Australian business - not prepared for labour IR policy
The Australian Labor Party’s IR Policy removes AWA’s and relies heavily on the common law contract to provide individual flexibility in the workplace.
A common law contract is an individual agreement between an employee and employer containing terms and conditions of employment. There is no requirement for a ‘independent umpire’ to approve the content of a common law contract as there is under the present system with AWA’s.
PeopleInsite.com.au, an online document management company, commissioned law firm Fisher Cartwright Berriman to conduct research into whether Australian business is prepared for a greater reliance on the common law employment contract.
FCB surveyed over 170 businesses HR managers over the past week and found:
- Almost 80% of respondents strongly agreed that employees should have a written common law employment contract;
- Only 57% were equally confident that their own employees had a written employment contract;
- Only 47 % were equally confident they could access the employees written employment contract if required.
Of those surveyed, when asked to identify the major concerns with the implementation of written common law contracts:
- 75% of respondents were concerned with ensuring every contract created was up-to-date and contained what was required;
- 60% of respondents were concerned that contracts were not consistent across the organization;
- 31% were concerned with the time and cost involved in managing the contracts.
Results suggest Australian business is not sufficiently prepared to operate in an IR system that relies on the written common law contract.
“These findings suggest businesses do not have sufficient confidence in their current systems and need help in managing the implementation and maintenance of the written common law contract regime,” said Richard Breden, Managing Director of PeopleInsite.com.au
“If the common law contract is to be elevated in its importance in regulating the employment relationship, business must find a way to control the implementation process,” said Mr Breden.
PeopleInsite.com.au is a web based document management system that helps small and large companies implement and manage their employment documentation. Businesses can create, store, manage, recall and report on employment contracts and related documentation on an employee-by-employee basis.
“Through PeopleInsite, a business can empower its management to create consistent, up-to-date employment contracts and supporting documentation, storing all documents by employee files in a safe, secure, online environment accessible anywhere,” said Mr Breden.
As it is web based, if there are changes required to an employment contract, these changes are made and distributed throughout the company in real time.
PeopleInsite.com.au takes on the hosting and site maintenance responsibilities for its clients. This software as a service model gives all businesses the sophistication of an online document management system typically reserved for multi-nationals, at a fraction of the cost.
“Without a trusted platform from which to implement and manage these common law arrangements, business may find itself unprotected from ambit employee claims and exposed to penalties for non-compliance,” said Mr Breden.
PeopleInsite is a cost effective way to reduce administration costs and protect against these penalties.
This article appears courtesy of the Franchise Council of Australia .
19.11.2007
FCA Member
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