Myer CEO Richard Umbers speaks at The Australian Financial Review summit on Wednesday. Credit:Jesse Marlow He said there were many young people entering the workforce, who had a very different perception of what constituted meaningful work and the idea that they were fearful of losing rights and entitlements was a "very conventional view". "There is research that demonstrates that they don't really differentiate between a Saturday and a Sunday," Mr Umbers said. "They really want to work in a way that suits their lifestyle and they think in terms of work-life balance and that isn't something typically that's enhanced by a restrictive regime." Mr Umbers said the broader issue was finding a model that delivered customers the service they required and harnessed technology to enhance the retail experience.

"It's time for the national discussion on how we unlock the next wave of productivity without the fear that these measures we put in place have to be to the detriment of employees," Mr Umbers said. "Careers in retail can be both meaningful and engaging but we must have the capacity to direct resources to the area of greatest need, whether that's on the shop floor on the Sunday afternoon or in the online pick and pack operations in the middle of the night." The majority of Bunnings staff are employed on a permanent part-time basis rather than as casuals, which reduces the organisation's exposure to costly penalty rates. However, managing director John Gillam said it was disappointing that there wasn't a stronger focus on "fixing" issues that the unions, business organisations and politicians agreed should be addressed. He said if regulation was unproductive then it wasn't keeping pace.

"I'm a big fan for just pragmatically fixing what's there and allowing the ideologists to debate and the politicians to make the decisions they're supposed to make," Mr Gillam said. "You put head of Retail Council and the head of SDU (Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Union) in one place you'll find there's common ground on things they would both like fixed. "But generally both comment on the things they are most ideologically upset about and nothing gets changed, which is frustrating." McDonalds Australia pays its staff above the minimum wage but its vice-president Cathy Doyle said for small operators the wage bill was one of the biggest costs and the impact of penalty rates was a major factor in youth unemployment. Ms Doyle said when a cafe decided not to open its doors on a Sunday because it was too costly it took away jobs that were traditionally filled by young people.

"The jobs that even I had when I was a young person are not around any more, the entry level jobs in banks don't exist any more because they're offshore," Ms Doyle said. This entry level work, the jobs that kids took up while in the final years of school or after leaving school is most at risk from technology, says AlphaBeta director Andrew Charlton. Dr Charlton, who was named the young global leader by the World Economic Forum in 2011, said nearly three-quarters of the jobs that young people tended to take were at risk of loss to automation. "We did a study recently looking at the number of jobs that are advertised that required less than three years' experience … and every year the number of job adds is falling because these changes in our labour market are adversely affecting young people," Mr Charlton said. "If you flip over the supply side and look at the nature of skills that young people are being provided with … and nearly half of Australian young people are studying for courses that are preparing them for precisely the jobs that are going to be eliminated by automation."