Long service leave is unique to Australia and New Zealand but with many people changing jobs and industries, there is a call for a national portable long service leave scheme in Australia.

Key points: Only one in four Australians stay with the same employer for 10 years or more

Only one in four Australians stay with the same employer for 10 years or more Employees are therefore less likely to accrue long-service leave with one employer

Employees are therefore less likely to accrue long-service leave with one employer Victoria has become the latest state to introduce portable long service leave for some sectors, but employee advocates argue there should be a broader national scheme

Emeritus Professor in Employment Relations at Macquarie University Ray Markey said men and women born in 2021 can expect to work on average for 39 years and more than 35 years respectively, making workplace burnout and exhaustion more common.

He said this would especially be the case in more physically demanding roles — making long service leave more relevant than ever.

Generally, a worker receives three months' paid leave after 10 continuous years of service with the same employer, but leave can vary between sectors and states and territories.

However, with the changing nature of employment, more people are changing jobs more often, making it harder to access long service leave.

"Only one in four Australians stay with the same employer for 10 years or more," Professor Markey said.

Colonial roots

Long service leave harks back to Australia's colonial past.

It can be traced to the 19th century when long-serving civil servants were given an entitlement, referred to as a furlough, to travel home to Britain for a break before returning to Australia.

"The length of time they got was about the time it took for a round trip on a clipper sailing ship — two weeks in the home country and then back again," Professor Markey said.

During the post-war years, it was adopted by the private sector and legislated throughout the country as a reward for long and faithful service and to enable employees halfway through their working lives to "recover energies and return to work refreshed".

"Now, Australians are working longer hours on average and for longer," Professor Markey said.

"Fourteen per cent of Australians work 50 or more hours per week, compared with the OECD average of 9 per cent."

Mobility of Australian workforce

Professor Markey said about 20 per cent of employees had been with their employer for less than 12 months and almost a quarter of employees were in casual employment with no leave entitlements.

Given the mobility of the Australian workforce, the introduction of portable long service leave meant employees would be able to accrue long-service entitlements and transfer them between jobs within the same industry.

It was first introduced in Australia in 1949 for the conflict-prone coal mining industry to deal with widespread strikes, and it was not until the 1970s that it spilled into other industries, initially the building and construction industry.

Last week Victoria introduced portable long service leave for those working in the cleaning, community services and security sectors.

The ACT enacted the legislation in 2000 for contract cleaners, followed by Queensland five years later and New South Wales in 2010.

The ACT subsequently introduced portable long service leave for community service and security sectors.

The Portable Long Service Authority, set up by the Victorian Government to administer the associated legislation, will work with businesses and workers to help them understand employers' obligations and employees' entitlements.

Authority registrar and CEO Joseph Yeung said employers would be required to submit quarterly returns and pay a levy of 1.65 to 1.8 per cent of someone's weekly wage to the authority.

"The intention being that at the end of the first quarter employers will be making their first contribution across the first few weeks of October," he said.

Employers have three months from the July 1, 2019 to register online.

'Exhausting' but important work

Until now, Ada Conroy was ineligible to accrue long service leave. ( Supplied: Ada Conroy )

Senior workforce development officer Ada Conroy has worked in the family violence sector for nearly 20 years, with 12 of those earlier years in direct service, which she described as the "pointy end" of working in crisis care from telephone counselling to accommodation services.

She has spent her entire adult working life in the field but has never been entitled to long service leave.

Ms Conroy said she loved working in the field but found it "really exhausting".

"Sometimes we're working with life and death, and I had a client 15 years ago who was murdered when I was working with her," she said.

"Knowing that that's the level of risk that we're working with every day, it just means that we have to work very hard, we have to be vigilant and pretty specialised in the work."

Ms Conroy said the sector, notorious for low wages, relied upon the passion and commitment of workers.

"It feels like really important work to do," she said.

"It's incredibly interesting; when we start to see change it can be really powerful."

Ms Conroy said for variety and career advancement, it was necessary to move between employers in a sector that was characterised by small organisations.

Prior to her current employer, where she has worked full-time for seven years, Ms Conroy worked for many community organisations, making her ineligible for long service leave.

"My counterparts in hospital and council and community health have had access to portable long service leave for a really long time but those of us in the community sector haven't," she said.

"I guess it kind of says something about the level of value that's placed upon the work that we do … that our work and our wellbeing isn't as prioritised in the same way as others."

Ms Conroy, pictured with co-worker Bianca Johnston, works in the family violence sector. ( Supplied: Ada Conroy )

Ms Conroy was overjoyed at the introduction of portable long service leave and said it would make a "big difference" to those working in the sector — mostly women.

"It just means we can rejuvenate and come back," she said.

National uniform scheme needed

While Professor Markey said the introduction of portable long service leave in Victoria was a "great start", he said with employees not only changing jobs but sectors, there would be great benefit in a national uniform scheme of portable long service leave accessible to all workers.

He said, however, it would be difficult to implement.

"There are some economic issues, but there are alternatives as to how the funds can be set up," Professor Markey said.

He said the current industry-based funds with defined benefits were with the one employer and portable long service leave only focused on the same industries.

"There is an argument for having a different type of fund to what exists now," Mr Markey said.

He suggested two possibilities: an accumulation fund similar to a superannuation fund, or an approved-deposit fund.

"But no-one's seriously talked about that, and doing it piecemeal as the Victorians have done, they're doing it based on industry," Mr Markey said.

"Of course, the employers are not going to be very happy about this anyway."