Sometimes people become confused as to exactly which category of employment they fall in to. Of course there is the permanent employee or the casual or part-time or permanent part-time or even the independent subcontractor. The real difference between the various categories of employment is whether there is a contract of service or a contract for services.

Employment arises in a number of contexts particularly given the social diversity of our workforce today. Due to job sharing, permanent part-time employees are becoming more and more acceptable in the Australian workforce. Of course the predominant type of employee is the full time permanent employee on which the majority of businesses throughout Australia rely. This may have something to do with the fact that 75% of all business transacted throughout Australian is carried out by small to medium enterprises.

Essentially the type of employee that you are is normally set out in a letter of appointment, a contract of employment, an award or other industrial instrument including Certified Agreements or Australian Workplace Agreements or as otherwise agreed with the employer. Irrespective of the documents evidencing employment, employees are often issued with job descriptions or specifications covering the type of work they are required to carry out. It is becoming more prevalent for employees to be issued with letters of appointment and/or contracts of employment given the deregulation of the Australian workplace.