Most payroll problems are quiet. They build up slowly and only surface when an employee, the ATO or Fair Work asks a question. Here are the five that come up most often in reviews, and how to stay clear of them.
1. The wrong award, or no award check at all
Everything downstream depends on award coverage. Get the award wrong and the rates, penalties, allowances and overtime are all wrong with it. Confirm coverage for every role, and re-check when someone’s duties change.
2. Treating a salary as a catch-all
A salary only covers award entitlements if it genuinely leaves the person better off across the hours they actually work, penalties and overtime included. Without a reconciliation across a full roster cycle, you cannot know that it does. This is one of the most common sources of unexpected back-pay.
3. Getting superannuation wrong
Super changed meaningfully in 2026. Under Payday Super, from 1 July 2026 you generally pay super at the same time as wages rather than quarterly, and it needs to reach the fund within a few business days of payday. Add the common errors, paying on the wrong earnings, or missing super for eligible contractors, and super becomes an area with very little tolerance for mistakes.
4. Misclassifying employees as contractors
The single most expensive mistake, because it compounds across leave, super and tax at once. Since August 2024 the test looks at the whole working relationship, not just the contract. If in doubt, get the arrangement reviewed before it becomes a claim.
5. Poor records
Incomplete time and wage records make every other problem harder to fix and leave you exposed if you are audited. Employers must keep specified employee and pay records for seven years. Accurate, well-kept records are quietly one of the most valuable things a small business can maintain.
The pattern behind all five
None of these are the mark of a bad employer. They are the natural result of a business growing faster than its back office. The fix is almost always the same: a clear, current setup and a simple routine to keep it that way.
A Payroll Health Check works through all five of these and hands you a clear, prioritised list of what to fix first. It is the least expensive way to find out where you stand.