Overall, research indicates that there are various patterns in the employment of Australian workers. Some of them are more likely to feel overworked. In particular, one should speak about knowledge workers who are responsible for the creation or distribution of content, analysis of information, design, and so forth. The working day of these professionals has been increased due to the development of information technologies; in many cases, these tools enable employees to work at home (Delaney 2013). Overall, this trend has been observed among many white-collar problems.
Additionally, these people understand that the work can be outsourced. In particular, many jobs can be transferred to countries like India or China where Australian companies can find many skilled professionals (Delaney 2013). Furthermore, the survey indicates that unskilled employees are more likely to work the standard number of hours (Delaney 2013). People are less pressured to work longer hours if their jobs are not affected by outsourcing and developments of new technologies. Furthermore, the decrease of working hours has been observed in educational institutions such as colleges. Thus, one cannot argue that this trend has affected every economic sector.
It is possible to compare the working conditions in Australia with the practices adopted in Japan. As a rule, Japanese employees work longer hours, even though there are laws requiring that the working day should equal 8 hours. This trend has been observed in various industries. Nevertheless, one should mention that companies usually offer additional compensation to workers. Apart from that, Japanese organisations offer long-term employment contracts to workers (Senda 2015, p. 53).
Furthermore, the compensation offered to employees is often based on seniority. In other words, if a person works in a company for a longer period; he/she is more likely to receive higher wages (Senda 2015, p. 53). As a result, many of them feel more committed to the goals of the company. Additionally, very often employees are pressured to spend more time on their workplace activities because those people who leave work earlier can be ostracised by other people (Senda 2015).
These people adopt a unitarist approach to the work of companies. In other words, everyone should be committed to the goals of companies. In contrast, Australian employees adopt a pluralistic view on organisations. So, one should not forget about the influence of culture on the behavior of employees because in many cases, a person has to follow the norms that are set by other co-workers.
In both cases, Australian and Japanese workers are compensated for working overtime. In Australia, this requirement is included in the Fair Work Act (The Government of Australia 2009). Japanese and American are based on such international treatises as the Declaration of Human Rights. Additionally, Australian legislators say that that an employer can ask employees to work longer hours, if these overtime is critical for meeting the needs of a company (The Government of Australia 2009).
Under such circumstances, employees and employers should negotiate the compensation that should be provided to the workers. Nevertheless, they are important differences. Australian workers are affected by such trends as the development of information technologies and insecurity of their employment. In contrast, in Japan, companies focus on various incentives that can motivate workers.
However, one should bear in mind that Australian workers are not necessarily affected by the need to work overtime. Much depends on the industry that they represent. In particular, knowledge or white-collar employees are more pressured to work overtime. In contrast, unskilled employees are less likely to feel overworked. On the whole, the behavior of people depends on their job security. Australian managers should emulate the practices of Japanese companies in order to increase the motivation of employees.
References
Delaney, B 2013, ‘Underworked, overworked: Australia’s two-speed workforce’, The Guardian. Web.
Senda, Y 2015, Childbearing and Careers of Japanese Women Born in the 1960s: A Life Course That Brought Unintended Low Fertility, Springer, New York.
The Government of Australia 2009, Fair Work Act. Web.