It is now time to start the recruitment process. Putting things in place so your recruitment process flows effortlessly is just as important as all the steps involved in preparing for engaging workers.
Leading up to this time you should have undertaken the following tasks:
- Determined what type of employment your staff will have (full-time, part-time etc)
- Established if you are employing under an award, enterprise agreement or registered agreement
- Have a good knowledge of the National Employment Standards
- Be registered for PAYG
- Be set up with a default Superannuation Fund and have a Clearing House set up
- Have a good knowledge of Fringe Benefits Tax
- Understand Payroll Tax
- Established if you are going to offer a Work Place Giving program and have it set up if you are
- Understand the Award, Enterprise Agreement or Registered Agreement that your staff will be employed under
- Understand what Flexibility in the Workplace means
- Have undertaken at least a Self-Assessment of Occupational Health & Safety or undertaken a Consultation for this
Now it’s time to really get ready for your staff to start coming through the door.
New Employee Packs
There are a few things that you MUST obtain from your new staff members as you employ them. To cover this easily I created what I call the New Employee Packs. The following is what is in the New Employee Packs:
- Employee Information Sheet
- Tax File Declaration Form
- Standard Choice Form
- Copy of the Fair Work Information Statement
In addition to this you can also include:
- Copies of relevant company policies such as code of conduct, uniform or social media policies
- Workplace Giving Program Information
Employee Information Sheet
This sheet is basically a means to gather all the information about your new staff member. Getting your new staff member to fill this in will help you quickly and easily learn what you need to learn about them for payroll requirements.
Tax File Number Declaration
A Tax File Number Declaration form is a form that both you (the Employer) and your new staff member fill in. Once it is filled in it gets returned to the ATO.
The information required in section A is to be filled in by your new staff member, it provides you with information that will allow you to work out the PAYG amounts to withhold from their wages.
The form must be filled in by both parties and lodged with the ATO within 14 days of the employee’s start date. If the employee fails to return the form to you in time, then you are required to withhold 48% of PAYG from their pay until such time as they return the form.
To obtain a copy of this form you can either download it here – Tax File Declaration Form – or order it online from the ATO – order online – or ring the ATO on 1300 720 092 and request a copy (form NAT 3092). They are also sometimes available at Post Offices and Newsagencies.
Standard Choice From
The Standard Choice Form is used so the new staff member can advise you their choice of superannuation fund.
This form has 2 sections to it as well. The Employer section must be filled in by you before giving the form to your new staff member. This section details your nominated default super fund and advises the staff member that they can use their own fund or use your default fund.
The Employee section must be filled in by the employee, either accepting to use your default fund or advising you of the fund that they are choosing and the details to their fund.
Once they have returned the form to you, you are able to lodge their superannuation to the appropriate fund.
If the form is not returned to you by the time you do superannuation lodgements the new staff member is to be automatically joined to your default superannuation fund. Once this is done, they cannot elect for you to change the fund for the next 12 months.
To obtain a copy of this form you can either download it here – Standard Choice Form – order it online from the ATO – order online – or ring the ATO on 1300 720 092 and request a copy (form NAT 13080).
Fair Work Information Statement
By Law, all new staff MUST receive a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement before, or as soon as possible after they start their new job.
The Statement provides new employees with information about their conditions of employment such as:
- The National Employment Standards
- Right to request flexible working arrangements
- Modern awards
- Making agreements under the Fair Work Act
- Individual flexibility arrangements
- Freedom of association and workplace rights (general protections)
- Termination of employment
- Right of entry
- The role of the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Fair Work Commission
The Statement is available in 27 languages so if you feel a new staff member would better understand it in another language this is covered.
To obtain a copy of the Statement you can either download it here – Fair Work Information Statement – or down load it from the Fair Work website – here.
Company Policies
It is always a good idea to have some polices around workplace behaviour. What you find acceptable and what you don’t and also what is legal and what isn’t. These polices will become your guide to how things are ran and will assist in situations where discipline is required.
Some examples of Policies you may like to introduce are:
- Code of Conduct
- Dress Code
- IT, Internet, Email & Social Media
- Training & Development
- Occupational Health & Safety
- Equal Employment Opportunity & Anti-Bullying
- Intellectual Property & Security
- Conflict of Interest
Small Business Victoria has a great HR Manual Template that you could work through and adopt as your Policies and Procedures, you can download it here – HR Manual Template.
Workplace Giving Program
If you decide to offer a Workplace Giving Program, there are a few steps involved in setting this up. Once it is set up you then need to provide your staff with some information around the program. The best way to do this is via a letter in your New Employee Pack.
The letter should state what the program is about, what charities you are supporting, the minimum donation amount per pay, whether their tax is reduced due to the program.
There should also be a form for them to fill in if they are willing to participate, how much they are willing to donate and what charities (from your selection) would they like to donate to.
Ask the Bookkeeper offers a service for assisting you in setting up your New Employee Packs. We also sell New Employee Packs to you directly, this saves you time and money getting it ready for yourself. If you would like information on how Ask the Bookkeeper can assist you in getting your employment pack set up or how you can purchase your own New Employee Packs directly from us, please email me on – admin@askthebookkeeper.com.au
If you would like assistance in setting up the HR Manual Template from Small Business Victoria you can contact me on – admin@askthebookkeeper.com.au and I will give you some information around this.
If you have any questions relating to this article or any others that you have read, please feel free to email me or contact me on Facebook or Twitter.
