MGB229 Assessment 2 PDF

Preview

Summary

MGB229 Assignment 2...

Description

MGB 229 Obligations and Options for Employing People Assessment 2 – Obligations and Options Report

Name: Kangze Zheng ID: n9919872 Word Count: 3101 Tutor: Dr. Elliroma Gardiner

Table of Contents Executive Summary

3

1.0 Introduction

4

2.0 Employer Options for the Job Role/Organisation

5

2.1Common duties/requirements/qualifications/experience for job role

5

2.2 Diversity and Inclusion policy in Coles

6

2.3 Form of employment of Level 1 Team Member

7

3.0 Employer obligations within Employment Contexts 3.1 Macro – legislative/legal and social employer obligations

9 9

3.2 Meso – firm level employer obligations

11

3.3 Micro – job role employer obligations

12

4.0 Recommendations

14

5.0 List of References

15

6.0 Appendix

18

6.1 Appendix 1: Disability Discrimination Act 1992

18

6.2 Appendix 2 – National Employment Standards

19

6.3 Appendix 3 – The New Coles Agreement vs The Award

20

6.4 Appendix 4 – Penalties rate for each form of employment

21

6.5 Appendix 5 – Coles Group Code of Conduct

22

6.6 Appendix 6 – Coles Health Safety and Wellbeing Policy

23

2

Executive Summary In this report, the organization that will be discussed is Coles Supermarkets and the job role that will be discussed is a Level 1 Team Member working in Coles. The common duties, experiences and requirements to work as a Level 1 Team Member in Coles will be discussed in section 2.0. Furthermore, Coles has a diversity inclusion policy that builds a safe and supportive working environment for all team members regardless of age, disability, race, gender identity and religion. This indicates that anyone is able to work in Coles for the job role of Level 1 Team Member. The report will discuss the suitable form of employment for the job role of Level 1 Team Member in Coles and will discuss the organisation’s obligations to the employees such as the legislative and social employer obligations, the policies of the Coles Supermarket Enterprise Agreement and the employer’s obligations according to the chosen job role. Lastly, recommendations will be given in order to make improvements and changes for Coles Supermarket.

3

1.0 Introduction The organization that will be discussed in this report is Coles Supermarket, which is the second largest supermarket in Australia and also operates retail and consumer services chain in its business operations. Coles Supermarkets is in the industry of retail, supermarket and consumer services and currently has over 100,000 employees (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter, 2014). According to Coles (2020), Coles is operating 807 supermarkets in Australia and is focusing on the sales of foods, groceries and household items. A new agreement has been negotiated by the SDA (The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association) with Coles Supermarket in 2017, which is “The Coles Supermarket Enterprise Agreement 2017” that was voted by 90% of Coles’ team members and has been approved by the Fair Work Commission (HRD, 2018). The agreement is based on a framework consistent with the General Retail Industry Award (GRIA) (SDA, 2017). The job role that will be discussed in this report is a Level 1 Team Member that works in Coles Supermarket. According to SDA (2017), the typical job titles included as a level 1 team member in Coles are store team member, store cleaner and personal shopper. According to the Fair Work Commission (2010), Level 1 Team Members are responsible and accountable for their own work within established routines, methods and procedures.

4

2.0 Employer Options for the Job Role/Organisation 2.1Common duties/requirements/qualifications/experience for job role As a Level 1 Team Member in Coles, there are 2 forms of employment for this job role which is casual employment or part-time employment. According to Ai Group (2018), the retail industry is the second largest industry that employs both part-time employees and casual employees. There are several common duties for a Level 1 Team Member working in Coles such as reception/switchboard, maintenance of basic records, filing & photocopying, handling messenger services, checking and batching of accounts, invoices and more (Coles, 2017). Moreover, Coles has mentioned that team members at this level may include the initial recruit who may have limited relevant experience (Coles, 2017). This indicates that Coles may hire potential employees that have limited experience to the job role of a Level 1 Team Member with close observation of the employee using established practices, procedures and instructions and guidance from the team members’ superior or a more experienced colleague. Furthermore, team members at this level are responsible and accountable for their own work within established routines, methods and procedures and will commence duties as directed from the superior within the limits of the level 1 team member’s competence, skills and training (Coles, 2017). There are a few functions that are required to be perform by a Level 1 Team Member working in Coles such as the receiving and preparation for sale; packaging and pricing of goods; replenishing goods; recording of sales; delivering goods; loss prevention; assistance to customers and more (Coles, 2017). Moreover, there are several indicative job titles of a Level 1 Team Member such as shop assistant; clerical assistant; check-out operator; store worker; reserve stock hand; driver; store greeter; assembler; trolley collector; telephone order salesperson etc (Coles, 2017). A reference of established practices, procedures and instructions will be provided for Level 1 Team Member that faces problems or assistance in their job role.

5

2.2 Diversity and Inclusion policy in Coles According to Davis, Frolova & Callahan (2016), the goal of diversity and inclusion in workplace is to conquer difficulties and obstacles to different groups of people working together in a productive way. This indicates that organizations that have a transparent and definite diversity and inclusion policy will have positive outcomes for the organizations such as increasing satisfaction of employees as well as enhancing company’s reputation. Coles Supermarket has launched its own “Better Together” inclusion program in 2017 which incorporates five pillars which are accessibility, gender balance, pride, flexibility & indigenous (Coles, 2020).

As stated in Disability Discrimination Act 1992 as shown in appendix 1, it is unlawful to disadvantage employees and job seekers in any way because of their disability (Federal Register of Legislation, 2020). Coles is committed to attract and employ people with disabilities to assure the inclusion of people with disability in their business operation and has partnered with the Australian Network on Disability (Coles, 2020). This implies that Coles is dedicated to improve the working conditions of team members with a disability and to ensure that people with disability have the same opportunity to perform at their best. In addition, Coles has initiated a “Coles Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Plan” and is committed to create employment opportunities for indigenous team members as well as providing a diverse and inclusive environment in their business operation (Dickie, 2018). Furthermore, Coles is committed to create and maintain an inclusive culture to provide the Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual and Intersex (LGBTI) community to have a safe and pleasant workplace to work and develop (Coles, 2020). Coles has also ensured that all team members have the opportunity to build and develop a great career regardless of any gender and has committed to achieve gender balance in Coles’ workplace.

The “Better Together” inclusion program from Coles has determined that anyone could work at Coles regardless of gender, people with disability, the LGBTI community or the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia. However, the minimum age of working is different for every state or territory in Australia. According to Fair Work Ombudsman (2020), the minimum age for employment based on the Child Employment Regulation 2016 is 13. This indicates that children that is aged 13 and above may apply for a job as a Level 1 Team 6

Member in Coles supermarkets located at Queensland.

2.3 Form of employment of Level 1 Team Member As mentioned above, Level 1 Team Member that works in Coles could be employed in two forms of employment which are part-time and casual employment. The table below provides the differences between casual employment and part-time employment.

Characteristics Hours

Part-time employment Less than 38 hours per week.

Casual employment No guarantee hours of work and

Wages

Consistent wage based on

usually works in irregular hours. Paid on hourly basis and receives a

ordinary hours of work.

25% loading on the equivalent fulltime/part-time hourly rate (General

Benefits & Entitlements Receive benefits under the Fair Work Act such as 4 weeks of paid

Retail Industry Award 2010, 2020). Not entitled to pay leave while the casual employee is absent from work.

annual leave, 2 weeks of paid personal leave and 2 days of paid Flexibility

compassionate leave per year. Less flexibility compared to

Casual employees may decline

casual employment.

rostered shifts by providing reasonable notice.

Table 1: Part-time employment vs Casual employment Based on the table above, part-time employment is the preferred form of employment type for the job role of Level 1 Team Member in Coles as compared to casual employment. In the perspectives of the employer, hiring part-time employees brings several benefits such as providing extra flexibility of labour choices and is considerably cheaper as compared to casual workers as casual employees are entitled to receive a 25% loading. Meanwhile, parttime employees are able to enjoy the same benefits as a full-time employee such as sick leave and holiday leave based on their working hours per week (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2020). Furthermore, part-time employees have a guarantee of regular and rostered weekly hours. This indicates that part-time employees have a guarantee of weekly earning, as compared to casual employment which the employer would not provide any guarantee of hours to be 7

worked to the casual employee. In summary for this section, anyone is able to apply for the job role of Level 1 Team Member in Coles with the minimum age for employment of at least 13 according to The Child Employment Act 2006 (Business Queensland, 2020) and the preferred form of employment for this job role will be part-time employment.

8

3.0 Employer obligations within Employment Contexts Every employer in Australia are legally obligated to abide all the elements of the Australian employment law to make sure that all employees are able to work comfortably in a pleasant and safe environment which does not involve bullying, discrimination and harassment in the workplace (Employsure, 2020). Furthermore, legislation is applied to all national system employer across Australia to ensure that employees are protected and receive employment rights and entitlements such as the minimum pay wage, leave entitlements, notice periods and more.

3.1 Macro – legislative/legal and social employer obligations According to Queensland Government (2020), employers must provide the employees the minimum entitlements under the Fair Work system which are 10 minimum National Employment Standards (NES), awards for specific industries, national minimum wage and protection under unfair dismissal. The 10 minimum standards of employment covers are stated in Appendix 2. Furthermore, all the stated terms in awards, registered agreements and employment contracts must not exclude or provide for an entitlement that is lesser than the NES and must pass the better off overall test (BOOT). The BOOT system will compare the differences between the relevant modern award and the proposed agreement to decide which award or agreement is the best for the employees (Dean & Fraser, 2018). In this case, the Coles Supermarkets Enterprise Agreement 2017 must not have entitlements that are lesser than the agreements in the General Retail Industry Award. All employees are covered by the national workplace relations system except casual employees that could only receive certain entitlements (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2020). The Coles Supermarkets Enterprise Agreement has been approved as the benefits provided to the employees outweigh the benefits provided by the General Retail Industry Award. According to SDA (2017), the agreement provides more benefits to the employees of Coles such as higher wage rates, additional tea breaks, better compassionate leave than the award, provides additional leaves (paid domestic violence, natural disaster, blood donor) and more. This indicates that the Coles Agreement provides much more benefit as compared to the General Retail Industry Award. 9

Furthermore, there are a wide range of obligations as an employer towards the employees such as employer tax obligations, pay and entitlements, superannuation and more (Queensland Government, 2020). Employers must be aware of the 2 main taxes which are pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and payroll tax. Employers must register for PAYG withholding and payroll tax if the annual Australian taxable wages are more than $1.1 million in Queensland (Business Queensland, 2020). Furthermore, according to the Coles Supermarkets Enterprise Agreement 2017, the minimum wage rate of a Level 1 Team Member is $20.55 per hour and pay slips must be issued to employees within 1 working day of pay day (SDA, 2017). In addition, Coles is required to pay The Superannuation Guarantee (SG) for employees between 18 to 69 years old and is paid salary or wages that is $450 or more in a month. Employers are required to make SG contributions by the 28th day following the end of each quarter and the minimum employer contribution is 9.5% of the employees’ ‘ordinary time earnings’ (Business Queensland, 2020). However, in February 2020, Coles has admitted that some of the staff were paid a salary under the General Retail Industry Award instead of the Coles Supermarket Enterprise Agreement (Joyner, 2020). As a large & listed Australian company, this should not be happened in the first place and it is very inappropriate to exploit their own workers. To solve this problem, legislations such as Fair Work Ombudsman must constantly check on organizations to ensure that the employers are following the rules set by either the Agreement/Award in order to compensate the employees with the right amount.

10

3.2 Meso – firm level employer obligations As mentioned above, Coles has an enterprise agreement which is the Coles Supermarket Enterprise Agreement 2017. The agreement has stated that before the part-time employee commence any work, the employer is required to form an agreement to specify the hours worked each day; which days of the week and the employee will work; the actual starting and finishing times of each day; minimum daily engagement in three hours and the times of taking and the duration of meal breaks. According to the enterprise agreement, Coles is required to roster a part-time team member for at least three consecutive hours on any shift and will be paid for ordinary hours worked at the hourly rate prescribed for the class of work performed. Furthermore, the Coles Supermarket Enterprise Agreement 2017 has mentioned that a parttime team member is entitled to payments regarding annual leave, public holidays, personal leave and compassionate leave arising the enterprise agreement. Compared to the General Retail Industry Award, when a part-time employee works on Sunday, they will receive an additional 95% loading from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018; an additional 80% loading from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019; an additional 65% loading from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 and a penalty payment of an additional 50% loading from 1 July 2020 (SDA, 2017). The penalty rates for each day and time of day is included in appendix 4 below. In addition, the Agreement has mentioned that hours worked by part-time team members in excess of the agreed hours will be paid at time and a half for the first 3 hours and double time thereafter. Another benefit of this Agreement is when a part-time team member has worked over at least 12 months regularly in additional hours, the part-time team member may request to increase their permanent hours in writing. To ensure that obligations under the Coles Supermarket Enterprise Agreement is met by the organisation, Coles has a Code of Conduct that outlines the legal compliance and guidelines on appropriate ethical standards that the directors and employees need to adhere. The Coles Code of Conduct is in conjunction with the company’s other policies which are Equal Opportunity Policy; Diversity Policy; Whistleblower Policy and more which are stated in Appendix 5 below. Providing a diversity policy and equal opportunity policy is important for Coles as it removes 11

barriers and workplace equity for everyone and it also leads to a positive reputation for Coles as providing a diverse workplace and policy will ensure that Coles values everyone and provides an equal opportunity and diverse workplace in its operations (Kim & Park, 2017).

In 2017, a Coles manager has been complained for sexual harassment in workplace towards other employees working in Coles (Discrimination Claims, 2019). The Coles manager has then been investigated and was sacked by Coles. The reason why the manager has been sacked is because Coles has conducted a thorough investigation and process and adheres its discrimination policy to ensure that sex discrimination is strictly not allowed in the workplace. This shows that Coles has handled the situation well and followed its policy to ensure all employees have a safety and healthy workplace.

3.3 Micro – job role employer obligations In the Coles Supermarket Enterprise Agreement, Coles will provide trainings for the job role of Level 1 Team Member in Coles to ensure that the team member is equipped with certain skills to complete its job duties. Team members will still be compensated with the relevant wage rates or the relevant National Training Wage rate and an additional 47 cents per hour (SDA, 2017). The Coles Agreement has stated that when a team member enters a training agreement as an adult apprentice, the team member must not suffer a reduction in their minimum wage. This initiates that the policy has ensure that a team member that enters into a training agreement will still at least receive the minimum wage, which the information provided in the Agreement is sufficient and complete.

Furthermore, employers have the duty to provide employees a healthy and safe environment in the workplace. Coles Supermarkets has the “Health Safety and Wellbeing Policy” to provide a safety and healthy environment for all of Coles’ stakeholders including the employees, customers, suppliers, contractors and more (Coles group, 2020). In addition, Coles has a comprehensive safety management system which is “SafetyCARE” that manages the risks and hazards that come into Coles’ business operation to ensure employees safety and wellbeing (Coles group, 2020). This policy will ensure that all employees in Coles are provided with a safety environment to work in. Furthermore, the Coles Health Safety and Wellbeing Policy has mentioned that Coles has a 12

comprehensive injury and claims management process to ...