Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.
Melissa Currie, Visual Production Editor at ANZ bluenotes, highlights the early beginnings and evolution of something many of us can't picture (pun intended) life without - the emoji: "As an ANZ employee I was involved in a pilot for a new feature in the ANZ App. The feature uses emoji to depict your financial behaviour with light-hearted, visual representations of how you are tracking towards a daily budget. This in turn, makes spending more visible and, ultimately, assists with saving. The use of visual representations to communicate is of course, not new. In fact, we can find evidence of ‘emoji’ typology on cave walls from our Paleolithic predecessors which are thought to be more than 30,000 years old."
Emily Ross, author, journalist and editor, on awareness of accessibility and inclusion and actually doing something about it: " 'We have gotten to a tipping point,' says Australian Network on Disability (AND) CEO Suzanne Colbert. 'Awareness is at an all-time high.' Yet awareness is just the start." "ANZ Head of Accessibility, Meg Dalling, has led bank-wide consultation around the new accessibility commitments, drawing insights from the bank’s network of Accessibility Champions. 'We have made great strides in accessibility at ANZ in recent years,' says Dalling, 'but there is significant work to do.' "
Briar McCormack, New Zealand editor at ANZ bluenotes, studies the prominence of foodie tourists in New Zealand, and how they are boosting both the local tourism and food and beverage export sectors: "For example, visitors to New Zealand who visited a vineyard or attended a wine event spent over 25 per cent more on their trip than the average spend of $NZ3,900 for holiday visitors. In addition, over 60 per cent of food tourists sought out products from the country they visited when they got home."
Rochelle Johnson, Analyst, Group Technology & Pride Senior Leader at ANZ, speaks about the ongoing struggles of the transgender community and how ANZ is leading the way in workplace diversity: "One thing I have learned from being a part of ANZ, an organisation that believes in diversity, inclusion and respect, means knowing that as a Trans person my employer stands with me."
ANZ bluenotes managing editor Andrew Cornell had the fascinating opportunity to meet Singapore's former Prime Minister, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, at ANZ’s Finance and Treasury Forum in Singapore. Shared here is ESM Goh's opening address, which examines all things China-US, including a concept called the Thucydides trap: "Basically, this means an incumbent power and a rising power cannot avoid conflict."
Daniel Gradwell and Joanne Masters, Senior Economists at ANZ Research, discuss the falling housing market, ending on a relatively positive note: "It is also worth noting that falling house prices are actually a positive for many young people and first home buyers. Deposit affordability has been improving in Sydney and Melbourne in line with the drop in prices, although it is still a significant challenge."
Erica Hardinge, Head of Security Enablement at ANZ, interviews Alicia Kozakiewicz to highlight the importance of online security and vigilance and ANZ's commitment to Stay Smart Online Week: "Kozakiewicz says parents must sit down and talk about internet safety with their children as they do other safety issues: 'as a parent, you can’t just let your child find their way in this world – you teach them to wear a seatbelt, look both ways when crossing the road, don’t touch a hot pot.' "
Christina Tonkin examines the transition towards green finance: "ANZ sees green finance as a business opportunity and has done so for some time. The bank appointed its first sustainable finance banker six years ago and has steadily grown the team."
Mark Bennett discusses the drought currently affecting NSW and QLD, and the importance of good business practice to enable farmers to come out the other side: "While it’s important to highlight the hardship, it’s equally critical to remember there are also farmers applying well-considered business practices to make certain their farms get through to the next season."
Andrew Cornell interviews Nathan Parkin from Ethical Partners about Ethical Investments. “We want to invest in everyday businesses that happen to have higher standards. We could invest in any business really – a paint business or a paper recycling business or a bank - so long as there are good standards around how business is done.”
