More and more businesses are being caught for wage theft and there is no excuse for this. We live and work in Australia, enjoying a very high standard of living. Along with that standard comes the cost of wages in this country. We now have the highest minimum wages in the world and if you are going into business, you need to be able to work in this environment. Smart businesses however, look at alternatives in their staffing models, to see how they can work in our tight regulatory environment, and still pay staff their rightful wages. A perfect example of this is the Fast Food Model. Most fast food outlets employ a huge amount of junior labour.

Workers are classed as juniors under the age of 21, for most Awards and are entitled to lower rates of pay. Using this demographic is a proven method to reduce staffing costs. The Fast Food Industry has perfected methods of training, that reduce the complexity of work to a level easily understood and performed by juniors with little or no experience. Using such vast amounts of youthful workers has enabled incredible growth for the fast food industry, that would not be able to be supported if they were paying adult rates for workers.

Juniors in your organisation can be a fantastic strategy to reduce your wages costs. However it comes with the need to perhaps rethink your workflows and your training in order to upskill these young ones quickly and ensure quality of service and production is not lost. Conversely, for most students, working while studying is a fantastic opportunity to gain skills that will assist their future careers. If you don’t know where to access this demographic. Talk to us about our UGrad Plan. We can supply a junior for your organisation, studying in a relevant field of study for a fraction of the cost of an adult employee. Digital natives bring new ideas, strong technology skills and an eagerness to learn to your organisation.

Many businesses find themselves in trouble for trying to reduce wages costs through using interns. Just because a student knocks on your door and offers his/her services for free, does not make this a legal practise. The facts are, that unpaid internships can only be offered in conjunction with the educational facility. This means that the internship must be a part of a designated course or subject. The educational facility will cover insurances and you may be required to be involved in mentoring and completing reviews on your student. Employing a student outside of this environment and not paying them is illegal.

Another way to look at reducing wages costs is to take on flexible staff through an on-hired model, just for the period of time you require, and then reducing your staffing numbers as soon as you can. With an on-hired employee, you pay a higher hourly rate than just the wages, because you are paying for the wages plus all on-costs such as Super, Workers Comp, Payroll tax, Insurances and payroll costs. However you do not have the cost of time and wages to set this all up, for your employee. You do not have to open the Super Fund, register for PAYG; include the wages on your Workers Comp, take out Public Liability etc. These are all included in the cost. Additionally you do not have to payroll the person, so you are not increasing other administrative costs. The best outcome though, is that you can decrease or stop the worker with only one hours’ notice, so when work reduces, no need to carry the overhead of extra workers, you can reduce your workforce till the work increases. This is the ultimate way to save on wages costs.

Talk to CIRCLE Recruitment & HR today, we can assist you with HR advice on how to structure your organisation to facilitate the use of more juniors; supply you with junior workers and supply you with adult on-hired workers who can bring a cost saving level of flexibility to your business.

Important Note: These articles have been prepared for general circulation and are circulated for general informational purposes only; these articles should not be regarded as business or investment advice. The articles represent the views of the writers and are subject to change without notice. Additionally, while every care has been taken in the preparation of the articles no representation or warranty as to accuracy or completeness of any statement is given. An individual or organisation should, before any business or investment decision is made, consider the appropriateness of the information in this document, and seek professional advice, having regard to objectives, situation and needs. This document is solely for the use of the party to whom it is provided.