Three simple ways to protect your business
From March 1, 2020, all Australian businesses are required to record the starting and finishing times for all salaried employees, as well as any unpaid breaks as mandated by the Fair Work Commission.
The new requirements are a part of a government led crack down on wage theft and underpayment.
While carefully tracking working times is the norm for casual and part time employees, full time staff are traditionally paid their regular salary regardless of the actual number of hours that they work. Not surprisingly, the new requirements have been divisive.
While some have welcomed a model that could offer more transparency, business groups have pointed out the significant amount of time, expense and red tape that will be required to implement compulsory tracking off all staff hours and breaks.
What will this mean for Australian Employers?
Employers now have to keep a record of the starting and finishing times of work, and any unpaid breaks taken, of salaried staff who are earning up to $148,700.
Adapting to the changes will no doubt be a frustrating and time consuming experience for many employers, but non-compliance is a direct breach of the Fair Work Act, and the penalties are severe.
Employers and company directors can be fined, and if the Federal Government’s proposed wage theft bill is passed, they may even face jail sentences.
How have businesses been adapting?
At Cloudstaff, we have been working with a lot of Australian businesses in recent months to help them prepare for and implement the changes needed to be compliant with the new requirements.
By partnering with Cloudstaff, Australian businesses have been able to protect themselves against and minimise any negative impact in three ways.
- Minimising overtime hours through adding support staff.
- By removing payroll costs & red tape
- Adding outsourced payroll capabilities
Minimising overtime
For industries where workers regularly work long hours such as the finance and legal sectors, the changes will hit hard and be particularly expensive.
To prevent a cost blow out from excessive overtime hours, many of our Australian clients have been providing their hardest working and highest paid staff with offshore assistants and support professionals.
By moving many of the tasks that keep your onshore staff working after hours to your Cloudstaff team, businesses are able to significantly reduce the number of overtime hours needed. This is, of course, not just a win for the employer, but also for your onshore employees who get to spend fewer hours in the office and avoid burnout.
Removing payroll cost and red tape
For Australian businesses who have staff with Cloudstaff, there will be no change to the way the hours of their outsourced staff are paid or recorded.
When businesses build an offshore team with Cloudstaff, they not only get access to world class talent and infrastructure, they also don’t need to worry about the added hassle and expense of HR and payroll – Cloudstaff takes care of all it for them.
By partnering with Cloudstaff, most businesses are able to make substantial cost savings by reducing or eliminating the need for inhouse payroll staff.
Adding outsourced payroll capabilities
For many Australian businesses, the Fair Work Commission’s changes will mean the need for additional staff to cover the additional workload created by tracking the working hours and break times of salaried staff.
While adding these new positions locally is expensive and often cost prohibitive, adding fully qualified and experienced outsourced payroll professionals with Cloudstaff is a far more affordable and sustainable option.
For roughly 30% of what you will pay in Australia, you can have a similarly experienced payroll officer in the Philippines without any reduction in quality or efficiency.
Don’t get caught out
If your business hasn’t yet taken steps to comply with the new time tracking requirements, then it is imperative that you act fast. The new regulations are now in effect and further legislation to strengthen these measures in progress.
Speak to Cloustaff today about how we can help your business to not just comply with the new changes, but to thrive. Our team of outsourcing experts have over 10 years experience helping Australian businesses to grow and scale by building tailor made teams to meet their requirements.
Email: hello@cloudstaff.com Call: (AUS) 1 300 881 284 (AUS) +61 2 8039 9000
Previous blogs: