The Australian Retailers’ Association wants retail workers to be able to choose a flexible, four-day work week and finish shifts early under a new, “simplified” general retail industry award.
Another proposed change would allow retail managers to choose an annual salary at a higher fixed rate over variable, hourly penalty rates.
ARA Chief Industry Affairs Officer Fleur Brown claimed that the amendments will remove some of the “enormous burden on small to medium businesses in particular” when it comes to keeping track of the GRIA’s hundreds of different retail pay rates.
“The complexity and onerous detail puts an enormous burden on small to medium businesses in particular who simply want to focus on fairly rewarding their team, doing the right thing by their customers and being part of the retail sector which is a crucial element of the Australian economy,” said Brown.
The Fair Work Commission will hear the ARA’s application to change the award next month. The hearing comes as a review into the GRIA initiated by the Federal Government in 2023.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew McKellar has praised the move.
“It sounds pretty reasonable to us, from a business point of view,” he said on Sky News last Friday. “In a lot of cases, these awards really aren’t modern, but here’s a chance to introduce some flexibility.”
When asked by Sky News journalistTom Connell about whether small-business owners would have difficulty juggling new and old employee remuneration systems, McKellar said this could potentially be a concern.
“This is something they’d have to look at, whether they can accommodate that flexibility with a small workforce,” he said.
