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Summer 2006

Small businesses fail to come to grips with Work Choices

The most recent small business survey conducted by the business software company MYOB reports that 40% of respondents have a low level of understanding of the new Work Choices legislation introduced by the Coalition Government.

The 'MYOB Australian Small Business Survey' surveyed small business owners around Australia, including 98 in the Health and Community Services sector.

When asked about how the new legislation will effect their recruitment patterns many small business owners felt the new legislation would have no significant effect on whether they were more or less likely to recruit new employees (38%), with only 17% claiming they were more likely to recruit new employees as a result of the new legislation. In contract, 31%, or almost a third of employers say that the new legislation makes them less likely to employ new staff.

In the Health and Community Services industry, this trend was even stronger, with 75% of employers saying that the new legislation would either not increase their recruitment or would not increase or decrease recruitment (33% strongly disagreed or disagreed and 42% were neutral when asked 'The new Work Choices legislation makes me more likely to take on more employees').

This survey data flies in the face of claims from the Federal Government that their new industrial relations laws would increase employment growth and create new jobs.

Likewise, when asked about the relationship between the new work laws and business productivity only 3% of businesses strongly agreed that the new legislation will make their businesses more productive.

Many small business owners also held concerns about the fairness of the new laws to employees, with 40% reporting that they felt the legislation was not fair to many employees and 42% believing that the new laws were unfair to low-skilled employees.