With massive job losses and uncertainty arecent memoryforAustralia’s casual workforce, will they be willing to return toaworkingsituationthat treated them so poorly in the pandemic?
Kate Bettes
UNSW Business School
+61407701034
k.bettes@unsw.edu.au
As Victoria and NSW exitlockdowns, pubs, cafes, and shops are beginning to buzz with life again. Venues across Sydney andMelbourne are filling back up with customers who have had theirCOVID-19vaccination, andare eager to get back to normal life.
But as the potential casual hours of work flood back onto the market for jobs with employers are having to work hard to find staff.Calloutsfor workers are popping up at furious rates on community social pages, and job openings are sticky–taped to businesswindows, andposted to job sites.
TheSEEKjob sitereporteda 28.5 per cent month-on-monthincrease in jobs posted for Hospitality & Tourism, and a 20.6 per cent increase for Retail & Consumer Products in September, with newly free NSW driving many of the advertisements. But Kendra Banks, Managing Director at SEEK ANZ reports that a large gap between those applying and those advertising meant“many hirers are still finding it difficult to recruit”.
“Month-on-month applications per job ad are down slightly by 0.8 per centnationally and remain significantly belowpre-pandemiclevels, down by 34.9 percent when comparing September 2021 to September 2019.”
Hospitality and retail are ready to get back to business as usual - but staffing has been an issue for some employers. Photo: Pexels / Kaique
Despite the expected pattern of behaviour emerging, that whencoronavirusrestrictions ease customer-facing roles return quickly to the job advertising site,Australiansare continuing to act cautiously when considering their next career move, she observes.
While thisstate of affairsin thejob markethas ledto declare that supply gaps and possibly higher wages meant workers were'well placed'to bargain, is that enough to lureAustralianworkers back into casual work given the past 20 months?in thelast year, potentially making it a less appealing prospect to job seekers.
See also:Topic of contention: Casualisation of the workforce
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According to, Senior Lecturer at the School of Economics at theUNSW Business School, while there are downsides to taking on casual work contracts, there are still clear benefits for both the employers and employees.
“Casual contracts allow flexibility,”she says.“Casual employment may also benefit certain types of workers. Since casual employment does not provide annual leave or sick leave it provides compensation to reflect these arrangements, termed 'casual loading'. Those seeking higher remuneration for a smaller number of available hours, for example, students and parents with caring responsibilities, might benefit.
“Employers may favour casual contracts over permanent contracts due to higher uncertainty about future demand and market conditions. As we recover from the recent restrictions, access to flexible low-commitment employment contracts may promote faster recovery."
But she also points out that while she suspects we won't be seeing a decline in casual work any time soon, the increase in health risk, uncertainty in hours, and decline in job security that workers have experienced over the past two years might see these employers needing to offer“higher wages and better arrangements to attract workers to take some of these jobs”.
“An increase in remuneration or improvement inworking arrangementswould provide compensation for the increase in higher job insecurity in casual jobs.”
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Sectors such as hospitality and retail were hard hit by multiplelockdowns, affecting businesses acrossAustralia. But now, there is a massive demand forstaffing. And according to Dr Dechter, demand and supply dynamics will be–and are–reflected in jobvacanciesand job conditions in sectors such as hospitality.
“We need to take into account that some people who were in these jobs a few months ago or a year and a half ago, may have found other types of employment and are not eager to go back to the hospitality sector with uncertain hours and higher health risk,”she says.
“Employers will have to find workers in the pool of those who are unemployed and looking for a job. Currently, the unemployment rate is relatively low and if the recovery continues, it will be more difficult for the hospitality sector to attract workers.”
But Dr Dechter also acknowledges that casual work is often the realm of“younger, less experienced or less skilled workers"for whom flexible employment remains the preferred option while they study or acquire skills needed to more desirable jobs, and who are often more affected by unemployment rates and job transitions”.
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Inand,employees and switching careers, or,indroves. It'sa trendeconomistsand commentators are calling'the great resignation'., in the US, 48 percent ofAmericansin the workforce are actively looking fornew jobs, andresignation rates were at.
Burnout, uncertainty,mental health,workplace culture, employer-to-employee treatment during thepandemic, and shift in prioritisation have all been cited as reasons behind this shift in job mindset.
The upheaval caused by the pandemic has workers asking themselves: what do they really want? Photo: Tim Mossholder / Unsplash
In addition, in Australia, casual workers accounted for two-thirds of those who lost their job at the beginning of thepandemic ().The job security found infull-timeandhybridworkis another possible reason for workers not wanting to return to casual work.
According to Dr Dechter, thepandemichas marked an increasing gap in benefits for workers wanting awork-life balance.
“Some workers have had the opportunity to establish new more flexible working arrangements, specifically,remote work, which can be considered as an improvement in conditions [meaning it] will remain an option for a large fraction of workers,”she explains.
“On the other hand, workers in some industries have seen their working conditions worsen, due to the increasing health risk and employment uncertainty. Workers'compensation in industries such as hospitality will have to catch up to keep their jobs attractive.”
So, is this dissatisfaction a factor in employers'difficulty in taking on casual hires right now, and what does it mean for employers who can't overcome it to hire staff or increaseretentionrates?
“If there is a significant change in sentiment and workers will be more reluctant to take on low-security jobs,”says Dr Dechter.“Firms that cannot offer betterworking arrangementsor higher compensation will struggle to hire skilled workers and might be forced to exit the market.”
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