Boost Your Team and Your Business with Wage Subsidies

Author: Donna Johnston, MBA (Ent Mngt)

To offset the first recession Australia has experienced in 30 years, triggered by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian Federal Government has included in its Economic Recovery Plan the JobMaker Plan. This support is aimed to result in economic activity being 4.5% higher by 2021-2022 and the peak of unemployment rate being lower by 5 percentage points, instead of rising and remaining above 12 percent throughout 2020-21 and 2021-22. Here are some of the options for you to browse through to see if your business is applicable to apply to gain support employing staff to grow your endeavour.

At SAISIR we understand sifting through to find which wage subsidies exist and are relevant to you can be a daunting task, but here we have summarised just a few to assist you to consider having added support to enable growth and contribute further to your community. When considering building a team, document the process to make future employment processes more streamlined. Check your legal obligations to each staff member once employed, but also the expectations of you from the time the advertisement is placed (including how you word and display the ad), the job specifications are clearly communicated, your candidate screening process is fair and recorded, plus your interviewing techniques are set out from the initial contact to the formal i, your protection policy of your intellectual property when discussing your business and what onboarding system you will have at the ready for the induction period, the support which will be available and the plan for retaining a person/s who you have put time, effort and financial investment to attain. Consider providing a model of how a new member can grow in the organisational structure you plan and map out what steps they can take to do so, making the experience of the job role an enhanced picture to create a future outlook.

Costing a new employee expense should include the additional costs to that of just the wages, there is the space they will need to utilise and the equipment required, the superannuation add on for those who earn $450 gross per month, plus workers' compensation fees, sick pay, holiday pay, and possible incentive bonuses. Planning and attracting the best team options to can help keep staff turnover low, which generally helps to avoid unnecessary mistakes by new staff having to replace those already trained, while efficiency is improved when change overs don't occur often. It also helps to keep staff morale high when a team begins working well together without interruption of change overs.

Map out what turnover you aim to have in production and how you expect to achieve it, including a budget of what revenue and profit margins are expected to support a further team member, while being sure of cashflow projections to have the ability to pay wages and the additional costs related to each worker. Create an organisational flow chart for new members to see how they can grow with the company and outline what pathways there are to reach such goals. Have a job specification prepared for each role and the wage rates you are prepared to offer and negotiate upon. Determine how you will screen each applicant and what the initial contact interviews will involve. Lay out a clear interview technique and guide which is documented for each candidate. Have your onboarding checklist at the ready and an induction policy to ease the selected persons into their role more seamlessly for all involved. Ongoing training and motivation plans are advisable and can help you, as the leader, to be more productive also by knowing when you are needed and when you are not, preventing micro managing deterring capable team members you will ideally choose based on their skill set and capacity to fit into the culture of your business.

Now for the choices of government wage subsidies, beginning with the Federal Government options...(check back soon for more information regarding the State budgeted choices).

JOBMAKER PLAN

JOBMAKER HIRING CREDIT - supporting young people to gain employment

From 7 October 2020 to 6 October 2021 eligible employers will receive $200 a week for additional hired staff aged 16 to 25 years or a rate of $100 per week where aged 30 to 35 years and where the employee has received a Jobseeker Payment, Youth Allowance (Other) or Parenting Payment for at least one of the previous three months at the time of hiring. This subsidy will have a maximum claim period of 12 months from the employment commencement date.

JOBTRAINER - growing Australia's skills workforce

The right skills for the right jobs

Supporting up to 100,000 new apprentices and trainees by paying employers a 50 per cent wage subsidy, up to a cap of $7,000 per quarter, for commencing apprentices and trainees at businesses of all sizes, across industries and in all areas. This includes those employed by Group Training Organisations until 30 September 2021. Existing workers who are beginning a new apprenticeship will be included in this scheme to further support upskilling and reskilling.

JOBACTIVE

A possible $10,000 (GST inclusive) when hiring an eligible new employee who is either:

• Youth Bonus - 15 to 24 years of age

• Indigenous Australians - up to $10,000 upon commencement with an employment commencement program as an Indigenous Australian

• Restart - 50 years of age and over

$6,500 (GST inclusive) may be available when you employ an eligible new employee who is either:

• Youth - 25 to 29 years of age

• A principal carer parent

• Long Term Unemployed - a person registered with an employment services provider for 12 months or more

Your new employee must be registered with either:

- Jobactive

- Transition to Work

- ParentsNext (Intensive Stream only)

- Disability Employment Service (Restart only)

- The Community Development Programme (Restart only)

Note: Restart only - If your employee has not registered with an employment service provider then they must do so with a jobactive provider as a volunteer for you to be able to apply for a wage subsidy. Further conditions may apply based on individual circumstances and the employment services provider will check these before considering a candidate to refer to you, at no expense to you.

Wage subsidies are paid by your employment services provider to your business over six months. You can set the payment schedule to suit your needs. Talk to your employment services provider about a kickstarter payment as you could receive 40 per cent of the total wage subsidy amount, four weeks after hiring a new employee, as long as all eligibility conditions are addressed and the job remains ongoing. Payment claims can be arranged online and are deposited direct to your nominated bank account.

TALK TO YOUR EMPLOYMENT SERVICES PROVIDER TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WAGE SUBSIDIES.

You can apply for a wage subsidy if:

• you have an Australian Business number

• you have not previously received a wage subsidy for the same person

• you are not an Australian, state or territory government agency

• the person you employ aligns with the eligibility criteria for the wage subsidy

• the role you offer includes 20 hours or more per week and is ongoing, averaged over six months of the wage subsidy agreement

• the type of work complies with employment standards for the position (ie: is suitable work and pays as a minimum the national award wage.)

• Work types can be full time, part time or casual, fixed term and non fixed term employees

Some work is not eligible for a wage subsidy:

- work that displaces an existing employee

- commission based, subcontracting or self employment positions

- work for an immediate family member

You can apply by contacting your employment services provider within 12 weeks (84 days) of your new employee's start date to apply for the applicable subsidy. Call the Employer Hotline on 131715 , or the National Customer Service Line on 1800 805 260 (Call charges apply to '13'and '1800' numbers from mobile phones).

An interpreter can be requested by calling the Translating and Interpreting Service

on 131 450.

If you require hearing or speech assistance, you can use the National Relay Service. For more details see relayservice.gov.au

You can organise wage subsidy agreements online with signing and managing digitally or through a free jobactive Employer App available via iTunes and Google Play.