June 2012.pdf - RCSA

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Discussion Paper
Flexibility, change and economic growth:
the role of on-hire agency work in
Australia’s labour market
Today’s economy is fastmoving,
dynamic and
subject to rapid change.
The ability of workers and
businesses to predict, and
respond to, these economic
conditions, is increasingly
limited. Therefore, both
workers and businesses
need as much help as
possible to rapidly adjust
to market conditions and
personal circumstances.
Recruitment firms play a
central role in providing
this flexibility to workers
and businesses alike.
Australian workers are adapting to
change and are increasingly able to
understand that it is not possible for
Australia to row against the tide of global
economic uncertainty. The concept of a job
for life is, to most Australians, unrealistic and,
increasingly, undesirable. These are the
people who make up the contemporary
Australian workforce, where flexibility flows
both ways.
Despite the important role of adaptive
“agency” work, this model of employment
is under fire for failing to provide “secure”
work. The Australian Council of Trade
Unions’ (ACTU) Secure Work campaign
seeks to provide protection for the “forty per
cent of workers [who] are engaged in insecure
work arrangements such as casual work,
fixed term work, contracting or labour hire”.
And therein lies the problem: the union
campaign sweeps non-traditional work of
every type into one large bundle. It assumes
highly-paid IT contractors, for example, are
in the same position as minimum-wage
casual cleaning staff.
Nobody denies that some insecure jobs
exist, and that this form of employment does
not suit all individuals involved. But labelling
all non-traditional work models as “insecure”,
in a negative sense, simplifies the issue until
it loses any meaning. It takes a complex and
multi-layered workforce model, then lumps
it all under the emotive but misleading name
of “insecure work”.
Adaptive agency work is a valid and
important part of the modern economy;
rather than pushing for its end, we should
be working collaboratively to ensure those
who need to adapt to changing personal
circumstances and lifestyle needs are able
to, and those who genuinely need protection
are afforded this.
This paper discusses the role of recruitment
firms in helping businesses and government
to adapt, and provide decent work for
individuals, while contributing to economic
growth and international competitiveness.
It also looks at the role of the recruitment
industry in supporting workers in this sector.
An adaptive workforce: key to
economic growth
The International Confederation of Private
Employment Agencies (CIETT) and Boston
Consulting Group (BCG) recently launched
a global report that shows countries with
agile work models and reasonable regulation
outperform those with heavy regulation and
little flexibility, in terms of both economic
and labour market performance.
Moreover, it shows that private employment
agencies deliver decent work to individuals,
and help match and develop the skills needed
in labour markets. For example, one of the
largest recruitment agencies in the country
is also one of the biggest employers of
apprentices.
Almost 1 in 3 Australian
employers use temporary
staff from recruitment
agencies to manage skills
shortages
Adecco Temporary Labour Report 2012
Flexible work: sorting myth from fact
The outcome of an over-regulated, inflexible
work model isn’t more secure jobs for people
– it’s fewer jobs overall.
The use of flexible or contingent workforces
is an important part of the modern business
landscape, allowing employers to respond
to a rapidly changing environment. In fact
76 per cent of employers use recruitment
agencies to respond more quickly to
business demands.
With volatility becoming a fixture of the
economic system, employers, therefore,
need to remain responsive. This doesn’t
spell doom for employees however; they
have the ability to remain agile too, building
transferable skills that allow them to move
when the market does.
Ultimately, businesses make a choice about
their growth plans, and that often involves a
flexible and scalable workforce. For the
majority of employers, it’s not a choice of
“hire permanent staff or hire temporary staff”.
It is, in fact, “hire temporary staff, or don’t
hire at all”.
RMIT University research found that
51 per cent of organisations using on-hired
employees would not necessarily employ an
equivalent number of employees directly if
they were unable to use on-hired employees.
In fact 19 per cent of organisations said they
would rarely do so.
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