Casual Work – A lifestyle choice or a last resort for employment?

Christmas is coming closer, and with it come the holidays. Whilst in some industry sectors employees eagerly prepare to go on break and relax, others gear up to work over the holidays. Many employees are hired as casual workers to help out over the break. Some are hired as temporary casuals to cover up for those on leave and some are hired on a permanent casual basis to assist full time workers as and when needed. In either case, casual workers have a number of benefits and drawbacks due to the nature of their work. There is no fixed definition of casual employment in employment legislation so casual employment can be of varied kinds, depending upon the role and the requirements of the business. As a result workers are often unaware of their legal rights. Anyone considering to work on a casual basis needs to be aware of these factors and the necessary steps they can take when working on casual employment. Whether one chooses to work on casual for some extra income or simply as a way to pass time over the holiday period, it is important to take the benefits, drawbacks and legal rights into account.

The prime benefit to working on casual is the flexibility. Unlike standard fixed timings and days, casual workers are able to adjust their shifts to suit their needs. This is a great benefit for students especially, and also for those with other commitments such as families or multiple jobs. Casual workers can often work hours that full time employees are reluctant to work on, such as late nights, weekends and public holidays.

Although casual workers do have a certain amount of responsibility in their roles, it is considerably less than the ones full time workers, or fixed shift workers face simply due to the variability in the nature of their work.

Casual workers also have the opportunity of being able to increase or decrease their hours based upon their availability and needs of the workplace.

Casual work is useful as provides employees with the chances to try out roles in different fields before making a full time commitment to enter the industry. The varied experience is a great learning opportunity and teaches many different skills, which is always useful in the job market.

These benefits are what attract people to casual work and for some casual work may be ideal.

However casual work also has its drawbacks. Its very flexible which means there is little guarantee of a steady income. The unpredictability of the work often leaves the worker in constant insecurity, as work can come up at short notice. Due to instability, the pressure to work and earn may be increased thus despite having the opportunity to accept or decline the hours themselves. It is a competitive market, and if casual workers decline hours repeatedly they may find themselves unneeded and dismissed fairly quickly.

Casual workers also face stereotypes around their productivity, especially from other full time workers who believe that casual workers simply have less responsibility, thus must be unproductive. Thus casual workers must make extra effort to prove their reliability. Casual workers also do not have access to the same benefits and entitlements as permanent workers such as annual leave, sick leave compensation, insurance etc. These drawbacks can often be disadvantageous to casual workers, and some often end up working multiple casual jobs in order to support themselves.

Taking both the benefits and drawbacks into account, it is important to make sure all workers are aware of their legal rights. Both workers and employers must be clear about the terms and conditions of the employment agreement, which sets out the wage expectations, hours of work and dismissal policy. All workers are entitled to the minimum wage and legally cannot be lower regardless of the hours of work. Some employment agreements may set a minimum amount of casual work per week, but this depends upon the individual company. Most workers are subject to a 90-day probation period during which employers may dismiss workers if they feel the standard of work is unsatisfactory. However for casual workers often this dismissal policy extends to their duration of employment, as they are not protected in the same ways as full time and part time workers. Thus it is important to make sure the agreement is clearly understood by both the worker and the employer and if in case, the worker feels exploited, then to seek legal advice. Casual employments do have certain rights, and it is important to ensure that if responsibilities are being fulfilled then rights too must be given to the workers.

Casual employment can be ideal for some, and an alternative for others. Either way, it is important to consider the benefits, drawbacks and legal rights before engaging in casual employment.