The term ‘work’ can infer a lot of meanings – there’s full time work, part time work, casual or contract work. There can be the work you do in the garden, there can be volunteer work, and there’s even that job of looking after children and running a household.
Today let’s look at the types of paid work you might encounter in the next few years of your working life. Working part-time or casually is often the way for young people to gain some experience in the workplace and earn some money while they’re still at school. Later on in life, you’ll probably start to work as a full-time employee.
Full-time
When you work as a full-time employee, you’ll generally work about a 38-hour week (depending on your workplace.) As a full time employee, you’re entitled to a range of benefits including paid annual leave (usually four weeks per year), and paid sick leave and personal leave. Whether you get paid for any overtime you work, will be arranged with your individual employer.
Part-time
A part-time worker has regular hours each week, but work fewer hours than a full-time employee. As a part time employee you’ll be given the same entitlements as full-time employer (annual leave, sick and personal leave), but will receive these in proportion to the hours you work. Whether you get paid for any overtime you work, will be arranged with your individual employer.
Casual
Unlike part-time or full-time employees, casual workers are employed on an hourly or daily basis. Casual workers may not have regular or guaranteed hours of work. They don’t get paid sick leave or annual leave, but will receive a higher hourly rate to compensate for this.
More than two million Australians are employed casually. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics however, this number is concerning as it implies that up to a quarter of the workforce are less likely to be involved in training programs, have less job security, and are likely to have poorer career opportunities. For more information about the rights of casual employees see this
ACTU fact sheet.
Contract work/labour hire
Less common than full time, part time and casual work is contract and labour hire employment. Sometimes employers will hire people as contractors and treat them like they are a small business or self-employed. This means that the ‘contractor’ will be responsible for their own superannuation, workers accident insurance and leave. Beware; sometime this is used unfairly to reduce the employees pay and rights.
Labour hire organisations employ people and then hire them out to companies. Therefore, the employee will be working under the direction of the company but actually be employed by the labour hire company.