Who We Help — HR & Payroll by Industry

Sectors

Where we spend most of our time

We work with small businesses across Australia, but the same handful of sectors come up again and again — usually because their awards are the hardest to apply. If yours is not listed, it does not mean we cannot help; it means the answer starts with confirming your coverage.

01

Trades & construction

Apprentices, allowances and the contractor question.

Construction has some of the most detailed pay rules of any sector: allowances that change with the site, apprentice rates that step up with each stage,…

02

Allied health & medical practices

Practitioner agreements, part-time hours and classification levels.

The hard question in a practice is rarely payroll mechanics. It is whether your practitioners are contractors or employees, and whether your admin and support staff…

03

Hospitality & cafés

Penalties, split shifts and a mostly casual team.

Hospitality combines the highest proportion of casual staff of any sector with some of the most intricate penalty and overtime provisions. Small mistakes repeat across every…

04

Retail

Junior rates, Sunday loading and roster changes.

Retail rosters move constantly, and the award has specific rules about how much notice a change needs and what a shift must be worth. Most retail…

05

Professional services & agencies

Salaries, set-off clauses and the award-free question.

Professional firms often assume they are award-free. Some roles genuinely are; a great many administrative, bookkeeping and coordination roles are not. Where the Clerks Award applies,…

06

Early learning & childcare

Ratios drive the roster, and the roster drives the risk.

In early learning the roster is not a management preference, it is a regulatory requirement. That constraint pushes services into short shifts, split shifts and last-minute…

07

NDIS, aged care & community services

The most complex award most small employers will ever meet.

SCHADS is genuinely difficult. Broken shifts, sleepovers, 24-hour care, client cancellation, travel between clients and minimum engagements all have their own rules, and NDIS price limits…

08

Fitness, beauty & personal services

Rent-a-chair, commission and the contractor line.

These sectors run on flexible arrangements — chair rental, commission splits, trainers paying for floor time. Some of those arrangements are genuine independent contracting and some…

01

Trades & construction

Apprentices, allowances and the contractor question.

Construction has some of the most detailed pay rules of any sector: allowances that change with the site, apprentice rates that step up with each stage, and a long tradition of engaging people as subcontractors when the law would call them employees.

Let's Talk

Usually governed by

Building and Construction General On-site Award, or the Plumbing, Electrical or Joinery awards

What we most often find

Apprentice progression missed at the anniversary, so the rate stays at first-year for two years
Site, travel, tool, meal and leading-hand allowances not applied, or applied to the wrong roles
ABN subcontractors who look, on the whole of the relationship, like employees
RDO and accrual arrangements set up in payroll without reference to the actual award clause

02

Allied health & medical practices

Practitioner agreements, part-time hours and classification levels.

The hard question in a practice is rarely payroll mechanics. It is whether your practitioners are contractors or employees, and whether your admin and support staff sit at the right classification level for the work they actually do.

Let's Talk

Usually governed by

Health Professionals and Support Services Award, or the Nurses Award

What we most often find

Service agreements with practitioners that do not survive a whole-of-relationship test
Support staff classified one or two levels below the duties they perform
Part-time hours varied informally, without the written agreement the award requires
Overtime and weekend rates missed for staff covering extended clinic hours

03

Hospitality & cafés

Penalties, split shifts and a mostly casual team.

Hospitality combines the highest proportion of casual staff of any sector with some of the most intricate penalty and overtime provisions. Small mistakes repeat across every roster, which is what turns them into large numbers.

Let's Talk

Usually governed by

Hospitality Industry (General) Award or Restaurant Industry Award

What we most often find

Evening, weekend and public holiday penalties flattened into a single hourly rate
Junior rates not stepped up on the employee birthday
Split-shift and broken-shift allowances not paid at all
Salaried venue managers whose actual hours put them well below the award once penalties are counted

04

Retail

Junior rates, Sunday loading and roster changes.

Retail rosters move constantly, and the award has specific rules about how much notice a change needs and what a shift must be worth. Most retail underpayments come from rostering practice rather than from the pay rate itself.

Let's Talk

Usually governed by

General Retail Industry Award

What we most often find

Minimum engagement periods breached by short shifts
Roster changes made without the notice the award requires
Sunday and public holiday loadings applied at the wrong rate
Stocktake and trading-hours overtime treated as ordinary time

05

Professional services & agencies

Salaries, set-off clauses and the award-free question.

Professional firms often assume they are award-free. Some roles genuinely are; a great many administrative, bookkeeping and coordination roles are not. Where the Clerks Award applies, a salary only discharges it if you can show the arithmetic.

Let's Talk

Usually governed by

Clerks — Private Sector Award, where an award applies at all

What we most often find

Assuming award-free status without ever confirming coverage
Salaries set above the minimum weekly rate but below what the actual hours produce
No annual reconciliation of an annualised wage arrangement
Time in lieu offered informally, with no written agreement behind it

06

Early learning & childcare

Ratios drive the roster, and the roster drives the risk.

In early learning the roster is not a management preference, it is a regulatory requirement. That constraint pushes services into short shifts, split shifts and last-minute cover, all of which the award has something specific to say about.

Let's Talk

Usually governed by

Children's Services Award or the Educational Services (Teachers) Award

What we most often find

Classification levels not stepped up when a qualification is completed
Programming and non-contact time not paid as working time
Broken shifts used to cover ratio gaps without the applicable allowance
Two awards operating in one service, with teachers and educators on different terms

07

NDIS, aged care & community services

The most complex award most small employers will ever meet.

SCHADS is genuinely difficult. Broken shifts, sleepovers, 24-hour care, client cancellation, travel between clients and minimum engagements all have their own rules, and NDIS price limits do not always move with them.

Let's Talk

Usually governed by

Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award (SCHADS)

What we most often find

Travel time and vehicle allowance between clients not paid
Sleepover and recall provisions applied incorrectly, or not at all
Client cancellation absorbed by the worker rather than the employer
Two-hour minimum engagement breached by short support visits

08

Fitness, beauty & personal services

Rent-a-chair, commission and the contractor line.

These sectors run on flexible arrangements — chair rental, commission splits, trainers paying for floor time. Some of those arrangements are genuine independent contracting and some are employment wearing a different name, and the difference matters a great deal.

Let's Talk

Usually governed by

Fitness Industry Award or Hair and Beauty Industry Award

What we most often find

Chair rental and commission arrangements that function as employment
Commission-only pay that does not meet the award minimum for hours worked
Trainers rostered to a timetable but engaged on an ABN
Junior and apprentice rates in hair and beauty applied incorrectly

Start here

Not sure which award covers you?

That is the most common question we get, and it is the right one to ask first. Coverage is decided by what the business does and what the person actually does, not by the job title — which is why our guide to finding the right modern award is worth reading before you assume anything. If you would rather have it confirmed properly, a Payroll Health Check works through coverage, classifications, rates and records and hands you a written list of what to fix.

We work remotely with businesses right across Australia. If you are close by, we also have pages for the North Brisbane suburbs we work in most.

Tell us what you do.

A short conversation is usually enough to work out which award applies to your team and whether anything needs attention. No obligation, and no jargon.

Book a Free Discovery Call

Your industry hasits own rules.

Where we spend most of our time

Trades & construction

Allied health & medical practices

Hospitality & cafés

Retail

Professional services & agencies

Early learning & childcare

NDIS, aged care & community services

Fitness, beauty & personal services

Trades & construction

Allied health & medical practices

Hospitality & cafés

Retail

Professional services & agencies

Early learning & childcare

NDIS, aged care & community services

Fitness, beauty & personal services

Not sure which award covers you?

Tell us what you do.