Labor’s historical achievements and enduring values go fundamentally to workers being fairly remunerated from a basis of standard hours, with work beyond duly recognised and reflected fully by relevant pay and conditions.
Across industry sectors and the private and public sector, there are a range of methods used to recognise additional hours, in terms of remuneration and sometimes accrued leave. This can vary by the level of employee, and form a consideration for aspirational workers in seeking career progression.
Successful reform by federal Labor including the Right to Disconnect are important to the question of reasonable work outside ordinary hours.
Work by The Australia Institute and others has surveyed the level of unpaid overtime across Australian workplaces and responded with initiatives like ‘go home on time day’.
This is a central matter for worker wellbeing and industrial relations fairness. No worker should be seeing large reductions in effective hourly pay, and take-home pay per hour worker, because of additional hours.
When consistent asks are made for work beyond ordinary hours, this may reflect more hiring or other innovation needed by an employer, especially if hiring has been low at the relevant work level. It may also reflect a need for internal training of staff to cover tasks dependent on a small group of workers.
Fairness to workers and to employers who recognise overtime in full is served by all employers duly recognising through pay and conditions additional hours worked.
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