The McCrindle Blog

Our recent release, Top Leadership Styles and Characteristics, has attracted an array of media flurry, featuring in The Australian, The Herald Sun, 612 ABC Brisbane, Leading Company, and HC Magazine. 

In our research, 38% of Australians stated that leadership and management determine the outcomes of whether a business grows and flourishes or struggles and declines.

Visit our blog or click below for the full report on the Top Leadership Styles and Characteristics:

For a more comprehensive look at McCrindle Research in the media, click here to go to our Media page.

What Australians look for in their boss The Australian	Flourishing or struggling: Ideal Leaders 612 ABC Brisbane
Screw 'inspirational,' workers prefer competent: study on preferred leadeship traits Leading Company	What makes an ideal leader? HC Magazine

Research has shown that more than half of Australian workers want to leave their job this year. The main reason for this is 'not being able to grow professionally'.

Social researcher and Research Director of McCrindle Research Claire Madden joins Larry and Kylie on Channel 7's The Morning Show to give us an overview of what we consider the best and worst jobs.

The criteria used in this study examined 200 different vocations and ranked them on factors including salary, environmental, stress, and physical demands.

So while salary plays its role in employee retention, other aspects of a role including workplace culture, work-life balance and opportunities for development are influencers which keep people in their jobs.

Top 5 best jobs

1. Actuary
2. Biomedical engineer
3. Software engineer
4. Audiologist
5. Financial planner

Top 5 worst jobs

1. Newspaper reporter
2. Wood chopper
3. Enlisted military personnel
4. Actor
5. Oil rig worker

Australia hit its population milestone of 23 million residents last week on the 23rd April. We kept a keen eye on the ABS' Population Clock in the lead-up, and have pulled together some stats and facts which contributed to this milestone. It has received a wide range of media coverage, listed below.

Read the full summary about Australia's population growth.
Take a look at our infographic on the Population of Australia.
Watch the video of Mark McCrindle explaining Australia at 23 million

For a more comprehensive look at McCrindle Research in the media, click here to go to our Media page.

7 NEWS	ABC NEWS
Financial Review	The Morning Show | Channel 7
Tony Eastley | ABC AM	The West Australian
ABC Radio Australia	ABC News 24

Last week we released the Top 10 Baby Names, which received a wide array of Media attention, so we've compiled a list of articles McCrindle Research has been quoted in!

For more information you can download our Baby Names report.

For a more comprehensive look at McCrindle Research in the media, click here to go to our Media page.

Most popular baby names revealed Brisbane Times	Original baby names The Australian
Charlotte is tops as a moniker Perth Now	Ruby maintains its sparkle... The Examiner
Baby names take a religious tack The Chronicle

Seven years ago McCrindle Research began in a spare room of Mark and Ruth McCrindle’s house. With a psychology background, market research experience, and a passion to conduct world class research, Mark began the McCrindle Research story. 

Since then we’ve been commissioned by scores of clients, completed hundreds of projects, interviewed thousands of people, analysed hundreds of thousands of online survey responses, and interpreted millions of data points for our demographic summaries. Our research has been disseminated through hundreds of media articles, more than 10,000 of Mark’s books, and more than 100,000 of our acclaimed A5 population maps.

As Australia’s leading data visualisation researchers, our infographics, slide decks, whitepapers and research summaries have been meeting quite a need for world class research and analysis communicated in relevant, innovative ways. Our analytics tells us that they’ve been getting thousands of views and downloads each day. 

So if you are looking to analyse your market, identify consumer segments, understand the demographics, engage with diverse generations, or respond to the emerging trends, then check out our research packs, Mark’s speaking pack or get in contact for a quote. Through commissioned research projects, focus groups and online surveys, demographic reports, strategic workshops, and keynote presentations, we help organisations know the times.

Here are some of our latest media activities. For a more comprehensive look at McCrindle Research in the media, click here to go to our Media page.

	Extra hours don't lead to promotion Social commentator Mark McCrindle said the shrinking importance of time in the office is a sign of the flexibility and teleworking opportunities that exist today. "From Skyping and phone conferences, to emailing on smartphones and working across multiple locations, changing work hours to cut down on travel time, or just general work/life balance expectations - we've seen a big shift in what leaders expect," he said. Click here for the story.
	Australian population jumps by 1028 a day Social commentator Mark McCrindle said the population was growing by 1028 people a day, so the 23-million mark would be reached about Anzac Day (April 25). "When looking at who the 23 millionth person might be, it is more likely it could be a migrant than even a baby," he said. Click here for the story.
	Are good manners dead? Researcher Mark McCrindle said it wasn’t a case of traditional manners simply disappearing, but rather them being replaced by new social rules. "Manners are not set in concrete, we don't operate like they did in 19th century England,'' he said. Click here for the story.
	Louise Simpson celebrates divorce Social researcher Mark McCrindle said the trend towards celebrating divorce reflected a wider change in attitude. "People are thinking, 'rather than be the victim of a situation, I'll embrace it'. And where there's a function, there will be products to match it... Click here for the story.

Here are some of our latest media activities. For a more comprehensive look at McCrindle Research in the media, click here to go to our Media page.

	Desk wars: Will the death of the permanent desk kill corporate culture? The workplace is changing and with it the central role of the permanent desk, because Gen Ys are not interested in the signs and trophies of the hierarchical organisation. Click here for the story.
	Show us your tatts! Did you know that around 12% of Australians are inked? Social Researcher Mark McCrindle spoke to Barry Nicholls on ABC Perth about our research into tattoos. Click here for the story.
	Canberra's centenary Research conducted by McCrindle Research shows that while Canberra outstrips elsewhere in wages and educational qualifications it was, strangely, less likely to get involved in Australia Day festivities... Click here for the story.

It was an honour last week for Mark McCrindle to be awarded The National Statistics Excellence Award 2013 for the use of statistics in the media. The award by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and National Statistical Service was awarded at the NatStats Conference last Thursday.

It was a privilege to be given this recognition in this International Year of Statistics and a delightful recognition of the whole McCrindle Research team for, as was made clear in the award citation, the infographics, video output and visual presentation of research, data and statistics. The key theme of the NatStats Conference was data visualisation and this has been and remains a key focus of McCrindle Research: to not only conduct world-class research, but importantly to communicate the insights in innovative, visual and engaging ways.

In the light of Yahoo's CEO Marissa Meyer placing a ban its employees from working from home, as well as a leading executive of Google stating their preference to have their staff in the workplace, the video below takes a look at the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting.

Mark McCrindle, social researcher of McCrindle Research shares some insights on Sunrise.

"...businesses know that for productivity purposes, they need to have clear communication with staff, they need to have that one vision they're pulling towards, they need to have values alignment, and that team culture, and that of course is hard to do when everyone is working from home."

"...people who work by themselves do say that they feel isolated, that they sometimes feel alone, and they need that interaction as a human driver."

Accessible almost anywhere, at any time, Australia's young people are alarmingly addicted to their phones. Are we surprised?

New research shows a growing concern of smartphone addiction, revealing that 76% of Generation Y Aussies compulsively check their phones every few minutes compared with a global figure of 60%. Research behind the story in the video below shows that people are admitting to checking their smartphones while in bed, on the toilet, and while driving, with 1/6 admitting to texting while driving.

So why is this?

"We used to have a more diversified life so we would have a lot of devices to achieve a lot of different functions. Now that one device with all the apps does it all", says social researcher Mark McCrindle.

That being said, because we are immersed in our digitally connected world via our phones, the risk of lower engagement with the people around you is noticeable. Mark McCrindle says, "I think there is a danger that you can pick up technology skills but lose those social skills, and lose the traditional skills".

Interested in this topic? Read the App-Happy Australia report by McCrindle Research for our analysis of smartphone and tablet use in 21st century Australia.