‘Gobsmacked’: Australian workplace relations department to replace short-term staff with third-party contractor

Workers and union say outsourcing will mean loss of knowledge and experience needed to help ‘very vulnerable people’ waiting for government payments

A group of call centre staff kept on short-term contracts at the government department responsible for workplace standards will be replaced by a third-party contractor, with their union warning “vulnerable people” contacting the government could be affected.

Due to laws to improve job security, 13 workers at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) are unable to renew their contracts after reaching the maximum period they can remain in short-term positions, their union says.

But instead of offering permanent employment, the department intended to let the workers go – with at least one approached by a third-party provider to effectively reapply for their job – according to the union.

The department has acknowledged the jobs were “core work”, which the Albanese government had committed to stop outsourcing from the Australian Public Service (APS) to the private sector.

A DEWR spokesperson said that while the department was meant to prioritise APS employees for core work, the “limited use of labour hire” staff was allowed where needed.

“The department values the contribution of all staff,” they said. “All contact centre workers receive comparable pay and conditions, including the same training, support and flexible working arrangements to ensure consistent service quality.”

DEWR has already filled about 55 positions with employees provided by external companies. The government and the union both describe this workforce as “labour hire”.

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One affected worker told Guardian Australia they were “gobsmacked and disappointed” by the move. They said they often took calls from vulnerable people who were waiting for government payments.

“That core work needs to be done by experienced APS staff, absolutely,” the worker said.

“You need the knowledge, you need the empathy, you need the understanding.”

The worker said 30 other positions in the DEWR contact centre were outsourced to private contractors last year, and this shift had already resulted in blowouts to call wait times, from about 20 minutes to 2.5 hours or more.

“The calls aren’t being picked up quick enough,” they said. “There’s not enough staff and then that just snowballs.”

Over the past several months, Guardian Australia has detailed the widespread use of private call centres by government agencies, including the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink and National Disability Insurance Agency.

‘Very vulnerable people’ affected

Moves by the government to curb reliance on external consultants and outsource workers have stalled just two years after Labor ordered agencies to bring skills back in-house.

Some workers have described a system marked by inadequate training and low pay that they say prioritises profit over worker wellbeing and quality of service.

Starting pay rates at outsource centres are about $52,800 a year, according to interviews with outsource call centre staff at different private operators, compared with more than $72,000 for many public servants on the same phone lines.

The deputy secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), Beth Vincent-Pietsch, said she was aware of “huge contracts” for contact-centre work with outsourced staff talking to “very vulnerable people” who mistakenly “think they’re talking to a government representative”.

“[The government] should be worried because they are losing people with experience and capacity who are performing well, taking difficult calls,” she said.

“Any new people coming in the door are not going to be able to have the capacity to take those phone calls straight off the bat because they do take expertise and knowledge.”

Vincent-Pietsch said the situation was “outrageous” and DEWR should be the “employer of choice” as the department responsible for workplace standards.

The DEWR spokesperson said it considered operational requirements, workforce demand and available budget when undertaking call centre recruitment, and that laws limited their use of fixed-term contracts.

The employment minister, Amanda Rishworth, declined to comment.