Every country has certain rules and regulations of business. The industries and the business are bound to conform to these laws and legislation which helps to standardise the operations of the business organisations and helps the government to monitor the overall operations of the industries and the organisations in the respective fields. There are number of key legal aspects that need to be taken into account by the business organisations in order to operate in the market effectively as well as help to be in good terms with the government of the respective country. Employment relation is an extremely important aspect in every business and hence the business houses will have to be extremely focused on having an effective bonding with the employees. The employees are the mainstay of the organisation and hence it is important to have a proper relationship between the organisation and the employees. The Australian Government focuses on developing strong legislation which would help to focus on improving the employment relations in the organisations. The business organisations in Australia are bound to follow the business rules and regulations of the country and it is important for every organisation to meet these regulations. Every business organisation operating in the Australia has to have an employment agreement with the employees. Employment agreement could be defined as collection of rules and regulations that has to be agreed upon by the candidates applying for a position. An Agreement is one of the key documents that is necessary for the managers and the new candidates to communicate about (Gollan, 2009). Agreement is essential for the selection and recruitment and so managers need to be more prudent on the different rules and clause that are involved in the agreement. In Modern day recruitment process the government has made it mandatory to apply better off Overall Test which is directly authorised by the Fair Work Australia which is responsible to make sure the operations in the Australian organisations are carried out effectively. The BOOT is considered as one of the key aspects in the recruitment and selection of the people that is directly assessed by the Fair Work Australia. An agreement passes the BOOT only if the body fair Work Australia is satisfied with the award covered employee and the prospective award covered employees. Modern award could be defined as the special standards which every business organisation in Australia needs to have along with the National Employment Standards (NES) Australia (McCrystal, 2010). It is important to mention that the BOOT is applied so that the Fair Work Australia is aware about the overall information received about the organisation as well as about the candidate which would help to monitor the operations and keep fair work practice intact in the business organisations in the country. BOOT is a point in time test which is extremely important during the period when a candidate is putting an application for the job. Each award covered employee will have to undergo the test in order to be cleared off from the Fair Work Australia. The BOOT have been effective in understanding the different classes of employees and after the application of the BOOT the award covered employees become better off overall. Even though BOOT have been taken as imperative for the organisation as well as the employees as the approval of an agreement is mainly based on the better off overall test (Freyens and Oslington, 2013). The Better off Overall Test is important as it helps the Fair Work Australia to realise base rate of pay for the candidates under the agreement but it could be said that most of the organisations have faced number of issues with BOOT and hence it becomes extremely important to understand and address these issues which would help to improve the employment relations effectively.
Better off Overall Test is extremely important part of the fair work as it helps largely to manage individual flexibility. It could be said that individual flexibility when implemented should leave employee better off overall which would help to make sure all the key aspects of agreements are properly implemented by the Australian organisations. As a manager of an organisation it could be said that even though BOOT has been effective in improving the employer and employee communication and also legal aspects of employment. Even though Better off Overall Test has been introduced by the Fair Work Australia there are number of emerging issues which could creep up in the process but could help to improve the overall workplace relations. As a manager of an organisation it could be said that better off Overall Test is just effective to implement effective award review and helps to improve the position of the employees in the organisation but it becomes tough for the managers to handle employees. Hence it could be said that the present report aims to discuss the possible changes that could be made in order to make the Better off Overall Test much more effective (MacDermott and Riley, 2011). There are number of emerging issues and trends that the Fair Work Australia has faced in the context setting up a standardised employment system in the country. The present report will discuss the key challenges which will help to understand whether changes in the Better off Overall Test will be suitable or not.
The report stands to be extremely important as the application of BOOT has been effective in understand the rate of pay for the award covered candidates and how enterprise agreement negotiations could be implemented or further improved would be highlighted in the study. It is important to mention that the Fair Work Commission has implemented the BOOT option in order to make sure everything is implemented effectively and analysing the agreements becomes easier for the body Fair Work Association Australia. Hence it could be said that the present study would cover up the discussion of BOOT and the possible changes that it could make in the workplace relations and allow the Fair Work Association Australia to improve its operations all across the country (Stewart, 2011).
The Fair Work Commission is an independent Government organisation which is responsible to litigate workplace issues and relations and focus on maintaining effective workplace relations in the country. The Fair Work Ombudsman and the Fair Work Commission are the key bodies presently in the country which are responsible to keep a fair work practices intact in the business organisations in Australia. As a manager of an organisation it becomes important for people like me to abide by the different rules and regulations laid down by these bodies in order to make sure the business organisation is able to continue with effective workplace relations. The Fair Work Commission operating in the country is responsible to maintain an effective workplace relations system in the country and make sure the workplace conditions of the business organisations operating in the country are perfect for the employees to work (Dorsett and Lafferty, 2010). The Fair Work Commission is basically the national workplace relations tribunal and is mainly responsible for maintaining net of minimum wages and employment conditions so that the organisation could have proper employment relations with the organisation as well as some other workplace functions and regulations which are important for the smooth operation of the business organisation as well as the overall industry. The key operations performed by the organisation FWC are:
These are certain key responsibilities that the organisation Fair Work Commission oversees which are extremely important in the context of the workplace relations. The Fair Work Commission is also responsible to understand the enterprise agreements and assess and pass them effectively which makes it an important body in the country. The Fair Work Commission has evolved to be an important body which has helped to make workplace relations an important aspect in the Australian business environment. In the present business environment most of the organisations have failed to comply with the modern award which is an ongoing issue. The Fair Work Commission has been effective in regulating the work environment which is extremely important for effective development of the work environment in the country. The Fair Work Commission is responsible for constantly operating effectively to support the employers and employees operating in the business environment (MacDonald and Charlesworth, 2013).
The BOOT and the No Disadvantage Test are almost similar in their nature but they definitely differ in their overall role. The No Disadvantage Test focuses on ensuring that no employees are disadvantaged against the laid down principles and hence this allows the employees to understand the awards or the standards that are normally used for the organisations. The Better off Overall Test is focused on seeing that the employees are better off overall as compared to the agreed upon standards or the awards. The Greenfield Agreement was initially applied by the Fair Work Commission before BOOT. The Greenfield Agreement is an agreement which happens between an employer and a union that doesn’t yet have employees. There was a huge benefit for the organisations as here the employer did not have to negotiate with employees that have now been changed with the Better off Overall Test and this is where BOOT should provide a bit of flexibility to the employer. Another major benefit which was there with Greenfield is that the employer could shut less desirable unions which are again not possible with Better off Overall test and this worsens the situation for the organisations (Naughton, 2012).
Many organisations have realised that the agreement negotiations will become tough once the BOOT is applied and hence many organisations have tried to focus on making the Fair Work Association assess their enterprise agreements before the BOOT is applied. The BOOT is only passed on if the Fair Work Association is satisfied with the award developed by the organisation (Smith, 2010). The test time is the time when the application goes for the overall assessment to the organisation and this clearly could raise issues. It is important to mention that there have been significant issues with the BOOT in the business. It has become important to understand that BOOT has laid down certain issues which are definitely important to be changed. For instance it states that the employees will have to be paid a base rate of wage which is considered wrong from the point of view of the management or the organisation. It is important for the organisation to assess the capacity of the employees and accordingly offer him or her pay package which would be effective for the part of the organisation but with BOOT this cannot be done. This has been very clearly seen in the case of Coles where number of Coles worker have threatened the decision of enterprise bargaining system where the enterprise has the authority of bargaining in terms of pay and emoluments. The Better off Overall Test has put this aspect of the organisation’s bargaining system in dark as after 2010 it was not possible (Hardy et al., 2013). There are around 74000 employees have threatened Coles to go to the Fair Work Tribunal. Another key aspect that needs to be worked upon by the Fair Work Commission is to focus on improving the award or standards in certain cases which could reduce complications for the organisations as well as for the employees (Naughton, 2012).
The Fair Work Act 2009 is one of the key legislations passed by the Rudd Government in order to improve the industrial relations system in the country applying number of key regulations in the business environment which would help to make sure both employers and employees are facilitated by it. The act introduced good faith bargaining where the employer is focus on attending, participating and meeting in reasonable times to disseminate information which are extremely important for the organisations to operate effectively and allow the employers and employees to be connected with the government that allows the government to make effective progress in the industrial relations system. The Fair Work Act 2009 focused on equality bargaining which would help the employers to set their standards as per the minimum standards set by the organisation that is likely to help the Government to manage the business. There have been implications by the Fair Work Act as the nature of bargaining arrangements within the Australian Industrial relations system (Skinner and Pocock. Even though the bargaining is done at the enterprise level but the government takes interest in them which at times complicates the relationship between the government and the employees. Hence it could be said that the impact of the present fair Work Act 2009 has been to a large extent positive for the employees with the integration of the Better off Overall Test but it has been harsh for the organisations as the revised clauses have been impactful on the part of the organisations.
One of the important issues with BOOT has been payment issues and one of the examples that could be found in the recent case is with Woolworths. Companies like Woolworths and Macdonald’s Australia have come under scrutiny for the payment issue as they have to now renegotiate on the money aspect as they are paying lower than what the BOOT sets for the employees and this will increase the cost to the company. Similarly Coles underpaid workers have threatened to go to tribunals to revamp their fee structures. Similarly enterprise agreements have been a issue after the BOOT as companies small scale companies have come under scrutiny in business operations.
Conclusion
The Fair Work Act 2009 is one of the key legislations that have been implemented by the Rudd Government to improve the industrial relations effectively but it has come with mixed feelings for the organisation as it places the organisations at the receiving end. The National Standards for the operation of the business especially the enterprise agreements standards have been revised by the Government which definitely makes things tougher for the organisation. The increased base wage rate and continuous supervision of the government on the set standards directly affect the business profitability (Acton, 2010). The main strength of BOOT is it provides ample support to the employees especially regarding their wage rate and basic legal support which provides a strong platform for them. Another strong advantage of BOOT is it brings strong balance between the employer and employees. Speaking from the point of view of the employer or a manager its main weakness is it doesn’t help to operate effectively and also weakens the practice of industrial relations. Another key weakness of this test is it affects the organisations’ financials and cost to the company also increases. Another weakness of this test is increases the threat of union for the organisations. From the point of view of an organisation it could be said that it is harsh on the part of the organisations and this has also provided added incentives to the employees that has given them excessive power to them allowing them to take anything to the Fair Work Tribunal. The BOOT had been introduced for the better industrial relations between employees and employer but it could be concluded that it would be tough for the organisations to operate with upgraded award agreements and standards. It could be said that with the implementation of the Fair Work Act 2009 and the BOOT the industrial relations have become much more complex and tougher as now employers would become highly focused on practicing their recruitment and selection and also the set standards of the organisations had to be changed and hence this could definitely affect the way business is practiced by the organisations in the country. With the application of BOOT it has been seen that employees will get much more flexibility and the option of going to tribunals for smaller issues and also reduces the choice of the employers to apply their rights (McCrystal, 2011).
The Fair Work Act 2009 doesn’t support the organisational system while focusing on the improvement of the industrial relations and hence it is important for the organisations to have better support from the act. Even though the organisations could have their own policies but the government constantly oversees their operations which is to a large extent not right and hence needs to be improved (Hardy and Howe, 2013). It is important to change the regulations of the base wage rate and the organisations should have the flexibility of fixing the pay package for the employees. The organisations should have the power of improving their overall regulations and policies which is at present prevented by the BOOT implementation. Certain awards in the agreement should be allowed to be made by the organisation which would help to make the business environment much more competitive and effective (Jefferson and Preston, 2010).
References
Acton, J., 2010, April. The Fair Work System–Fair Work Australia’s Experiences and Insights’. In Presentation to Ai Group’s National PIR Group Conference (Vol. 19).
Dorsett, S. and Lafferty, G., 2010. Good faith and the Fair Work Act: its potential, in light of the New Zealand experience. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 21(1), pp.53-67.
Freyens, B.P. and Oslington, P., 2013. A first look at incidence and outcomes of unfair dismissal claims under Fair Work, WorkChoices and the Workplace Relations Act. Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 16(2), p.295.
Gollan, P.J., 2009. Australian industrial relations reform in perspective: Beyond Work Choices and future prospects under the Fair Work Act 2009. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 47(3), pp.260-269.
Hardy, T. and Howe, J., 2013. Too Soft or Too Severe? Enforceable Undertakings and the Regulatory Dilemma Facing the Fair Work Obmudsman.
Hardy, T., Howe, J. and Cooney, S., 2013. Less Energetic but More Enlightened: Exploring the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Use of Litigation in Regulatory Enforcement. Sydney L. Rev., 35, p.565.
Heron, A. and Charlesworth, S., 2012. Working time and managing care under Labor: whose flexibility?. Australian Bulletin of Labour, 38(3), p.214.
Jefferson, T. and Preston, A., 2010. Negotiating fair pay and conditions: low paid women’s experience and perceptions of labour market deregulation and individual wage bargaining. Industrial Relations Journal, 41(4), pp.351-366.
Kamps, J., Geva, S., Peters, C., Sakai, T., Trotman, A. and Voorhees, E., 2009, December. Report on the SIGIR 2009 workshop on the future of IR evaluation. In ACM SIGIR Forum (Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 13-23). ACM.
MacDermott, T. and Riley, J., 2011. Alternative dispute resolution and individual workplace rights: The evolving role of Fair Work Australia. Journal of industrial relations, 53(5), pp.718-732.
MacDonald, F. and Charlesworth, S., 2013. Equal pay under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth): mainstreamed or marginalised. UNSWLJ, 36, p.563.
McCrystal, S., 2010. The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the right to strike.
McCrystal, S., 2011. Fair Work in the International Spotlight: The CEPU Complaint to the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association.
Naughton, R., 2012. The role of Fair Work Australia in facilitating collective bargaining. Rediscovering Collective Bargaining: Australia’s Fair Work Act in International Perspective, 1st edn. New York: Routledge, pp.68-89.
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Smith, B., 2010. Fair and equal in the world of work: Two significant federal developments in discrimination law.
Stewart, A., 2011. Fair Work Australia: The Commission Reborn? 1. Journal of Industrial Relations, 53(5), pp.563-577.
Sutherland, C. and Riley, J., 2010. Industrial legislation in 2009. Journal of Industrial Relations, 52(3), pp.275-287.
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