How much is a public holiday worth?
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That’s one of the biggest questions being asked in Ballarat after the Easter long weekend.
People who work on public holidays may receive better remuneration, but they also miss out on spending time with family and friends.
Students in particular often take advantage of the higher rates of pay, agreeing to work on public holidays when they can. However, for business owners battling rising costs, penalty rates can be an extra strain on finances.
Hospitality rates for a casual employee working on a public holiday are 275 per cent. As local union representative Brett Edgerton put it last week, we as a community need to decide what the worth of a public holiday is.
“Australia needs to step back between the to-ing and fro-ing between unions and the business lobby groups and say what sort of society do we want to live in,” he said. In other words, do we want to devalue working on the weekend or a public holiday as “just another day”?
Putting a dollar figure on such a question is easier said than done.
But it needs to be balanced against supporting local small businesses that often struggle to stay afloat.
Anyone who wandered Ballarat’s streets at the weekend would have seen that some businesses, such as The Forge, made the decision to stay closed over the long weekend rather than pay higher wages to their staff.
The Western Hotel was another that closed. The owner, Dan Cronin, said penalty rates were a sensible idea, but the balance was out of whack.
“There certainly needs to be some compensation for people working, however current rates are excessive for business,” he said.
So, how much is a public holiday worth? The Productivity Commission, which is reviewing all penalty rates across Australia, may have an answer soon.
The commission’s review will advise the government on what value it should put on public holidays, which could ignite the debate again.