By sambloore, on May 22nd, 2013
In the current economic climate it’s pretty rare to see a business being praised – particularly for the wages and conditions that they’re offering to their workers in the retail sector…
So it was encouraging to read this article about the Warehouse group a couple of weeks ago. At a time when it seems everyone else is trying to work out how to maximise staff hours and minimise pay, here is a company making moves in the opposite direction.
Warehouse Group, the country’s biggest listed retailer, has announced plans to lift staff wages and create a better-trained workforce, rewarding long-term service at an extra cost of up to $2.5 million in each of the next two years.
The Auckland-based company wants to improve the public perception of retailing and attract more talented staff, and will hike wages for team members who achieve a certain level of skills-based training and stay with the firm for at least three years. …
[CEO Mark] Powell said the company had working to build capability in the retail sector for some time, and was influenced by the union-led New Zealand Living Wage campaign, which flagged the need for an increase in the country’s minimum wage to address the growing income gap between rich and poor.
What made the article even more interesting for us is that we have a Compass Conversation Evening in Auckland with Mark Powell next Wednesday, 29 May.
Mark has spoken at Compass Summer Conference before on how to creatively translate the gospel into a business context. So if you are going to be in town, join us for a fascinating evening of Q&A and discussion.
Visit the Facebook page to RSVP here.
And/or you can read the full article here.
By andrewshamy, on May 20th, 2013
 On May 8 of this year, Dallas Willard passed away. Willard taught philosophy at the University of Southern California and was a brilliant theological/spiritual writer.
His book The Divine Conspiracy had a big impact on me when I read it ten years ago. It not only had a great title, but was one of the first books . . . → Read More: Dallas Willard and our “God-breathed” world
By sambloore, on May 15th, 2013
 Even though I’m a bit of a cry-er, it’s been a while since I shed tears to a DVD…
But I got there last Friday night, courtesy of Les Miserables – Anne Hathaway’s Fantine, to be precise.
If you haven’t seen it, you should – even if you’re not a huge fan of musicals. It’s not perfect, but . . . → Read More: I dreamed a dream…
By sambloore, on May 8th, 2013
 Apparently Travie McCoy does.
So f***ing badly.
Last week I noted the recent “millionaire up-size” to the Monopoly board game and suggested that it might tell us something pretty interesting about what our culture values. Some of you will have recognised the Monopoly Millionaire jingle as an adaptation from the 2009 song Billionaire by Travie McCoy (ft. Bruno . . . → Read More: Who wants to be a BILLIONAIRE…?!
By sambloore, on May 1st, 2013
 According to Hasbro’s Monopoly Millionaire – we all do.
Yes, apparently it’s no longer incentive enough that you get to take your younger siblings to the cleaners when they land on your Park Lane – now they have to suffer the added indignity of watching you hit the $1M mother-lode first.
Maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy, . . . → Read More: Who wants to be a millionaire?
By sambloore, on April 24th, 2013
 Having a ten-month-old in the house means that a dawn service is probably out of the question this year, so on Tuesday night I sat with some friends and watched Australian Peter Weir’s 1981 movie – Gallipoli. Starring a very young Mel Gibson, it portrays (with intense realism, but a few historical inaccuracies) the three tragic . . . → Read More: Reflecting on courage this ANZAC Day
By sambloore, on April 23rd, 2013
 Many of the worlds religions believe that there is one simple path that leads us towards God.
This same path takes us to the very centre of who we are.
It has been at the core of the Catholic mystical tradition for centuries.
But outside of religious settings it has almost . . . → Read More: An unlikely path to God…?
By sambloore, on April 16th, 2013
 There’s a group of us that are meeting on the first Wednesday each month to work our way through The Hare and the Tortoise. Of course, there’s a limit to how much we can cover in 90 minutes, but I think most of us are enjoying the honest conversation, range of suggestions and the idea of . . . → Read More: Bonhoeffer on the danger of idealism in community.
By admin, on April 12th, 2013
 As we mentioned back in February, we will be welcoming some fresh contributors to the Conversations blog this year…
Sam Burrows is one of those fresh contributors. He writes regularly for a couple of blogs already and so from time to time we will pinch a piece and post it here too. Just like we have pinched . . . → Read More: Introducing Sam Burrows…
By sambloore, on April 10th, 2013
“Know the gospel; know the culture; translate.”
I have always really liked the Compass tag-line above, but from time to time it raises the question for me: “Just how much culture should I be translating?!” In his book – The Busy Christian’s Guide to Busyness – Tim Chester describes the pressure we can often feel to ‘know . . . → Read More: The pressure to culturally keep up with the Jones’s…
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