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Casual Workers

Employing casual workers

Employing casual workers

Having access to a casual workforce can be a great way for your business to manage busy periods while keeping ongoing costs low. Before you jump at the opportunity, it is important to understand the rules.

With the increasing casualisation of the workforce in Australia, there is a large and accessible pool of eager workers. Many students and those re-entering the workforce are looking to fill a gap in their employment or gain valuable experience.

If you want to attract strong candidates to roles in the future, gaining a good reputation for treating your casual workers properly can set you up for success in the future. The right casual employee may even become an invaluable part of your business and be a great fit for a permanent role.

What is a casual employee?

The Fairwork Ombudsman defines a casual employee as an employee who

…does not have a firm commitment in advance from an employer about how long they will be employed for, or the days (or hours) they will work.

This also means that they are not obligated to commit to all work on offer from the employer.

How is a casual employee different from a part-time employee?

Unlike casual employees, your part-time and full-time employees have fixed contracts or guarantees of ongoing employment. This means they can expect to work regular hours. They also have entitlements, such as leave and must give or receive notice to end the employment.

Casual employees have no guaranteed hours of work. They usually work irregular hours, don’t get annual leave and can end employment without notice.

What are the employers’ responsibilities?

  • To ensure employees are paid the correct rate. This may include an additional casual loading that replaces leave entitlements
  • To pay superannuation if required. You can find out more about your obligations here.
  • To follow the Fairwork Ombudsman guidelines if you make any changes to the terms of the employment. Examples would be requiring an employee to work for fixed hours or a fixed term
  • Recognise that employees can ask for flexible work arrangements and paid parental leave after 12 months of ongoing employment.

Contact us to find out how we can help you set up the right structure for casual employees and look after your payroll needs.

Remote work is on the rise – here’s what you need to know

Remote work is on the rise. 

Here's what you need to know.

Remote working has many benefits for your business and you may be offering it already. Make sure you have strong communication channels, and robust systems to support your flexible workers and ensure continued productivity for your business.

Remote working has become more and more common as developments in technology have allowed us to communicate and collaborate no matter where we are. In fact, most of us are already logging on from home or holiday already. In May 2018, Swiss serviced office provider IWG released a study that found that 70% of professionals work remotely at least once a week.

Sometimes called ‘telecommuting’, remote work is on the rise, and it’s challenging traditional ideas about where and when work should take place. Offering flexibility to your staff can be a valuable tool to both attract new talent and retain your existing team. But before deciding to offer remote work, you need to make sure you’re able to support this way of working.

Remote work has many benefits for a business. Offering this option can mean that you retain employees through a change in their circumstances, for example, becoming a parent or relocating to a different part of the country. When you’re recruiting, the ability to offer an entirely remote position can mean that you’re suddenly able to consider candidates from across the country, rather than limiting yourself to one area, or to people who are in the position to be able to relocate.

So what do you need to consider before introducing remote working?

When you’re working with a distributed team, communication is key, and as the employer, it’s your job to provide the resources and systems to make this happen. Typically, these might include:

  • Laptops and other tech as required
  • Compensation if an employee is using their home internet connection
  • A way to stay in touch with the team, beyond email. Platforms like Slack are great for team communication
  • Guidelines around how often and in what way the entire team will catch up
  • Project management tools that are accessible for every worker

With these essentials in place, the biggest factor in making remote work a success is workplace culture. Consider upskilling your management team to make sure they are ready to support your remote staff or even to give them the skills to allow them to do their roles remotely.

Remote working can be isolating for an individual and sometimes the meaning in email and text can be lost so it is important to factor in a regular face-to-face meeting or video conference to bring coworkers together, enable mutual understanding and to build the team culture.

If you’re planning to offer remote work to your team, talk to us to make sure you’re across all of the tax implications.