Factors influencing Australian retailers' decisions concerning the granting of paid maternity leave benefits to their employees

Australia has been a member state of the International Labor Organisation ( ILO) since its foundation in 1919 (ILO 2008) and promotes itself as 'playing an active role in the work of the Organisation. (Department of Foreign Affairs, 2008). While the 1952 ILO Maternity Protection Convention called for twelve weeks' paid maternity leave, in 2000 this was revised and the provision of fourteen weeks' paid maternity leave was recommended (ILO, 2007). Despite being a member of the ILO and having ratified some 58 out of 185 conventions, of which 47 are in force in Australia (ILO 2005), to date consecutive Australian Federal Governments have neglected to ratify any of the ILO Maternity Protection Conventions. Workers in Australia do not have a legal right to paid maternity leave and yet some employers do provide their employees with paid maternity leave entitlements. Current statistics estimate that only 25% of Australian women who work in the private sector have access to paid maternity leave (EOWA, 2007). Of this only 8% of women in the retail sector have access to paid maternity leave, compared to 56% of women in professional occupations (Burrows 2008). The purpose of this paper is to identify the key factors impacting upon whether Australian retail companies choose to provide or not provide paid maternity leave benefits for their employees, including the role of trade unions in this decision-making process. This paper will begin by analysing relevant literature concerning maternity leave and the Australian retail industry for the purpose of identifying those factors likely to influence whether paid maternity leave is established as an employee entitlement. A semi-structured interview survey of seven large retail organisations was conducted for this initial study and the results reveal a high degree of variance amongst retailers in their approach to human resource management.