The Christmas season represents the peak
trading period of the year for most retailers with
the engagement of additional staff often required
to meet consumer demand. However, the
Christmas season can also mean that engaging
staff can be quite an expensive exercise.
With late night trading, weekend work, overtime and public holiday penalties impacting on payroll costs, your wage bill can quickly add up. However, there are a number of measures that employers can take to manage their expenditure in this area over the Christmas period.
Recruiting tips
When recruiting casual staff, the employer should consider
- making it clear that:
- The position is casual and not permanent;
- Each engagement offered is a separate contract which the employee can accept or reject;
- There is no entitlement to predictable hours of work;
- There is no guarantee of ongoing employment with the employer; and
- There is no regular rostering of hours.
Other tips regarding engagement of casuals
Engage the most suitable position for the job:
- Engaging a Department or Shop Manager to undertake work that could easily be performed by a Shop Assistant is clearly going to incur additional and unnecessary wage costs for the business.
- Identifying work that can safely and appropriately be undertaken by junior employees helps you to effectively manage your costs and helps young people by giving them a “leg-up” in the world of work.
Undertake sensible rostering:
- Poor rostering of hours can result in significant costs to employers which can be reduced by having an understanding of the requirements and limitations contained in the relevant Award or workplace agreement regarding hours of work.
- Many Awards contain limitations on daily hours and even on the number of engagements that can occur within a given period. Failure to observe these limitations can result in excessive penalty rates being applied.
- Some Awards also limit the number of casuals that can be engaged in proportion to permanent employees.
Be mindful of penalty rates:
- The interaction between casual loadings and penalty rates can assist you in managing your wage bill over the Christmas period. Some Awards substitute casual loadings for penalty rates whereas others compound them.
Conversion:
- Many Awards also contain provisions which allow casuals to convert to full-time or part-time status after they have been employed for a set period of time. The prescribed time period varies from six weeks through to 12 months depending on the Award.
- Employers need to monitor the length of employment of casual employees to ensure they can still be regarded as such.
Article courtesy of Australian Retailers Association 