Chapter 9: Employment instruments and Individual Flexibility Arrangements
Employees within the APS generally have their employment terms and conditions set by one of the following primary employment instruments:
- Enterprise Agreements (EA)
- Public Service Act Determinations (s24 (1) and (3)) (PSAD)
- Common Law Agreements (CLA)
- Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA)
The majority of non-SES employees are employed under an EA. Less than 1% are covered by PSADs, CLAs or AWAs (Table 9.1).
| Primary Employment Instrument | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classification |
AWA |
CLA |
EA |
PSAD |
|
Grad. |
1,817 |
|||
|
APS 1 |
512 |
|||
|
APS 2 |
3 |
2,454 |
||
|
APS 3 |
7 |
13,644 |
33 |
|
|
APS 4 |
45 |
27,050 |
6 |
|
|
APS 5 |
33 |
19,542 |
15 |
|
|
APS 6 |
1 |
49 |
31,805 |
22 |
|
EL 1 |
2 |
74 |
24,704 |
50 |
|
EL 2 |
7 |
59 |
11,229 |
56 |
|
SES 1 |
10 |
235 |
22 |
1,685 |
|
SES 2 |
8 |
58 |
8 |
469 |
|
SES 3 |
9 |
110 |
||
|
ALL |
28 |
572 |
132,787 |
2,446 |
A small percentage (2.7%) of employees have additional terms and conditions provided under a secondary agreement known as an Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFA). Table 9.2 shows that the majority of employees using IFAs were at the EL 1 or EL 2 classification, with both forming just over 70% of all staff using IFAs.
| Classification | Headcount | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Grad. | 2 | 0.1 |
| APS 1 | 1 | |
| APS 2 | 1 | |
| APS 3 | 48 | 1.3 |
| APS 4 | 123 | 3.4 |
| APS 5 | 221 | 6.0 |
| APS 6 | 654 | 17.8 |
| EL 1 | 1,102 | 30.1 |
| EL 2 | 1,488 | 40.6 |
| SES 1 | 24 | 0.7 |
| SES 2 | 2 | 0.1 |
| SES 3 | nil | nil |
| ALL | 3,666 |
In 2018, agencies were asked to categorise the type of IFAs used to gain a clearer picture of the types of matters that IFAs covered. Figure 9.1 shows that three quarters of IFAs were used for pay and allowances. A further 19% covered leave, income maintenance, flexible working arrangements, superannuation, and subscriptions or memberships.
