Latest news with #AustralianWorkers
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Redundancy warning as 'massive risk' behind controversial pay request exposed
Australian workers are being urged to tread carefully if they're asking to be paid more because they've had to take on extra responsibilities. Redundancies are happening left, right, and centre across the country as many companies try to weather tough economic conditions. In the 12 months to February, 233,800 workers were retrenched, and those employment gaps can cause remaining staff to be saddled with more work. But recruitment expert Tammie Christofis Ballis told Yahoo Finance you should weigh up your options if you want to be compensated for this additional workload. "In today's world, where you're treated more as a number than a person in corporate Australia, it's a massive risk," she said. "Your manager could think you're going to become a problem because you're not going to do your work, then maybe they might make your role redundant too." RELATED Bleak pay reality exposed for 'desperate' Aussie jobseekers Superannuation 'red alert' for millions as $1 billion in retirement savings feared lost Woolworths payment change hits dozens of supermarkets Popular Canadian TikToker Laura Whaley posted a video roleplaying the scenario described above. She acted as both worker and manager in the viral clip. The employee expressed that her job title and compensation should be amended if she's required to do more work in the wake of several redundancies. "I'm not interested in being a long-term solution for the company being understaffed," she said, noting that a title change can help improve her CV and confirm to other employers her additional responsibilities. It sparked a big debate in the comments section, with some siding with the worker, and others saying you could be pushing your luck."I wish I had the knowledge/confidence to have done this in previous jobs. I took on the extra responsibilities thinking it would help me with promotions in the long run… It did not," said one worker. "Tried this conversation with my bosses, and their response was to make a daily check-in meeting to micromanage me," added another. A third wrote that this would be a "great way to get added to the next round of layoffs". Another cautioned young people from following this route. Ballis told Yahoo Finance it will be different for every worker and every business, so it's hard to give a clear path forward. However, she highlighted that some work contracts might have a clause that states you might have to take on extra work when required. Unfortunately, your hands might be tied if that's the case. "A lot of job descriptions are very vague and they do that on purpose," she said. "They do that to cover themselves when situations like this happen." Ballis echoed what others said about risking your own employment if you asked for more pay, but she didn't completely discount it and said it was perfectly reasonable in the right circumstances. She told Yahoo Finance you shouldn't demand a title change or additional compensation in the same meeting where you're told you'll be taking on more work. "Organise a proper meeting with your boss to discuss it," she said. "But be prepared. This is where people get it wrong. They just ask for a pay rise with no backup. You need to outline the responsibilities you're taking on and explain why you're asking for this compensation." She said you could even have a chat with your manager and the wider team to address what you can and can't do and whether others could pick up the slack. Some co-workers might have more free time to tackle certain tasks and it could lighten the load if it's communicated properly. A redundancy is different to getting fired. If you're let go, it could be because of your performance, behaviour, conduct or another factor. However, if you're made redundant, it means the business does not require that position to be worked by anyone. People2people recruitment revealed in February the retrenchment rate was at 1.7 per cent in the previous 12 months. The second half of 2022 saw that rate hover around 1 per cent, and while it might have increased since then, it's still below the 2 per cent average recorded between 2010 to 2019. However, anxiety over being made redundant is on the rise. More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of workers are concerned that redundancies will occur at their company in 2025, according to Robert Half. A whopping 92 per cent are already taking steps to increase their employability if they do need to find a new role. Interestingly, more than a third (39 per cent) are prioritising firming up their job security rather than their pay in 2025, compared to 21 per cent who believe pay is more in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
30-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Australian Workers Get a Final Boost to Their Retirement Savings
From today, Australian workers get a final boost to their mandatory retirement contributions — a key milestone for the country's A$4.1 trillion ($2.7 trillion) pension system. Employers will now be required to pay the equivalent of 12% of workers' wages — the last scheduled increase to a number that's steadily climbed since the current superannuation system was created in the early 1990s. Back then, employers contributed the equivalent of 3% of wages.
The Guardian
20-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Australians can look forward to a bigger nest egg as super guarantee rises to 12%
Australian workers can look forward to a bigger nest egg, with an increase to the superannuation guarantee to add tens of thousands of dollars to the average super account. From 1 July, employers' minimum required contribution to employees' superannuation accounts will rise from 11.5% to 12%. It is the latest and last in a series of incremental increases from 9% over more than a decade since they were legislated by the Rudd-Gillard Labor government in 2012. With the latest bump, a 30-year-old earning $60,000 would have an extra $20,000 in super by retirement, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia. It will add about $300 each year to the superannuation of a worker on a $60,000 salary, or $500 for someone on a $100,000 salary. 'The system foundations are cemented for young, working people to have a comfortable retirement,' the ASFA chief executive, Mary Delahunty, said. 'It's a moment all Australians should be proud of.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The association said the cost of a comfortable retirement had increased 1.6% in the past year, while the cost of a modest retirement rose 1.7%. A 'comfortable' retirement includes top-level health insurance, a reasonable car and leisure activities. The cost of either outcome was increasing slower than Australia's current 2.4% headline inflation but retiree budgets remained under pressure from rising food, energy and health costs. Couples on average need $73,900 annually for a comfortable retirement, while most singles require $52,300 a year, ASFA says. For a modest retirement covering the basics, couples needed $48,200 each year, singles $33,400, or for renting couples, $64,250, and $46,660 each year for singles who rent. The figures underlined the importance of increasing Australia's housing stock, Delahunty said. 'They also illustrate how super can be the difference between hardship and stability later in life, especially for renters.' For some workers, the extra contribution would come from their existing pay package, according to CPA Australia's superannuation lead, Richard Webb. 'It's a good idea to check with your employer to see how they view the changes and what it means for you,' he said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Workers on contracts with a total remuneration package could see a slight drop in their take-home pay, while those on award or enterprise agreements would likely receive the contribution on top of their current pay. When compulsory superannuation was introduced in 1992 – in part to reduce government spending on the age pension – only one in 10 Australian retirees listed super as a source of income. Nine in 10 people between 30 and 50 now have super. Government spending on the age pension was projected to fall from 2.3% of gross domestic product in 2020 to 2.0% by 2062-63, despite a doubling of the over-65 population and a trebling of over-85s over the same period. However, the super guarantee increase would not help those who missed out on paid work for extended periods, the Super Consumers Australia chief executive, Xavier O'Halloran, said. '(For) people who have caring responsibilities or who have been locked out of the unaffordable housing market … increasing SG further won't address those inequalities,' he said. O'Halloran said there was more that could be done to support people struggling in retirement, when a significant portion of their autumnal years' savings were made. 'Right now, there are no minimum standards for retirement products like there are for MySuper,' he said. 'There is also no performance testing of retirement products, so super funds can still sell poor products.'
Daily Mail
05-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE How a 'DOUBLE' pay rise is on its way for millions of Aussie workers next year
Low-paid Australian workers could be getting a huge 'double' pay increase of more than seven per cent in 2026 - with the likes of dry cleaners and restaurant staff to be the key beneficiaries. A major employer group has warned the potential pay spike could threaten the jobs of low-skilled workers, given it would follow the Fair Work Commission awarding a 3.5 per cent pay rise to 2.9million workers beginning on July 1 this year. That latest increase applies to workers on awards and the 200,000 Australians on the minimum wage. But a hidden clause in the industrial umpire's decision proposed scrapping a key employment classification, which could come into effect in July 2026. This would automatically grant a 3.6 per cent pay rise to the very lowest paid, regardless of the following annual wage review decision - because these workers will be moved on to a higher pay grade. This pay rise would also be on top of what the commission decides for an upcoming minimum wage increase in 2026-27. If it matched this year's 3.5 per cent increase, it would mean low paid workers are in line for a double-up pay increase of 7.1 per cent. Employer groups have warned the series of pay rises could lead to job cuts. But Tim Kennedy, the national secretary of the United Workers Union which represents the likes of cleaners and hospitality workers, said the minimum wage rise was about helping the lowest paid to survive. 'When workers can't afford rent, food or petrol, the wage floor is clearly too low,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'The decision is a lifeline, but we'll continue fighting until wages are genuinely liveable for everyone.' Professor John Buchanan, a labour market researcher at the University of Sydney, told Daily Mail Australia the Fair Work Commission had a 'very timid' approaching to making wage decisions. 'They are very keen to ensure that their decisions are not seen as irresponsible and potentially behind a jacking up or a prolonging of high interest rates,' he said. 'The minimum wage and the awards system is about what kind of civilisation we are. 'Wages policy isn't just about economic efficiency and equations in an econometric model. 'This is the signal we send to ourselves and our society about how we treat the most vulnerable in the labour market and by having a wages structure that ensures those at the lowest reaches can live some semblance of a decent life.' Australia's 200,000 minimum wage workers on the existing C13 classification will be getting $24.95 an hour from July 1, following the latest increase. Their weekly pay is going up by $32.10 to $948, which translates into a $1,669.20 annual increase for those putting in a 38-hour week. Those working full-time on the lowest pay will be getting $49,296 a year from next month. There is a 3.6 per cent gap between the C13 classification, which the Fair Work Commission wants to scrap, and the better paid C12 classification, which those on the minimum wage could be transferred on to in July 2026. Workers on the C12 classification will be getting $25.85 a hour from July 1 this year. That equates to $982.20 a week or $51,074 a year. Minimum wage earners, now on $24.10 an hour or $915.90 a week, would effectively have enjoyed a 7.3 per cent wage increase in four weeks' time had the C13 classification been scrapped immediately. The Australian Industry Group's chief executive Innes Willox said the Fair Work Commission's proposed classification change for those on the minimum wage would threaten jobs. 'This would impose major cost increases on many thousands of employers in the hospitality, restaurants, clubs, horticulture and pastoral industries,' he said. 'There is simply no justification for such a large increase in minimum wage rates for kitchen hands, glassies, farm hands, hotel cleaners and similar low-skilled jobs, on top of the annual wage review increase that would also apply. 'Such a move would threaten the livelihoods of many business owners and the jobs of many workers.' But Prof Buchanan said a big wage rise for the lowest one per cent of workers, on the minimum wage, was hardly unreasonable. 'I've been studying, following wages policy now, professionally, since 1985 and I can't remember a time when any employer group ever has said, "This is a sound wages decision",' he said. 'If we had been listening to them for 40 years, people would be living on poverty wages - they basically cry wolf so many times, they lose all credibility when they make that point.' ACTU secretary Sally McManus said lower-paid Australians deserved to be valued at work. 'We welcome the Fair Work Commission's recognition that the real value of award wages should be restored, particularly for lower-paid Australians,' she said. 'Feeling more valued at work creates the working conditions for more productive businesses and a more resilient economy.' A change in classification would affect workers on awards covering manufacturing, hospitality, restaurants, clubs, horticulture and dry cleaning and laundry. Minimum wage workers received an 8.6 per cent pay increase in July 2023 when the old C14 classification was scrapped and something similar could happen in July 2026. The latest 3.5 per cent increase was well above the 2.4 per cent headline inflation rate and above the overall 3.4 per cent increase in wages for all Australian workers in the year to March.
SBS Australia
03-06-2025
- Business
- SBS Australia
Minimum wage rise will deliver first above-inflation increase in years
Minimum wage rise will deliver first above-inflation increase in years Published 3 June 2025, 8:22 am Millions of Australian workers will pocket an above-inflation wage increase within weeks. The Fair Work decision is intended to correct a decline in real wages among the lowest paid, but employers are questioning whether it will be sustainable.
