Australian workers could soon be allowed to double their annual leave by taking it at half pay in a new plan supported by employers and unions.
The leave flexibility scheme is being pushed by The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), with the scheme supported in principle by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), and first reported in the Australian Financial Review on Monday.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Push to allow employees to double their annual leave at half-pay being proposed by ACTU.
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However, the ACCI said smaller employers should also have the right to deny an employee’s request for leave at half pay.
On Wednesday, Employee Matters managing director Natasha Hawker joined Nat Barr and Matt Shirvington on Sunrise, and said the proposal could be a big help to families with school-aged children.
“Let’s think about it, we have 12 weeks of school holidays, even more if kids are at private schools. As an adult, you have four weeks, so it is very difficult for most parents to manage that gap of eight weeks,” Hawker said.
Hawker noted holiday care for children could be expensive, posing a huge problem for the parents, but the ability to “double their leave” could offer them a solution.
“If one parent doubles the leave, that covers eight of the 12 weeks,” Hawker said.
She said the proposal could also help employees with mental health conditions.
“The other advantage, we have a mental health issue in Australia at the moment — a lot of that is in the workplace.
“We know pre-COVID (that) one-in-four employees were suffering from a mental health condition.
“So it may enable those workers that do have an illness to help with their recovery by taking more leave at a half rate.”
However, Hawker admitted it could pose an issue for small businesses but said increased flexibility could help retention and productivity between employers and employees.
“This is an opportunity for businesses to go ‘hey, are we doing these roles as smartly as we could?”’ Hawker said.
“We need to take that as an opportunity, ‘hey, maybe we could do this role differently. Could AI (artificial intelligence) do it?’ That’s another example.”
ACTU secretary Sally McManus told the Australian Financial Review on Monday employers should take such requests on a case-by-case basis.
“We would expect this request to be driven by the needs of the worker and given proper consideration by the employer,” McManus told the publication.
“As with all leave, it should be properly recorded, and it should be clear to the worker how this would impact any future leave and super contributions.”
In addition to more flexible leave entitlements, a proposal is currently being considered by some of the country’s biggest employers, which would give hundreds of thousands of retail workers five weeks of annual leave.
Bunnings and IKEA are already on board with the proposal currently being pushed by retail union the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), with other big employers including Coles, Woolworths and Kmart considering the proposal.
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