Are you getting what you paid for?

We regularly hear about companies not paying their employees correctly.  But what happens when it’s the other way around?

We were approached by an electricity provider who had concerns about their Energy Traders.  The roster, leave and TOIL rules had been compiled from the several sites that had previously been amalgamated under one new company.  Employees were concerned that they were working more hours than they were contracted for, and that they were significantly underpaid.

The Traders were contracted to work an average of 40 hours per week using a roster that used 5 weeks of 12.5 hour shifts to ensure 24 hours/7 days coverage with a 30 minute handover each shift.

The sixth week of the roster (plus any additional shifts worked during the first 5 weeks) was used for relief cover for leave, absenteeism and training. If they weren’t working on relief cover, the 6^th week was worked as 5 x 9 hour dayshifts Monday to Friday.  Due to the 9 hour shifts these weeks were also targeted for high usage of planned and unplanned leave as it resulted in more days off for the employee.

Any additional hours/shifts worked by the traders were tracked manually in a spreadsheet and employees were able to take additional days off as time off in lieu (TOIL) although these additional days off would also generally need or be covered by someone else.

Orkest analysed the hours/shifts worked, the hours tracker and all of the leave and absenteeism data over a two-year period and identified that:

• The base roster and maximum hours worked only averaged 36.7 hours per week but staff were being paid at 40 hours
• 10% of the hours paid for were not used as each employee was being paid for 172 hours per year that they did not work
• They were paid an average shift premium of 31.5% shift each week but should have a received a maximum of 29.7% (or 6% less)
• Annual leave accruals were 200 hours per year (from 5 weeks leave x 40 hours) but because the actual working week was 36.7 hours they actually received 5.4 weeks leave per year (triggering more relief cover requirements)
• The application of rules for accruing additional TOIL hours on public holiday night shifts allowed them to accumulate double the amount they should because they counted two night shifts – the one that started the night before the public holiday and the one that started on the actual day

Clearly the employees had not been disadvantaged by their pay arrangements and hours of work.

Are you getting what you paid for under your current work arrangements?