Impact of Amended Fair Work Ombudsman on HRM Practices in Australian Retail Industry

This paper analyzes the impact of the amended Fair Work Ombudsman on HRM practices in the Australian retail industry. It discusses the regulations and their implications for HR professionals and retail enterprises.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: A CASE OF THE IMPACT OF THE
AMENDED FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN ON HRM PRACTICES OF THE
AUSTRALIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction
As opined by Guest (2017), the human resource management (HRM) department of
the different business enterprises over the years have been relegated to the background of the
enterprises however in the present times it had been seen that because of the extensive focus
of the business enterprises on the enhancement of profitability the aspect of effective
management of human capital had gained prominence. Townsend, McDonald and Cathcart
(2017) are of the viewpoint that the HRM department adds value to the business enterprises
through the creation of effective job designs, planning, formulation of policies and others
which in turn enable the business enterprises to effectively utilise as well as manage their
human capital. An important aspect of the work of the HR professionals is the fact that the
practices or the policies that they formulate for the management of the human capital of the
business enterprises to which they are associated needs to comply with the stipulations or the
regulations given by the national government of the nation of the operations of the enterprise
(Prowse & Fells, 2016). In this regard, it needs to be said that this is to ensure that the
activities followed by the business enterprises are in conjunction with the mandates or the
regulations provided by the national government which in turn through these policies or
practices tries to safeguard the interests of the workers (Cook, 2018). In this context, mention
needs to be made of the Fair Work Ombudsman which was amended by the Australian
Government in 2017 with the intention of offering the right kinds of benefits to the workers.
This paper intends to analyse the impact the amended Fair Work Ombudsman on the HRM
practices followed by the retail industry.
Overview of the amended Fair Work Ombudsman
Goering and Wienk (2018) have articulated the viewpoint that the “Fair Work Act
2009 (FW Act)” or the “Fair Work Regulations 2009” are a unique feature of the nation of

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Australia and the primary purpose of this legislation or the policy of the Australian national
government is to safeguard or protect the interests of the working-class individuals of the
concerned nation. As a matter of fact, Fairwork.gov.au (2019) states that the concerned
regulation highlights the nature of relationship which should exists between the business
enterprises of Australia and their employees or for that matter the manner in which the
business enterprises of the concerned nation are supposed to treat or manage their workers.
The resultant effect of this is that HR professionals related to the different business
enterprises are required to effectively integrate the different precepts within the framework of
the policies that they are using for the management of the human capital and thereby offer
flexible working options to the individuals, minimum entitlements or wages which the
employees require to sustain themselves, fostering of fairness at work, prohibition of all
forms of discrimination and others (Renwick, 2018). However, it had been seen that despite
the best initiatives of the Australian government to safeguard the interests of its working-
class individuals it had been seen that these individuals are subjected to if not the above kinds
of issues but other ones within the spectrum of the different workplaces of Australia (Kotey,
2017). For example, it had been seen that the workers within the spectrum of different
industries like hospitality, tourism, retail and others are required to work round the clock and
even on Sundays (Hu & Jiang, 2018). More importantly, in some of the cases it had been that
they are being forced to work past-midnights which is completely contradictory to the
working hours stipulations offered by the act under discussion here. The national government
of Australia, thus, sought to address this issue by amending the Fair Work Ombudsman in
2017 which stated that heavy penalties would be imposed on the enterprises of Australia
wherein the employees are forced to work beyond the normal stipulated working-hours
prescribed by the Fair Work Act (2009) (Fairwork.gov.au, 2019). Furthermore, this

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stipulation was made applicable from 1 November 2018 and within the particular context of
the retail industry, the Retail Award includes the following-
 the Saturday rate for casuals
 the weekday evening penalty rate for casuals
 the Sunday shift-work rate for all employees.
Goering and Wienk (2018) are of the viewpoint that this amendment of the Fair Work
Ombudsman by the Australian national government is likely to have important connotations
for the practices as well as the policies which are being followed by the HR professionals and
also the business enterprises for the management of the human capital that they have. The
resultant effect of this is that the HR professionals and also the business enterprises would be
required to modify or amend the HR practices that they had been following so as to comply
with this regulation of the Australian national government.
Impact of the Fair Work Ombudsman on HR practices of the retail sector of Australia
Sutton-Brady, Kamvounias and Taylor (2015) have articulated the viewpoint that the
retail sector of Australia is the one wherein it is seen that the workers are required to work for
long hectic hours so as to meet or achieve the aggressive targets that they are being given. As
discussed by Clarke (2018), one of the probable reasons for the late night shifts and also the
work on Sundays as well as Saturdays that the workers in the retail sector are required to
perform can be ascribed to the fact lifestyle of the Australian people wherein it is seen that
the people often go out to shop past the normal working hours of the retail outlets. The
resultant effect of this is the HR professionals related to the different business enterprises of
the retail industry have thereby planned as well as created the job designs on the basis of this
trend shown by the customers. However, the major problem arises because of the fact these
practices are not only in complete disregard of the stipulations provided by the Fair Work

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Policy (2009) but also the workers are not being offered any additional wages or perks for
working past their normal or stipulated working hours (Hu & Jiang, 2018). Thus, in the wake
of the amended Fair Work Ombudsman of 2017 the HR professionals and also the retail
enterprises would have to substantially change their practices so as to comply with the
stipulations of this stipulations of the Australian national government.
Heffernan and Dundon (2016) have discussed that the role of HR planning undertaken
by the HR professionals help them to identify the present as well as the future human capital
needs of the business enterprises so as to help it to achieve its business goals. The resultant
effect of this is that the process of HR planning is widely regarded as the link between the
strategic goals or the objectives of a business enterprises and its human capital (Hanley &
O'Rourke, 2016). The HR professionals are thereby required to undertake different kinds of
activities like analyse the present human capital demands of the enterprise, predict future
demands, balance the demand with adequate supply of human capital and finally support the
organisational goals (Vanhala & Ritala, 2016). For the attainment of these objectives, the HR
professionals are required to hire the right kind of employees, offer them adequate training so
that they are being to perform according to the needs of the enterprise, resolve the different
employee related disputes, offer the right kind of promotion to the employees on the basis of
their performance and others (Prowse & Fells, 2016). However, post the Fair Work
Ombudsman of 2017, the HR professionals would have to take into account the three
important precepts of the concerned stipulation and thereby modify the practices or the
policies followed by them.
In the retail sector of Australia, it is seen that the retail firms often have to work with
a limited workforce because of the labour crisis that the concerned nation is presently facing
(Bailey et al., 2015). Pandita and Ray (2018) have noted that the resultant effect of this is that
the workers are required to work for long durations in contrast to the stipulations of the Fair

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Work Policy (2009) of the national government so as to effectively manage the work of the
retail enterprises. However, in the wake of the concerned stipulation the HR professionals
would be required to plan in an effective manner not only the different job roles or the tasks
that the workers would be required to perform but also their shift timings as well. In this
regard, it needs to be said that Fair Work Policy (2009) clearly states the number of hours that
the workers would be required to work and also the remuneration that the enterprises need to
pay for the same (Bohlmann, Van den Bosch & Zacher, 2018). Thus, the HR professionals
have to create different shifts with adequate number of workers so as to effectively handle the
customer pressure at different hours of the day. In addition to these, in order to comply with
the stipulation regarding working on Sundays and the Saturdays, the HR professionals can
offer additional over-time wage and other kinds of perks to the employees who are doing the
same as per their wish or for that matter can take the help of different casual workers
(Townsend, McDonald & Cathcart, 2017). However, at the same time the HR professionals
would have to ensure the fact that these employees understand the strategic goals or the
objectives of the retail firms for which they are working and also the fact that their individual
goals or the objectives are in alignment with the same. This would help the HR professionals
to effectively plan the working hours of the employees in conjunction with the stipulations of
the Fair Work Policy (2009) without adversely affecting the profitability or the work of the
retail firms.
As discussed by Atkinson, Mallett and Wapshott (2016), an important role that the
HR professionals perform within the spectrum of the retail enterprises is the job role of
effectively designing the job roles that the different workers of the enterprise would be
performing. The HR professionals are thus required to formulate the kind of job that a
particular individual would be required to perform within the enterprise at what time or the
location, the manner in which the concerned job would be performed and also the benefit that

6HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
the concerned job is likely to offer to the enterprise (Heffernan & Dundon, 2016). In this
regard, it needs to be said that within the spectrum of the majority of the retail enterprises
prior to the Fair Work Policy (2009) it was seen that the enterprises did not have an effective
job design and they were required to work on different tasks on the basis of their urgency and
also the benefits that they would offer to the concerned enterprise (Hu & Jiang, 2018).
However, after the amendment of the Fair Work Policy in 2017, the HR professionals would
have to effectively plan the different facets of the job roles that the workers would be
required to perform within the enterprise keeping into account the diverse aspects of the
concerned policy of the national government of Australia (Naeem et al., 2019). This would
require the HR professionals to decide beforehand the kind of job roles that the workers
would perform, the location or the time at which they would be performed, the likely benefits
that it would offer to the enterprise and other aspects.
According to Bohlmann, Van den Bosch and Zacher (2018), the effective usage of the
Fair Work Ombudsman is likely to help the HR professionals to substantially improve the
quality of the work that the different employees related to the retail enterprises perform. In
this regard, it needs to be said that one of the most important that it is likely to offer is the fact
that it would make the workplace and also the jobs of the workers much more structured
which in turn would not only help the workers to understand their job roles but also perform
accordingly (Townsend, McDonald & Cathcart, 2017). More importantly, this is also likely to
reduce the workload or the pressure that the workers used to feel in the earlier times and this
in turn would enhance the quality as well as the quantity of the work that they perform
(Naeem et al., 2019). Furthermore, this would also help in a substantial manner to improve
the organisational or workplace culture of the retail enterprises and thereby positively affect
the quality of the work that the employees perform and the profitability of the enterprise (Hu
& Jiang, 2018). However, the HR professionals in order to ensure that the quality of the work

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performed by the workers in the wake of these changes can take the help of the tool of
performance management and others.
Recommendations
Two of the most important measures that the management teams of the retail
enterprises can take the help of for the effective usage of the Fair Work Ombudsman are
listed below-
 Integration of the precepts of the Fair Work Ombudsman within the Corporate
Governance policies followed by the enterprises is one of the feasible ways through
which the enterprises can effectively take into account the precepts of the Fair Work
Ombudsman without affecting their profitability. This would also require the
enterprises to substantially modify or amend the business activities or workplace
policies followed by them and also the manner in which the human capital of the
enterprise is being managed so as to comply with this policy of the Australian national
government.
 Modification of the HRM practices or the policies which is being used by the
enterprise is another option that the enterprises can use for the purpose of effectively
complying with the stipulations of the Fair Work Ombudsman. The usage of this
measure in turn would require the enterprise to effectively amend its HR planning
process, job design, benefits and compensation policies and others.
Conclusion
To conclude, the HR professionals and also the business enterprises are required to
comply with the stipulations of the national government regarding the management of human
capital for the different policies or practices that they use related to the same. In this regard,
the Fair Work Ombudsman is an important which highlights the manner in which the

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Australian business enterprises need to manage their human capital. However, at the same
time it needs to be said that the precepts of this regulation of the Australian government are in
direct contradiction to the actual HRM policies or human capital management policies which
are being followed by the enterprises. Thus, in order to comply with the stipulations of this
regulation the HR professionals and also the Australian business enterprises are required to
substantially modify the human resource management policies followed by them. These
aspects become apparent from the above analysis of the impact that the Fair Work
Ombudsman is likely to have on the HRM practices of the Australian retail sector.

9HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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