Employment Options Report

Business conditions in Australia are subject to increasingly rapid and regular change, driven by global volatility, more dynamic market conditions, populist governments and digitally enabled competition. Against this background, the Australian HR Institute has conducted a survey to investigate the workforce needs of modern business in this dynamic market. These findings touch on the pressures that inform recruitment of workers by different categories, as well as the perception of employers if legislation were to close off options.

This study limits its focus to an exploration of options available to employers when considering the conditions under which they can lawfully engage people to perform work. Informed by the preferences and practices of the organisations they serve, respondents to the survey which inform this report focus on employer reasons for engaging different types of workers. The reasons include adapting to operational requirements affected by variables such as short-term projects and seasons, as well as increasing speed of the recruitment process, minimising cost of leave, and terminating with minimal notice. While reasons also include accommodating employee preferences when engaging casual workers and independent contractors, employee considerations are not central to the focus of this study.

Respondents were given the following descriptions for employee options, that are referred to throughout this report:

half of the sample connected the hiring of workers in different categories to business conditions and operational requirements. Another reason for employing different worker types, was reducing costs related to the entitlements associated with permanent employees, such as leave entitlements, overtime costs and protection from unfair dismissal claims. An additional reason was employer flexibility, such as avoiding obligations regarding award entitlements and termination restrictions.