How to negotiate better Enterprise Agreements

For most businesses, the focus of any Enterprise Agreement is to:

  • Build certainty and transparency about employment terms and conditions
  • Provide predictability for wage increases and labour costs

With a change of perspective, it is possible to incorporate productivity gains into an Enterprise Agreement.

Change your perspective

Too often, employers focus on issues that are important to them such as containing costs or securing a more flexible workforce. But they fail to consider the fears and concerns of their staff. As a result, negotiating any changes to their organisation’s Enterprise Agreement/s are a struggle.

According to research conducted on behalf of Ashurst LLP, a multinational law firm, when Australian employers attempt to negotiate changes to an Enterprise Agreement, they focus on:

70% Increased flexibility or changes to rosters

62% More flexible working hours

48% Increases to management’s ability to introduce changes

43% Increased flexibility of employment terms

On the other hand, the key issues of concern for Australian workers are:

62% Protecting the rights of union delegates

55% Inclusion of family/domestic violence leave

49% Limitations on the use of contractors, labour hire or other temporary labour

35% Provision for additional employer contributions to superannuation

22% Enhanced parental leave entitlements

With such divergent perspectives, no wonder 38% of respondents say negotiating an Enterprise Agreement takes between 6 – 12 months. A further 39% of respondents currently have more than 5 Enterprise Agreements operating within their organisation.

Consequently, reaching agreement and implementing Enterprise Agreements consumes a lot of organisational time and resources.

Success determined by a clear business case

Understanding the perspectives of both the employer and employees are the keys to incorporating productivity gains as they provide room to negotiate on areas that are important to each party.

This often requires an impartial expert to clarify any concerns and provide guidance on how to uncover common ground. Once that’s established, the conversation can focus on finding mutually beneficial outcomes.

Businesses that successfully negotiate productivity gains as part of an Enterprise Agreement are usually able to show a clear business case for implementing those changes while demonstrating highly beneficial outcomes for employees.

Help is at hand

Drafting a new Enterprise Agreement or making changes to an existing one is a delicate process that needs to safeguard the rights of employers and employees alike.

Once drafted, the majority of employees need to agree to its terms. Then it must be approved by the Fair Work Commission.

The team at End2End Business Solutions are experts in obtaining acceptance, agreement and approval of Enterprise Agreements. To discuss how they may be able to assist your organisation, call 02 8977 4002.