Working Under AWAs: Perceptions From the Top

This paper reports on the perceptions of Senior Executive Service (SES) officers of the Australian Public Service (APS) on their move to individual employment contracts under Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA).The findings demonstrate that SES AWAs were implemented with high degrees of coercion on a template-based one-size fits all approach. Implementation left little or no scope for any individual negotiation on pay, benefits or conditions. The reported outcomes were initial pay increases followed by significant erosion of remuneration over the life of the agreements relative to other APS employees; loss of the collective SES identity; loss of a sense of public duty to the common good; heightened levels of distrust of agency heads; high degrees of alienation; differential outcomes between agencies for work perceived to be at the same level; loss of cross-agency mobility; abandonment of the career service concept; reduction in promotional and career opportunities; and the promotion of an inward agency focus.