership in aged care, researchers should contemplate compassion as a key attribute required in residential aged care leaders. Education and training in this industry must incorporate the attributes associated with compassion, including emotional intelligence and person‐centred leadership.

The skilled trades are highly gender segregated occupations. Unsurprisingly, research about women in this male-dominated sector focuses on the various barriers to inclusion. In contrast, this article identifies factors that have contributed to women's successes. Drawing on in-depth interviews with tradeswomen, we found that the success factors for women in the skilled trades were aligned with social and cultural capital. Findings also indicate that women's success is driven by their individual attributes and resources rather than any forms of systematic support. There is limited evidence of a coordinated approach from industry and government to increase gender equity and inclusion. Success for women is, therefore, most likely to be singularly occurring, unpredictable and difficult to replicate. We use a Bourdieusian approach to understand how capital facilitates women's success and how forms of capital can be translated into measurable and repeatable strategies. We argue that capital offers women an opportunity to circumvent traditional resistance to gender inclusion because it provides cultural legitimacy. Replicating social and cultural capital through industry initiatives that are measurable and repeatable are likely to be the most constructive ways forward. We recommend a coordinated industry approach to improve diversity and inclusion in the sector.

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Social and cultural capital are valuable assets that assist individuals to succeed in work. This article reports on gender segregation in the skilled trades. We use Bourdieu’s theory of capital to illuminate how women are successfully recruited and retained in the skilled trades. Our findings indicate that women with pre-existing forms of capital are advantaged. Notably tradeswomen utilise masculine gender capital while maintaining aspects of feminine and female gender capital. In doing so, they re-gender the skilled trades and do gender differently. The study also found that female and feminine gender capital detracts from other forms of capital women bring with them or acquire in their trades work. Male gender capital privileges men and disadvantages women. We conclude that capital is an important point of intervention where women can be supported; however, the problems that gender capital creates for women can only be resolved by cultural change.