Recruitment and workforce related decisions have always been key decisions for businesses. The continuing changes in local and global economies means these decisions become even more important. The ability to identify the right employees and subsequently keep them can avoid considerable costs, effort and frustration. So what are the long term employment trends in Australia? With the retirement age progressively being increased by the Australian government and greater use of temporary employees, the Australian workforce dynamics continue to evolve. One of Australia’s leading, and at times controversial, journalist recently covered this topic and we believe these trends are having and will continue to have impacts on workers compensation.
Long Term Employment Trends – The Impact to Workers Compensation:
Our thoughts, key points and link to Ross Gittins’ Sydney Morning Herald article are below:
- Over time there has been a significant increase in the participation of workers over 55 and over 65
- Increase use of temporary labour, such as 457 visas – Australia now grant about 125,000 a year
- Industries where labour participation has increased are – health and social services, professional and technology services and construction. Perhaps most important has been the decline in the relative importance of goods-producing industries and the rise in the relative importance of person and knowledge-based service industries
- In March 2014 there were almost 900,000 people on temporary visas with work rights, including more than 200,000 on “457 visas” for skilled people and about 370,000 on student visas. If all these people actually participated, the authour estimates they would amount to 7 per cent of the labour force
What this means for businesses and workers compensation;
- We are seeing alignment to the data above where claims are coming from older employees or over 50
- People with 457 Visas have full entitlement to workers compensation that impacts the clients premium and the employer is obliged to ensure a RTW plan. Some cases have involved immigration lawyers and most recently we have seen a case where the injured worker on a 457 Visa was granted and extended stay until he would return to his pre injury duties. This mean the employer had to accommodate the injured worker with duties and support the return to work process
- Access to medical history in some cases is critical to understanding the pre-existing conditions of an injured worker, it can be difficult to access records if the injured worker is from overseas or a temporary resident with a work visa.
If you or any of your clients are considering employing labour under a 457 Visa we recommend calling us for assistance, we can guide you and provide advice on how to make sure the person is right for the role and your business.
The key message for employers is they need to be aware they have a liability for workers they choose to employ, with increased participation from older and temporary workers it is important businesses undertake checks to ensure they are recruiting the right people. To over come some of these challenges, we recommend the use of pre-employment medicals or assessments to help identify in advance any issues. It is also important to consider all candidates and avoid discrimination, etc when making a recruitment decision. ABILITY GROUP can assist you with pre-employment medicals as well as provide a screening service to ensure you have an expert reviewing the information provided from medicals to assist you in making assessments that are lower risk for your business.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Title: Long-term employment trends: retired workers happy to put their feet up
Reading Time: 2-3 Minutes