Australian Workplace Research

WRC is one of Australia's premier work and labour market research centres. We undertake a wide range of research projects and work with you to identify your research questions.

Our highly qualified researchers will design an appropriate solution for you and deliver the findings in an easy-to-read, non technical format which can be viewed in any medium you choose - hardcopy, PDF download or seminar.

The Workplace Research Centre currently undertakes research in the following areas:

Australia at Work

Australia at Work is a longitudinal study of 8,341 Australians, examining people's working lives in a continually changing industrial relations environment. The research participants were contacted once a year for five years (2007 to 2011) to find out how their working lives were changing.

The annual nation-wide telephone interviews are now completed, however analysis of the five years of data is ongoing. This website is regularly updated with the latest research publications, media and factsheets from the Australia at Work data.

Assessment of Salary, Working Hours and Job Satisfaction, by examining:

Pay and other forms of remuneration
Working time and working time preferences
Workload and work intensification
Leave arrangements
Representation at work
Job Quality

Assessment of Skills, including:

Industry skills shortages
Skills analysis
Apprenticeships, traineeships and the VET system
Skill ‘ecosystems’ analysis
Workplace training and development policy and practice
Migrant skills issues

Industrial relations laws and employment conditions

Implications of legislation such as Work Choices, Fair
Work Act, National Employment Standards (NES), Modern Awards
Customs and practices (non-legislative aspects of work) on work

Forms of employment

Permanent, fixed term contract and casual employees
Non-standard forms of employment, self-employment, contracting and sub-contracting.

Financialisation

Superannuation
Risk shifting
Financial stress

Agreement making and the role of unions

Collective and individual agreement making
Negotiation and dispute settlement
Analysis of union organising strategies, union membership density, attitudes to unions

Future of work

Sustainability of work and , ‘green skills
Impact of technology on work
New forms of work
Life course and transitional labour market issues

Social inclusion and the sociology of work

Unemployed, underemployed and marginalised workers
Gender and diversity issues
Work & life balance and interference
Work-value orientations

Occupational health and safety

Physical & psychosocial aspects of work
Safe and unsafe working conditions
Safety cultures and safety systems

The levels of analysis undertaken include:

The individual worker
Workplaces/work groups
Occupations
Industries
Sectors
National
Regional
International

Research Methods