As national wage rates are soon to increase in July, the Fair Work Ombudsman has just released free online resources to help employers transition to modern awards, as part of the Shared Industry Assistance Projects (SIAP) grant program.
Fact sheets, best practice guides, templates, as well as a pay rates calculator and award finder are all available on the
Fair Work Australia website. Resources are also available for specific industries, such as healthcare, construction, hospitality, agriculture, design and retail.
Under the SIAP program, the Fair Work Ombudsman offered grants to several peak bodies last year to help educate employers about transitioning to modern awards. These organisations included Hair and Beauty Australia, Housing Industry Association, Australian Hotels Association, the Australian Medical Association and more.
“Without the resources that are currently available online and over the phone for small businesses, getting a grip on what rates of pay to pay people and how to commence the transitioning process was very difficult for small business in 2010. But the Fair Work Ombudsman has certainly worked very hard to increase the amount of information and the accessibility of information, so people l can feel more prepared in 2011,” Hannah Mills from EI Legal told Smarter Business Ideas.
However, Mills explained that while the website is a good preliminary port of call, small business owners will probably still need to seek legal advice or Fair Work Australia for more information. She also pointed out to the
PayCheck and Award Finder tools on the Fair Work site, which
are also quite useful for small business owners.
For more information on the SIAP grant program, call 13 13 94 between Monday to Friday from 8am - 6pm.