Ahhh Workchoices legislation, who remembers those bad old days? The sitting Government thought that by loosening up industrial relations legislation and encouraging individual agreements with employees it would result in a win-win for both parties. What they didn’t count on (or maybe they did) is when you put the fox in charge of the hen house, people take advantage.
Back then I was very early into my HR career and working for a drilling contractor. Workchoices allowed wages to be structured as a low (—and I mean low—) base rate and padded out with allowances. This meant employees who took leave would have their leave paid at the base rate: $10 per hour. This was 2006 money, but that base rate represented between 25% – 30% of their hourly earnings while working. The result? People rarely took leave. Big plus for the employer because you don’t need to think about leave coverage, but, fatigued drillers, offsiders and fitters working underground, 12-hour shifts, 14 days on, 7 days off (plus travel) — safety incidents waiting to happen. And boy, they happened.
Workchoices became dead and buried in 2010, but that cost-minimisation mindset of padding out base rates with allowances endured — and is still in use today.
What has changed though, is under many Awards for industries where this practice lingers, allowances must be paid during leave. Employees must be paid as if they were working their normal roster.
You can read my newsletter about these requirements here
But what I want to unpack in this blog is the wider implications of structuring wages in a way that makes employees worse off when they take a break.
We know burnout isn’t just a corporate buzzword. It’s a well-documented occupational health risk, and a recognised psychosocial hazard under work health and safety laws.
Safe Work Australia and the World Health Organization both highlight that a lack of recovery time — whether it’s breaks during the day or full weeks away from work — leads to fatigue, reduced mental alertness, increased risk of injury, and long-term health complications.
And yet, when your pay structure discourages people from using their leave entitlements, you’re actively designing a system where:
- Employees are financially punished for resting
- Fatigue and stress become the norm
- Psychological safety drops
- Productivity flatlines
In industries like mining and trades, where the work is physical, remote, and often isolating — that matters. A lot.
In towns like Kalgoorlie, where the community and the local economy runs on both shift work and family routines, there are social consequences too:
- Families go months without meaningful time together
- Local businesses see less weekend traffic and leisure spend
- Kids grow up with an exhausted parent who “can’t afford” to take a week off
- Health services bear the long-term impact of stress-related illness
It creates a cycle: fatigue at work, strain at home, and disengagement across both.
And this isn’t just a wellbeing issue — it’s an economic one. Australia is in a productivity crisis. And when people aren’t mentally switched on, physically rested, or emotionally connected to their work, they don’t perform at their best.
So what does the Government do? It steps in. It legislates the behaviour shift it wants to see.
We’ve seen it before:
- The introduction of paid parental leave
- The Positive Duty around psychosocial hazards and sexual harassment
- The new Closing Loopholes legislation reinforcing minimum standards in labour hire, casual employment and gig work
If you want sustainable productivity, better safety outcomes, and a workforce that actually stays long enough to build capability — you need to reward rest. Not penalise it.
The Hidden Costs of Skipped Leave: Mental Health, Substance Use & Domestic Strain
When employees are financially disincentivised from taking leave, the repercussions extend far beyond the workplace. In high-pressure, remote industries like mining, the consequences can be particularly severe.
Mental Health and Burnout
Chronic sleep deprivation and extended work hours are strongly linked to burnout, depression, and anxiety. A study published in Frontiers in Public Health found that healthcare professionals with shorter sleep durations had a significantly higher risk of burnout, underscoring the critical role of rest in mental well-being . Similarly, the Sleep Health Foundation notes that burnout is closely associated with poor sleep, and improving sleep can aid in recovery and prevention .
Substance Use and Sleep Deprivation
Lack of rest doesn’t just affect mental health—it can also lead to increased substance use. Research indicates that poor sleep quality is associated with higher rates of alcohol and drug use. For instance, a study found that sleep disorders, particularly insomnia, are commonly linked to substance abuse, creating a vicious cycle of poor sleep and increased substance use .
Domestic and Family Violence
The strain of overwork and lack of rest can spill over into home life, increasing the risk of domestic and family violence. The Australian Institute of Criminology reports that financial stress and social isolation—both potential outcomes of excessive work and insufficient rest—are significant risk factors for domestic violence .
The Broader Impact on Communities
When businesses structure wages and rosters in a way that discourages taking leave, the consequences ripple far beyond the payslip.
In mining towns like Kalgoorlie, where long rosters & high-pressure roles are common, this creates not only individual fatigue — it starts shaping the town itself.
Family strain leads to transience
When rest becomes a luxury, families feel the strain:
- Parents miss school events, milestones and downtime at home
- Partners carry the emotional and logistical load alone
- Children grow up in high-stress households where connection takes a back seat
Over time, many families make the decision to leave. Others never relocate in the first place. Why would they, if the lifestyle is unsustainable?
This is how we end up with transient communities — high turnover, low stability, and a local economy constantly rebuilding.
The cost to community
When people don’t feel settled, they don’t contribute beyond the job.
They don’t:
- Join committees
- Coach the kids’ sport team
- Volunteer
- Invest in the local school, or
- Start that business they’ve been thinking about
And that lack of long-term presence shrinks diversity of thought.
Instead, the same small group of business leaders and community figures shoulder every initiative. The same voices guide development. The same events are run by the same five volunteers.
It limits what’s possible — for the town, for the region, and for the people who do want to call it home.
Business choices shape community outcomes
Yes — how you structure your workforce, your rosters and your pay practices is a business decision.
But it’s also a cultural one.
And a social one.
Want to attract people to live and work here?
Want more families to relocate?
Want to build something sustainable that isn’t just mining boom > mining bust > rinse and repeat?
Then we need to stop designing work that’s punishing to live with.
The fix? Pay people fairly. Structure wages transparently. And design systems where taking leave isn’t a sacrifice, it’s part of the rhythm of work.
Because the real cost isn’t the price of backfilling a shift. It’s what happens when your people burn out, walk away, or stop caring altogether.