Modes of Employment Policy

The Government’s policy on Modes of Employment was introduced in May 2001 with the clear purpose of improving access to permanent work for casual and fixed term staff in roles that were essentially ongoing. The policy was part of the Government’s commitment to greater job security and improved entry-level opportunities for employees in the public sector. The policy has influenced trends to the extent that contract and casual positions that have been made permanent were more prevalent in lower classification levels. The conversion of these positions to permanent has possibly lowered the Equity Index for groups where there were a disproportionately high number of equity group members.

Harmonisation of Pay Scales under Single Agreement

For the Public Sector, differences in pay rates for staff at the same classification band under agency level Enterprise and Workplace Agreements in past years has led to some artificial movements in the Equity Index. While these have been minor, the movement from a wide range of salary scales to a single scale under a General Agreement provides for improved comparability in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 figures for the public sector.