A Woolworths employee from Gippsland has been sentenced to six months jail for making his victims’ lives a “living hell” over the course of 2010-2013. Sean Clare pleaded guilty to the charge of stalking two fellow employees from the supermarket giant’s Moe store.

Aldi is in the spotlight too this week having been ordered by the Fair Work Commission to pay $37,000to a former manager for unfair dismissal. Therese Schieh was terminated for misconduct following allegations of misconduct – belittling certain employees and using CCTV to surveil staff. Schieh argued she was a firm manager but not a harsh or unreasonable boss. The Fair Work Commission was unable to find evidence to support allegations of bullying or belittling.

WorkSafe Victoria has decided not to prosecute the CFA over a long term contaminated water issue at the Fiskville training facility. The industry watchdog cited lack of evidence as the reason. It is claimed that dozens of firefighters suffered cancers linked to dangerous chemicals used at the facility.

Canva has been named the coolest company in tech by JobAdvisor. Offices at the graphic design software platform boast two in-house chefs and a well stocked bar.

America is just about to experience Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, not too different to Australia’s hysterical Boxing Day sales. Check out this fascinating article about the mindset behind these spending frenzies and the long term cost to us consumers. It’s co-written by one of my favorite geeks Dan Ariely.

A great article from Tony Robbins on 5 Ways to Reach Your (Financial) Goals Faster.

I’m a firm believer that HR plays a key strategic role in businesses. This is validated in an article on why HR belongs in the C-suite. If you’re still not convinced check out this video Q&A with Jack Welch and Gary Vaynerchuk, two of the biggest names in business. Skip to 6:00 for their thoughts on HR, although watch out for the language – they get pretty animated so it might not be safe for work.

The world is becoming increasingly data driven. Anyone in marketing, production or finance knows what I’m talking about. Historically, HR hasn’t always gotten stuck into data to the same extent. But many are predicting the future of HR will depend on a company’s ability to extract and use data to support decisions around remuneration, recruiting and culture. This article describes human resources’ big data moment.

The cost of chronic pain on the Australian economy n 2012 was more than $55 billion. This includes cost of care, lost income and lost productivity. It is proposed that policy to address this must focus more on early intervention and preventative strategies to tackle obesity, inactivity, alcohol misuse, poor diet and smoking.