Are you having issues keeping up with the increased workload? Maybe it’s time to start hiring staff but before you do that, there are a few essential things that you should consider as an employer.
If you’re at the point where you’re looking forward to increasing your team then that’s great news. This means your business is moving and you’re reaching a new business stage.
But you must keep in mind that each and every new step forward comes with equally new risks and responsibilities.
Therefore, there are some key elements that you need to understand before starting to employ people into your business.
1. Job awards
Many staff positions are governed by awards and these can be state-based or federal-based. So, you really need to go and check those out before you go ahead with your application for employment.
When you’re employing people, there are rules and regulations. Some job descriptions will be covered by awards. So, you need to check those 100%.
I would recommend going to your office of fair trading in your local state to know what do you need to deliver for that particular position or employee.
2. Income tax declaration
When you are employing a person, you are required to withhold tax on their behalf and as you know, not everybody’s the same. Some people have HECs. Some people have two jobs. Some people are from overseas.
Therefore, your employees must fill out a tax declaration form and based on that, you can determine how much tax you’re supposed to hold back from their salary. Otherwise, it can get a bit difficult.
You might say: “Well, what does this have to do with me?”
Actually, it has everything to do with you. The tax department holds you accountable for not getting these things right or not having these signed off.
If your employee has signed these off and ticked the relevant boxes, then you can take out the tax required under that specific option. Just make sure to set these legal matters right.
3. Visa status
I had a client the other day ring me. They were strapped to find people and he told me that they had employed a French national to help with plumbing. I think that’s wonderful. However, we weren’t sure about the person’s visa status.
That can be a problem. You can get in a lot of trouble as an employer if you don’t make sure that your employees got proper visa status to be able to work.
There are dozens of different visas, such as:
- temporary work visas
- holiday visas
- student visas
- family visas
If the person is not an Australian resident, you have to make sure that you have yourself covered before making these employment agreements.
4. Superannuation
Superannuation is fantastic in my view. It’s an opportunity for us to save money for our future, to give us a brighter future.
When you are employing people, you must pay the superannuation. Now, I know some clients where the employees haven’t provided the super details and as we all probably know, each employee has the ability to choose their own super.
But what do you do if they didn’t give you any details? Well, you’re supposed to have a default fund for such possibilities.
The best thing to do is to ensure that your employees provide the necessary details. But if you don’t, you need to be prepared.
It’s illegal to skip the payments of superannuation and the responsibility will always be yours should payments not be made.
So, prepare a corporate fund that defaults the payments into that. It’s not good enough to say: “I didn’t have the details and hence, I haven’t paid it.”
Now, that you’re aware of these crucial rules it’s time to start hiring the personnel you need in order to better run your business. Stay compliant and increase your staff numbers today.