Australian Workplace Agreements in Practice: The ‘Hard’ and ‘Soft’ Dimensions

The purpose of this paper is to assess the claim by the Office of the Employment Advocate (OEA) and the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business (DEWRSB) that Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) allow employers to integrate both the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ dimensions of ‘strategic’ human resource management (HRM) theory, providing greater efficiency and profitability, while also giving employees more flexibility. Based on a review of the literature and the content of 539 AWAs approved between March 1997 and June 1998, we conclude that the general trend of AWAs is towards the ‘hard’ HRM philosophy of minimisation of costs and maximisation of flexibility of hours. Provisions based around the developmental and personal needs of employees are relatively uncommon and, where they occur, are usually brief. Contrary to Government predictions, there is very little evidence that AWAs are being used to advance the philosophy of ‘soft’ HRM.