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Employers often don't invest sufficient time and effort into planning for an enterprise bargaining round, despite the enormous value of doing so, according to an HR consultant who highlights some commonly overlooked elements of the process.

It's time for more employers to realise bargaining is not just a technical process, but one that significantly impacts workplace culture, Humanify HR Consulting managing director Sarah Queenan tells HR Daily.

With bargaining on the rise as a result of recent legislative reforms this is increasingly important, she says. The latest official figures show the number of employees covered by enterprise agreements reached record levels last year, and annualised wage increases in EAs have sat above inflation for the past eight consecutive quarters.

Queenan says the resources employers invest in enterprise bargaining don't always reflect that the outcomes generate the highest financial line item in their budget. They tend to approach bargaining as a technical process, focusing on the details in the agreement and overlooking the important people and cultural dimensions...