Prevalence Of Casualisation In Australian Tertiary Education Sector

Overview of Casualisation in the Tertiary Education Sector

Discuss about the Analysis Of The Effects Of The Casualisation On Both Employees And Employers In The Tertiary Education Sector In The Entire Australian Workforce.

The report discusses the prevalence of casualisation in Australia specially in the tertiary education sector. The workforce casualisation is defined as the process wherein there are different types of temporary hiring of the employees in the tertiary education sector. In this process of casualisation, the employees are hired as temporary workers rather than the permanent type of workers in the education sector.

The main reason for the cause of casualisation in the Australian economy is the forces of the supply and demand and moreover the different individuals are opting for casual labour in absence of the full time permanent employees. There are different positive and negative impacts of the casualisation on the employees who are working in the respective sector.

Furthermore, it has been seen that the employers of the higher education sector have both positive and negative impacts of the same in higher education sector. The different kind of factors has to be discussed that has created rise in casual employment in Australia and the negative impacts of the same on the different employees and employer in the entire higher secondary education sector.

There are different advantages of casualization both to employees and employers working in the education sector that includes flexibility in case of when the labour is high and efficient usage of the cost along with budget. On the other hand, it has been seen that there are different disadvantages of the casualisation that has left the different workers with risk of losing the jobs as they are recruited on temporary basis.

Cahir et al. (2014) has commented that there are different positive implications of the casual employment in Australian higher education sector. Over the last 16 years, casualization of the Australian workforce has increased to more than 27% and this has created huge positive implications on employees. In the education sector, the positive implications on the different employees include flexible working hours that can be suitable for them in order to deliver the different kind of services within time. The temporary employees receive higher pay in comparison to the full-time employees who are working in such sector for last couple of years.

Furthermore, it has been seen that the employees who are working with tertiary education sector are not bound with various contracts and there is no hard and fast rule to follow about the norms of the institution as well. The casualization in the workforce may lead to permanent job and work when the employee performs well in the tasks given to them.

Reasons Behind the Rise of Casual Employment

If the management of the institute is satisfied, then the employees can gain more experience in such field. In casualization, the employees who are working temporarily in the different institutes, they can come across different individuals and meet new individuals during their tenure of the work. Dall (2015) has commented that causal kind of jobs is useful in nature in obtaining more secure type of job and employment.

It has been seen that  Klopper and Power (2014) has commented that there are individuals in the society who feels that the casualization has helped them in obtaining job and employment and it is the transition from unemployment. Furthermore, the part time employment can become full time employment for them based on the performance that is shown by them while the tenure of the work (Ivancheva and O’Flynn 2016). It has been found in the various articles that different women in the casual employment had around 24.2% of gaining the on-going position in the education sector, whereas the male were more to the transition from temporary to permanent position that is around 36.8% (Knott et al. 2017).

However, on the other hand, there are different kind of negative impacts of the casualisation in the tertiary education sector. This casualisation process has become a trap for few of the employees who are employed in education sector. There are no such facilities of the employees as they do not receive benefits that includes annual leave, sick leave and other casual allowances (Houeland 2015). The security in the job performed by them is less or there is no such security at all that can be a danger for them in the future as the position is not stable in nature. The issue of stability is a big issue among the employees as this reduces the work and personal life balance.

The casual employment can marginalize the different workers from the mainstream and it has been noticed that there are different academics in the higher education sector wherein they are caught in the short-term contracts and this provides them with feeling of huge insecurity along with anxiety and frustration as they are not being able to plan for the future. McCann (2016) has commented and stated that the casual employment is the one wherein there is lack of security and uncertainty of the different short-term contracts that is demoralising the employees.

It has been noticed that the full-time workers have gained the most preference in the future in comparison to the different employees who have been engaged in the part time jobs as they were engaged in different casual employment in the future time (Ibekwe 2016). For the those who are working in the tertiary education sector, the opportunity for the transition to the secured kind of academic jobs are less in nature. It has been noticed that the experienced teachers who has normally hold the doctorate degrees, they gain much more experience and benefits in different fields of teaching (Lama and Joullié 2015).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Casualisation

The opportunity for the part time teachers are limited and the enhancement is less in nature as well. The particular situation is exacerbated the fact that the employees who are the part time teachers lack the different opportunities related to career as well. The examination between the casual employment along with career related opportunities in the higher education sector has been lessened (Mollo and Emuze 2017).

According to Loveday (2018), there are different positive implications of casualisation for the different employers who are working in the higher education sector in Australia. The employers or the chairperson of the education sector do not have to pay any such annual or sick leave for the employees who are working under them. On the other hand, Crawford and Germov (2015) has stated that the other advantage for the employers working in higher education sector includes that it reduces the expenses by hiring the casual employees when there is an urgent requirement in the institution.

Kimber and Ehrich (2015) has commented that the employers in the respective sector can gain huge productivity and efficiency in the job as the employers do not need to worry on the different aspects of the job. The employers in the respective sector has the capability to fire the employees who are underperforming and there are no such major costs incurred as well. There is huge influence of the casual employment on the employers in the tertiary education sector has experienced huge motivation for themselves and offered it to the employees who are working under them. It is seen that the employers are being able to provide preferences of employment to the different employees and this is helping them in gaining competitive advantage (Kalejaiye 2014).

Lastly, the employers are gaining huge competitive advantage in the market with casual employees and trying to make them work for more hours without any such extra bonus or pay. This is the main advantage or positive implication of the same on the employers in tertiary education sector wherein they are gaining profit by making the employees work more and there are no costs incurred in making them work for extra hours as well (Mercieca 2017).

On the other hand, there are negative implications of casualisation for the employers in the secondary education sector. According to (), it is hard for them to create a stable business to plan for the future as there is huge instability in the business performed by them due to casualisation. Furthermore, the employers in respective sector are required to pay more amount to employees on per hour basis and this is causing huge issues in the business.

Implications of Casualisation on Employees

According to (), there is no such settlement among the different workers as they are not settled and this leads to the unproductive workforce. The businesses can tend to lose the talented along with skilled employees in the organization who are seeking full time employment in the respective sector. () has commented that there has been huge structural change over the last few decades and this has increased the number of part time jobs in the different organizations.

From the graph, it can be suggested that there is huge rate of increase in the casualisation in the workforce of Australia from the year 1992 to 2008. The increase in the rate of growth of casualisation can be seen mostly in the age group of 15-24 age group and in entire Australia, there has been 27% across entire workforce over the last 16 years. The employers in the particular sector is finding it difficult to obtain finance as there is no such certainty in the employment in the job performed by them.

Furthermore, it is increasing and leading to the higher levels of the unemployment in the workforce and this has created profound effects on the different employers in the Australian workforce (Onoyeyan 2015). These kind of positive and negative impacts of casualisation has created huge social and economic implications on the business. Lastly, the employers in the education sector is losing profit in such a manner as they are required to pay the casual employees more than the permanent ones in organizations.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that there are different positive and negative implications of casualisation on both employees and employers in tertiary or higher secondary education sector. The actual growth of the casual employment in the entire Australian workforce has benefitted all the employment relations stakeholders. This has been caused as the fact that the causal work allows entire demographic to balance study, work and family. Casualisation concept has been successful amongst workers or employees to get their foot into the door.

Furthermore, it has been seen that the casual employment has generated greater profits for the business of tertiary education sector by reducing the wages expenses. It helped in creating greater productivity for the education sector that has increased the profit of the business effectually. The other benefit that has been gained by the employers in the higher education sector is that it has increased the long term casualisation employment in the respective sector.

Challenges Faced by Employers

In the Australian workforce, in the present scenario it has been noticed that the growth of the casualisation has been increased to huge extent which has provided the employees with flexible working hours. They have gained huge rate of higher pay in the domain wherein they are performing their tasks. The new platform will be generated by the employers for the employees in which they are not being signed any bond or not locked in any kind of contract as well. The casualisation in the Australian workforce has been increasing the casual jobs among the 15-24 age groups.

Lastly, there has been huge amount of positive and negative influences of the casualisation in the workforce that can be ascertained with the help of understanding and analysing the graph that indicates the employees of such group are enjoying such casual jobs as they think that the casual employment is better than the unemployment and this can provide them with different other options in the future. The social and economic implications have to be reduced that has been caused due to casualization in the entire workforce. The casual workers are under stress in Australia as they are under stress to perform the tasks within the specific deadlines. No benefits are provided to them that includes sick or annual leaves that can be a huge disadvantage for them. The casualisation needs to be addressed effectively in the society as there are more than 35% individuals whoa re being gaining from such casual jobs available in the society.

References

Cahir, J., McNeill, M., Bosanquet, A. and Jacenyik-Trawöger, C., 2014. Walking out the door: casualisation and implementing Moodle. International Journal of Educational Management, 28(1), pp.5-14.

Crawford, T. and Germov, J., 2015. Using workforce strategy to address academic casualisation: a University of Newcastle case study. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 37(5), pp.534-544.

Dall, E., 2015. Lessons in class and casualisation. Overland, (220), p.91.

Houeland, C., 2015. Casualisation and Conflict in the Niger Delta: Nigerian Oil Workers' Unions Between Companies and Communities. Revue Tiers Monde, (4), pp.25-46.

Ibekwe, C.S., 2016. Legal implications of employment casualisation in Nigeria: A cross-national comparison. Nnamdi Azikiwe University Journal of International Law and Jurisprudence, 7, pp.79-89.

Ivancheva, M. and O’Flynn, M., 2016. Between Career Progression and Career Stagnation: Casualisation, Tenure, and the Contract of Indefinite Duration in Ireland. In Academic Labour, Unemployment and Global Higher Education (pp. 167-184). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Kalejaiye, P.O., 2014. The Rise of Casual Work in Nigeria: Who Loses, Who Benefits?. African Research Review, 8(1), pp.156-176.  

Kimber, M. and Ehrich, L.C., 2015. Are Australia’s universities in deficit? A tale of generic managers, audit culture and casualisation. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 37(1), pp.83-97.

Klopper, C.J. and Power, B.M., 2014. The Casual Approach to Teacher Education: What Effect Does Casualisation Have for Australian University Teaching?. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(4), p.n4.

Knott, G., Crane, L., Heslop, I. and Glass, B.D., 2017. Perceptions on requirements to inform the design of a pharmacist tutor training programme. Pharmacy Education, 17.

Lama, T. and Joullié, J.E., 2015. Casualization of academics in the Australian higher education: is teaching quality at risk?. Research in Higher Education Journal, 28, p.1.

Loveday, V., 2018. The neurotic academic: anxiety, casualisation, and governance in the neoliberalising university. Journal of Cultural Economy, 11(2), pp.154-166.

McCann, D., 2016. Travel Time as Working Time: Tyco, the Unitary Model and the Route to Casualisation. Industrial Law Journal, 45(2), pp.244-250.

Mercieca, B., 2017. What are we doing to our early career teachers?: The issue of the casualisation of the teaching workforce. Australian Educational Leader, 39(1), p.38.  

Mollo, L. and Emuze, F., 2017. Casualisation of work in construction, and the plight of workers in Bloemfontein. Journal of Construction Project Management and Innovation, 7(2), pp.2018-2026.

Onoyeyan, G., 2015. Casualisation of Labour in Academic Libraries: Experience of Babcock University Library. Open Access Library Journal, 2(07), p.1.