12 Employment benefits

Employment benefits

Table 12.1 reports the employment benefits by OHP registration division according to categories of superannuation, unpaid overtime, and any other employment benefits. The unweighted characteristics of survey participants for OHPs reporting employment benefits according to the registration division are reported in Appendix Table 12.1.

Most of OHPs reported receiving superannuation benefits (92.0%). All dual registered DT/DH reported receiving superannuation benefits (100.0%), followed by DHs (97.7%) and OHTs (91.1%).

Just under half of OHPs reported receiving unpaid overtime (42.2%). The highest proportion were the ‘Other combination’ group (58.1%), followed by DHs (54.1%) and DTs (52.4%).

About half of the oral health workforce (51.4%) reported not having additional employment benefits. The highest proportion without additional employment benefits were in the ‘Other combination’, followed by DHs and dual qualified DT/DHs. The second most frequently reported additional employment benefits by OHPs was salary sacrifice (30.5%) and the third most frequently reported was personal expenses (18.6%).

Salary sacrifice was most frequently reported as an additional employment benefit by DTs (44.2%), dual qualified DT/DH (36.0%), ‘Other combination’ (34.7%) and OHTs (33.5%). Other additional employment benefits included additional paid leave for DTs (37.8%) and for ‘Other combination’ (34.7%, and personal expenses for ‘Other combination’ (34.7%).

Table 12.1. Weighted characteristics of the oral health workforce employment benefits at the principal place of employment by registration division.

1 Participants could select more than one response.

‡ Practitioners with other combinations of oral health registrations division were grouped and should be interpreted with caution.

Interpretation

This chapter reports the characteristics of employment benefits according to the oral health workforce registration division. For OHPs in the ‘Other combination’ with the lowest proportion to receive superannuation, it is likely these individuals have a different work arrangement other than employees as evident by the large 95% confidence interval. Interestingly, DTs had a lower percentage reporting receiving superannuation when compared to DHs. This is because superannuation benefits were first generally limited to public servants and white collar employees of large corporation, and DTs history could only work the public sector (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, 2024; Nash et al. 2014).

Unpaid overtime was reported by a substantial percentage of survey participants. The clinical nature of many of the roles held by OHPs may require appointment preparation, medico-legal note taking and continuing professional development that is not captured in usual working hours, but an essential requirement of the roles. Individuals and professional associations play a role in advocating for essential tasks to be included in usual working hours to prevent unpaid work occuring.

DTs have the highest proportion reporting additional employment benefits. This is not surprising given that are more likely to work in the public sector (Teusner et al. 2016), which generally are remunerated on lower salary, but attracts additional employment benefits as part of their enterprise bargaining agreement when compared to private sector minimum awards. As such, DTs had the highest proportion reporting salary sacrifice benefits, above mandatory superannuation and additional paid leave. DHs had higher percentages of no additional employment benefits and may be explained by higher employment in the private sector and on casual employment types. The loading applied to casual employment aim to capture these leave and additional benefits. Similarly, OHTs or DT/DHs were typically working across private and public sectors which may explain their percentages of additional benefits.

Although the oral health workforce in the ‘Other combination’ category reported no additional employment benefits, it contrasts with higher proportions within the same registration division reporting salary sacrifice, personal expenses, additional paid leave and above superannuation. This appears consistent for this registration division who are likely most diversified in their roles and responsibilities that have a less clinical practice load, such as those working in research, education and management. In some cases, it is possible some of the oral health workforce may be a private practice owner or have senior executive positions, which generally allows for additional employments benefits.

Sources

• Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. 2024. Superannuation in Australia: a timeline. Accessed 11/08/2024. https://www.apra.gov.au/superannuation-australia-a-timeline
• Nash DA, Friedman JW, Mathu-Muju KR, Robinson PG, Satur J, Moffat S, Kardos R, Lo ECM, Wong AHH, Jaafar N, van den Heuvel J, Phantumvanit P, Chu E, Naidu R, Naidoo L, McKenzie I, Fernando E. 2014. A review of the global literature on dental therapists. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 42: 1–10.
• Teusner D, Amarasena N, Satur J, Chrisopoulos S, Brennan D. 2016. Applied scope of practice of oral health therapists, dental hygienists and dental therapists. Australian Dental Journal, 61: 342-349. https://doi.org/10.1111/adj.12381