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Casual employment is a work arrangement in which workers are hired on as-need-be basis. In Australia it belongs to a class of employment arrangement called non standard forms of employment. Workers on casual employment often work a few hours a week as compared to their permanent counterparts (Wooden and Warren 2003).
In Australia this work market has been on steady rise in the past decades and by the year 2009 26 percent of the workers were casual employees. This growth has been encouraged by both the supply and demand factors. The growth however is not equally distributed among genders (ABS 2009).
It is reported that male casual workers increased by 46 percent in the past while growth in the female casual workers remained constant at 31 percent. Casual employment while it has its benefits has also been blamed for causing harm particularly to casual workers. It appears as if casual employment benefits the employers more than the employees.
Casual employment may be associated with some benefits. Casual employment may benefit some workers who have other commitments to attend to. Many casual workers prefer casual employment because of its flexibility (Brault 1997). This kind of arrangement gives workers the opportunity to work and still be able to fulfill their other commitments.
This form of employment has been helpful to students who make up a sizeable proportion of casual workers. Students prefer this arrangement because it leaves them good time to study. Mothers also benefit from this arrangement. Because they are not obliged to go work on a daily basis, mothers get time to spend with their families. Mothers who are happy with this arrangement find it easy to attend to urgent family matters.
For example, if a child falls ill, a mother can skip work to attend to the child without serious consequences. Yet there are those who just like its flexibility even if they do not have other commitments (Watson 2004). To them this arrangement represents freedom of choice.
They get to choose what projects to participate in and most importantly when to work. The freedom to choose what to do and when to do it may be the reason why some sections of the workforce are attracted to casual employment.
Other than flexibility, casual employment may also pay well in the short term. This has been called loading in the Australian work market. Recent developments in the Australian labour laws require that casual workers work for a shorter time but be paid attractively.
This has resulted in hourly wages higher than those of standard form of employment (Simpson, Peter, Gary 2008). This may attract some workers who want more money in a short time. Money earned depends on how hard one works.
There is no limit on how much one can make in a single day unlike in standard employment where an employee cannot work beyond a certain number of hours if they are to remain productive (Cameron, Peter, Horwitz, Walsh 2001). In casual employment one can work for the maximum permissible amount of time per individual in one place of work and then move to the next employer.
However, this benefit ascribed to working many hours per day is not sustainable. Overworking may take its toll on an individual’s health in the long run (Virtanen et al. 2005). Ill health represents lost income.
It is therefore thought that working a reasonable amount of time per day guarantees a worker long term income. The benefit of good health will in due course of time outweigh the disadvantage of working short periods per day.
For employers casual employment assists them to achieve some of their goals in the right time at the right cost. Much of the benefits employers derive from casual worker are related to cost cutting.
Hiring people only when they are needed helps businesses save money that would have been used to maintain the workforce when it is not contributing actively to meaningful production (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008). Casual labour is also thought to be cheap considering that there is no fixed hourly rate for work done. The hourly rate is negotiated with a potential worker before hiring.
However, it is possible that some employers have forced casualisation of some of their activities. Employers may employ workers on casual basis in order to avoid being accused of wrongful dismissal and failure to provide employee benefits. Some employers may also commit illegal acts like paying workers in cash so that they can underpay them.
Employers may also benefit from casual work during peak seasons (Kramar 1998). This is true especially in sectors which experience increased activity at certain times of the year. One good example is the agricultural sector. During harvesting season the agricultural sector requires a big workforce to harvest the produce.
Some crops like vegetables and fruits need to be harvested quickly since they can be damaged by weather and diseases easily when they are ready for harvesting. These sectors therefore get their increased work done in the right time using casual workers. These activities since they are seasonal do not require a permanent workforce (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009).
On the flipside casual employment has the potential to harm workers. It has been argued that the benefits associated with casual employment are illusionary. The benefits come with hidden and often detrimental negative effects. Flexibility and increased pay come at the expense of security.
Some categories of casual workers are not certain about the future. This is because they may spend all their income on day to day needs (Buchler, Michael and Janeen 2009).
Casual employment may discourage the culture of saving for future. Casual workers may face difficult days after retirement because they did not put aside part of their income for this purpose (ABS 2008). However, systems have been put in place by both government and employers to encourage this.
Flexibility and increased pay also come at the expense of additional benefits like sick leave and paid holiday leave. Though the situation is changing, this is still largely the norm rather than the exception. Casual workers are not entitled to sick leave in most cases.
Though labor laws encourage employers to accord casual workers some health benefits, there still are many uncovered workers (Campbell 1996). The pay these workers get is not enough for them to purchase meaningful insurance covers on their own. To the casual workers illness represents a loss of income.
This is because in addition to the fact that they cannot work, they have to spend the money they have already earned on health. Workers on standard employment enjoy at least one paid holiday leave per year. However, casual workers do not enjoy such a benefit.
This is because in most instances they are employed when their services are needed. They are not expected to report to work on a daily basis. This has given rise to first come first served situation in the work market. Holiday may thus be perceived by these workers to be an unproductive undertaking.
Casual employment may encourage growth of unskilled workforce. Some work offered by employers does not require any special skill. These jobs are easy to get and they offer above average pay. It is thought that this will in the long run lead to build up of unskilled workforce.
This can be contributed by both citizens and immigrants. A large unskilled population is undesirable. It forces businesses to rely on a few skilled workers. This may drive up either the cost of production or cost of running business. Both these effects have negative effect on the overall economy. They may slow the growth of the economy (Employment: Evidence from the HILDA Survey).
This paper critically analyzed the benefits of casual employment to both workers and businesses. It also examined potential disadvantages of such a form of employment. To the workers casual employment represents both flexibility and increased pay.
The workers are in a position to choose when to work and in some case what to do. Casual workers are paid more per hour of work rendered in order to compensate for reduced working hours. Casual employment enables businesses to save money.
Some workers are only needed at particular times of the year and it would be expensive to have them on permanent basis. Some disadvantages that may be encountered by workers include loss of health and holiday benefits. It may also discourage the culture of saving for the future. This may be as a result of poor pay that is not enough to sustain both daily expenditure and savings.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, Employment Arrangements, Retirement and Superannuation, Australia. 2007, cat. no. 6361.0, ABS, Canberra. Web.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009, Labour Market Statistics, 2009, Data Cubes: Table 2: Employment Type 1992-2007, cat. no. 6105.0, ABS, Canberra. Web.
Brault, S, 1997, “The Implications of Non-Standard Employment”, CollectiveReflections on the Changing Workplace, Chapter 4, Department of Labour, Canada.
Buchler, S, Michael, H, Janeen, B, 2009, “Casual employment in Australia: The influence of employment contract on financial well-being”, Journal of Sociology, vol. 45 no. 3, pp. 271-289. Web.
Cameron Allan, Peter Brosnan, Frank Horwitz, Pat Walsh, 2001, “From standard to non-standard employment: Labour force change in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa”, International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 22: 8, pp.748 – 763.
Campbell, I, 1996, “Casual Employment, Labour Regulation and Australian Trade Unions”, JIR, vol. 38 no. 4 571-599. Web.
Kramar, R, 1998, “Flexibility in Australia: implications for employees and managers”, Employee Relations, Vol. 20 no. 5, pp.453 – 46. Web.
Simpson, M, Peter D, Gary, M, 2008, Casual Employment in Australia: Incidence and Determinants, Australian Economic Papers, vol. 36, pp.194–204.
Virtanen et al., 2005, Temporary employment and Health: a review, Vol. 34. Web.
Watson, I, 2004, Contented Casuals in Inferior Jobs? Reassessing Casual Employment in Australia, Working paper no. 94, Australian Centre of Industrial Relations Research and Training, Sydney. Web.
Wooden, M and D Warren, 2003, The Characteristics of Casual and Fixed-Term Employment: Evidence from the HILDA Survey, Working Paper, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Melbourne. Web.
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