Changes in Work Test for People Receiving Income Support Reflected Transformation in Policies - Essay Example

Running Header: Essays Student’s Name: Course Code: Date Of submission: Essay 1 Introduction Income support payment in Australia was developed as social approach that aims at cushioning the vulnerable segment of the population as a result of their low income and material deprivation (Australian Council of Social Service, 2012, p.6). However, Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010) notes that the percentage of those who are receiving Income support payment has been on an upward spiral. For instance, they note that in 1901, only a paltry of 1% of the total Australian population aged 15 and above was receiving Income support payment. These rose to 12% in the early 1970s then to 23.5% in 1979, a peak of 33% in 1996 and an average of 27% in 2008. Australia’s Future Tax System (2013) advances an interesting argument by postulating that Income support payment as a social institution will need to be adapted to the changing social and economic needs as informed by workforce participation, level of unemployment and the mix of full-time and part-time workers. To be proactive in this agenda, the government has initiated changes in the work test for recipient of income support which is an indication on the transformations in the principles underpinning policies concerned with unemployment. The aim of this discourse is to critically interrogate how changes in the work test for recipient of income support reflected transformations in the principles underpinning policies concerned with unemployment in Australia. Scope of the Discourse To critically underscore the importance of this engagement, the paper first examines the changes in the work test for recipient of income support in the Australian context. Secondly, the paper outlines the principles that are underpinning policies concerned with unemployment in Australia and lastly, the paper build a nexus between the two so as to show how changes in the work test for recipient of income support reflected transformations in the principles underpinning policies concerned with unemployment in Australia. Changes in the Work Test for Recipient of Income Support Income support is a form of social security advanced to the deprived that are not able to sustain themselves through work and savings so as to ensure they have minimum standards of living. This is anchored on various legislations pertaining to social security such as Social Security Act 1991 (Cth), Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth). Second are the legislations relating to family payments like Family Assistance Act 1999 (Cth) and Family Assistance (Administration) Act 1999 (Australian Law Reform Commission, 120/7). There are various income support extended to various segments of Australian society. These include pensions, sole parent payments & allowances and other major allowances such as youth allowance and career payment (Australian Council of Social Service, 2012, p.7). Now, let us examine the test changes that have occurred and have to be met by the recipient for various categories outlined earlier. According to Australian Law Reform Commission (120/7) these changes have been a subject to 2010 tax review which covered tax transfer system, the 2009 pension review that factored in pension payments for senior citizens, careers & people with physical challenges and lastly, the 2012 review by the Senate Committee on Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References on the adequacy of the allowance payment system & impact of the changing nature of the labour market. As a result of these changes, means testing and employment income is based on two approaches which are income test and asset test. These two are applied concurrently and the one that results in the least amount is adopted. The two are tied on two structural elements which are ‘free area’ and ‘withdrawal rate’. In this regard, free area ‘allows a person to have a threshold level of income or asset before eligibility for the full rate of payment is affected’ and withdrawal rate ‘subsequently reduces the rate at which a payment is made as income and/ or assets increase’. In other words, the payment reduces as ones assets increases. This new approach allows one to earn income from employment while still on income support. However, this differs as per different payments. For instance, retirees are not expected to engage in paid work, their payments tappers slowly as compared to those under allowance payment (Australian Law Reform Commission, 120/7). Principles Underpinning Policies Concerned With Unemployment in Australia and Reflected Transformations Over the years, various governments in Australian have outlined numerous policies in relation to unemployment visa-vies income payment. The underlying principle in relation to policies concerning unemployment in Australia is based on the active societal concept. In this regard, to discourage people from relying on income payment as a result of unemployment, one pre-condition that is set out is that one must be actively searching for a job. The culmination of this approach was in 1986 where the emphasis for qualification for income support was shifted from ‘passive unemployment benefit to ‘active’ new start and job seekers allowance. From 1991, rigorous procedures were introduced and sanctions for non-compliance developed. In the mid 1990s, labour party introduced the concept of a Working Nation that aimed at expanding the labour market so as to reduce those depending on stipends from government. In addition there have been policies like mutual obligation targeting those under 20 (Eardley and Matheson, 1999, p.1 & 2). Moreover, in 1999, the government introduced a mandatory programme that would ensure that those with literacy and numeracy problems undergo remedial course lest they face reduction in their benefits (Eardley and Matheson, 1999, p.2). In a nutshell, the principle underlying the unemployment policy is ‘active’ individual who does not wait to be paid while passive. From the above reviews, the underlying principle is to encourage people to actively engage in employment or other economic activities that can enable one accrue income instead of depending on monthly stipends from the government which is derived from those who are actively engaged in economic activity. Indeed one of the underlying pre-qualifications are that one must be actively looking for employment (Australian Law Reform Commission, 120/7). Conclusion The ultimate concern of this paper was to critically discuss how changes in the work test for recipient of income support reflected transformations in the principles underpinning policies concerned with unemployment in Australia. In the discourse, it was established there are numerous legislative changes that have been done in relation to means testing and employment income. These legislative change targets areas like social security and family payments and they include tax transfer system and the 2009 pension review. These two brought the issue of income test and asset test. As a result of these two, the changes in the work test for recipient of income support reflected transformations in the principles underpinning policies concerned with unemployment in Australia has been impacted on by moving from passive agenda to active agenda. References Australia’s Future Tax System 2013. Final Report, Part 2: Detailed Analysis-The transfer system. Retrieved on 6 June, 2013 from: http://taxreview.treasury.gov.au/content/FinalReport.aspx?doc=html/publications/Papers/ Final_Report_Part_2/chapter_f1-2.htm. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010. Income support among people of working age. Retrieved on 6 June, 2013 from: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features50Mar+2010. Australian Council of Social Service 2012. Who is missing out? Material deprivation and income support payments. ACCOSS Paper 187, pp. 1-20. Australian Law Reform Commission 2013. Social security: Australian social security system. Retrieved on 6 June, 2013 from: http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/7-social-security/australia%E2%80%99s-social-security- system. Eardley, T. & Matheson, G. 1999. Australian attitudes to unemployment and unemployed people. SPRC Discussion Paper No. 102. Available at: http://intlstudies.arts.unsw.edu.au/media/File/dp102.pdf. Essay Two Achieving an appropriate balance between paid work and daily living is a significant challenge for many workers. Working parents are particularly affected as they cannot stop working in order to take care of family or personal obligations (Baxter and Chesters, 2011, p.139). The achievement of balance between work and life/family has been an issue of significant concern for successive Australian governments in the last couple of decades. The inability to achieve balance between work and life/family obligations not only lowers the welfare of workers, but also adversely affect the development of the country (OECD, n.d). The purpose of this essay is to provide a critical discussion on the principles and assumptions on how successive Australian governments have attempted to assist families to balance paid work and care. This paper shall pay more attention on family initiatives. The concept of work-life continues to receive significant emphasis and attention not only from workers and employees, but also from the media, academic literature, as well as politicians. John Howard, former Australian Prime Minister acknowledged work-life balance as being fundamental to the Australian way of life when he dubbed his government’s initiative on work-life balance ‘barbecue-stopper’. According to Hudson (n.d), in the Australian perspective it is imperative for employers to emphasize work-life balance policies, initiatives as well as practices with the objective of attracting and retaining talent from both traditional sources as well as untapped and diverse social groups in Australia. The Australian government has made it a policy requirement for employers to not only encourage, but also emphasize work-life balance policies which meet the needs and benefit both employers and employees. However, merely creating, encouraging or emphasizing work-life policies by employers are not satisfactory. Fostering an organizational culture which facilitates the use of such policies is of significant importance. Figure 1 below depicts the five distinct work-life balance culture aspects which are essential the improvement of employee work-life balance. Figure 1: Dimensions of organizational work/life culture Source: (Hudson, n.d, p.15) International legislative reforms have significantly influenced Australia’s perspective on work-life balance concerns. Some of these legislative initiatives include; Workers with Family Responsibilities 1981; legislation on anti-discrimination and affirmative action; International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 156; as well as Several industrial relation changes. Due to these legislative initiatives, employers with more than 100 employees in Australia are mandatorily required to file reports on their employees’ work-life balance policies; expand their legal protections to include employees with family responsibilities, provision of part-time work up to the second birthday of a child, and childcare support (Hudson, n.d, p.6). Organizational policies on work-life balance support the development of public policies in support of responsibilities outside paid employment. As such, the Australian government encourages employers to develop and adopt policies which facilitate the nexus between work and family life. Such strategies are aimed at enabling employees coordinate and integrate work and non work aspects of their lives. With regard to this, successive Australian governments have encouraged organization in the country to adopt three broad strategies on work-life balance for their employees. These include: flexible work options strategies; specialized employee leave policies; and dependent-care benefits strategies. A range of policies and organizational practices encourage the viability and achievement of these strategies. These include: compressed work schedules and flexible work times; telecommuting; job sharing; work at home programs; part-time work; shorter work time and days for parents; paid maternity leave, sabbatical, paternity and care for sick family members; onsite/near site childcare programs; re-entry schemes and phased retirement; professional counseling; life skills trainings; relocation assistance; and subsidized exercise/fitness centre for employees among others (Hudson, n.d, p.6). Bell, Ranjendran and Theiler (2012, p.26) postulate that work-life balance issues are crucial for organizations. The concern for these issues is of significant importance not only at an organizational level, but also at employee level. Organizations which emphasize long term work-life balance initiatives/culture for their employees create positive attitudes among their employees towards work as well as employee loyalty to the organization. In addition, work-life balance initiatives indirectly benefit organizations through minimized job stress, increased employee wellbeing, and decreased employee burnout. Good work-life balance initiatives are directly associated with employee job satisfaction, organizational citizenship and commitment, increased equity and diversity, increased organizational performance and productivity, as well as lower turnover intention. In addition, satisfactory level of balance between work and life at the employees’ level are linked to family, life, leisure and marital satisfaction, and family performance. Hudson (n.d, p.13) argues that successive Australian governments emphasized work-life balance initiatives due to its benefits to both employers and employees. Figure 2 below summarizes some of these benefits. Figure 2: Benefits of work-life balance Source: (Hudson, n.d, p.13) Various studies have linked the absence of work-life balance to various adverse implications not only at organizational levels, but also at individual employee levels (Baxter and Chesters, 2011, p.139). The absence of employee work-life balance generates work-life conflict which is directly associated to decreased job satisfaction, reduced organizational commitment, lower organizational performance and productivity, minimal levels of career satisfaction and success, as well as rising levels of employee absenteeism and intentions to quit. At employees' level, the lack of work-life balance may lead to job stress, employee burnout, drug and other substance abuse, spoor psychological and physiological health, as well as reduced family functioning (Bell, Ranjendran and Theiler, 2012, p.26). The purpose of this essay was to provide a critical discussion on the principles and assumptions on how successive Australian governments have attempted to assist families to balance paid work and care. This paper paid more attention to family initiatives. In a nutshell, the concept of work-life balance or rather work-family balance has recently gained much attention from not only academic literature, but also successive Australian governments. The concept is concerned with work, family and personal responsibilities and is regarded as the absence of conflict resulting from work, personal as well as family roles and responsibilities. Balance and conflict with regard to work, family and personal roles are distinct construct. However, they coexist and employees often experience can concurrently experience high levels of both constructs. Work-life balance can thus be regarded as the degree to which an employee can balance the time, emotional and behavioral demands of work, family and personal responsibilities. Successive Australian governments have continued to emphasize policies which foster the balance between employee work and life among organizations in the country. References Baxter, J. and Chesters, J. 2011. “Perceptions of Work-Family Balance: How Effective are Family-Friendly Policies?” Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 14(2): pp. 139-151. Bell, A.S., Rajendran, D. And Theiler, S. 2012. “Job Stress, Wellbeing, Work-Life Balance and Work-Life Conflict among Australian Academics.” Electronic Journal of Applied Psychology, 8(1): pp. 25-37. Hudson. N.d. The Case for Work/Life Balance: Closing the Gap between Policy and Practice. [Accessed June 6, 2013]. Available at: http://au.hudson.com/Portals/AU/documents/Hudson2020_Work-Life.pdf OECD. N.d. Work-Life Balance. [Accessed June 6, 2013]. Available at: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/work-life-balance/ Read More