Early Stage Innovation – My New Employees

So you need some new investors and new employees! And you want your Early Stage Innovation Employees to be paid appropriately.

Are you sure you need the employees or do you use contractors until the new venture takes off? Initially, it costs you more but it will reduce the compliance time which in effect is a cost!

Switching from contractor to employee adds a huge compliance burden to a new venture.

Do you have someone in your new innovative company that understands payroll and the laws and regulations that encompass fair work practices in Australia?

The employer needs to cope with an enormous amount of red tape to ensure they comply with both Federal and State laws.

Do you comply? Did you obtain the following information for your records? Did you use this information to pay your employee?

1. Employment Contract – First record:
   1. Employment contract signed by employee and a senior staff member
   2. Conditions of employment
   3. Pay rate per week, per fortnight, per month etc
   4. Superannuation rate that applies, not less than superannuation guarantee rate
   5. Termination clauses
2. Employee File – Second record:
   1. Name of employee
   2. Passport number, name on passport, date of birth, expiry date
   3. If no passport then temporary visa number, name on visa, date of birth and expiry date
   4. Driver license number (if any), name on license, home address, date of birth and expiry date
   5. Tax file number (if none, complete ATO tax file number declaration)
   6. Home address
   7. Home contact number
   8. Name and contact number of life partner
3. Employee Payslip – Third record
   1. Name of employee
   2. Employee number
   3. Rate of pay
   4. Day date
   5. Start time
   6. Finish time
   7. Hours worked
   8. This should be reconciled with receipt in employee’s bank account

There is more information required to comply.

One thing is for sure you do not need the following headlines… it will destroy your reputation:

“Shoddy books help to shield unfair wages”

In the Sydney Morning Herald 2 May 2017 edition, the Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James made this comment and raised the problem of fair pay noting that her staff sometimes had to take extreme steps such as camping outside workplaces to monitor when staff were working because record keeping was so poor.

The Federal Circuit Court has described… accurate record keeping as the bedrock of compliance.

This was crucial she said because inadequate records hindered her office’s capacity to “assess and rectify underpayment of wages”.

“Poor or inadequate record keeping is one of our most fundamental challenges,” Ms James said.

An increasing proportion of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s most serious cases has involved recording breaches.

The Fair Work Ombudsman Office made 4,539 audits in 2015-16 financial year, 933 (or 21 per cent) identified record-keeping contraventions. Most made it difficult or impossible to calculate underpayment owed to workers.

Ms James is seeking higher penalties as a persistent minority of employers flouted the law and risked existing fines because they were not severe enough to act as a deterrent.

You don’t need any of this.

The Payroll Support Package for Early Stage Innovation Employees

However, you do need experienced payroll people that understand Fair Work in Australia.

To assist these innovators and investors our Payroll Support Package takes the pain out of compliance and changes the red tape to green utopia.

We will make the assessment, train staff and implement the appropriate good governance Payroll System that complies with all the laws and regulations… you will be able to undertake this same process with established companies who are having difficulties with providing accurate payroll records to the authorities as well as your employees.

The benefits are many but just a few are:

• Free Payroll System Health Check
• Provide a standard set of templates that will include a Job Specification for the role of a Payroll Manager
• If staff on hand do not have the skills required GamePlan CFO will search and select the appropriate final 3 candidates for the client’s selection
• Access to advice on complicated HR issues

Owners and directors can sleep comfortably at night knowing your Early Stage Innovation Employees are paid appropriately and comply with the law.