The Redcliffe peninsula runs on two economies that both happen to have difficult awards. Along the waterfront it is cafés, restaurants and accommodation, staffed largely by casuals across evenings, weekends and public holidays. Behind that sits a substantial aged care and home care sector serving one of the older populations in the Brisbane region.
For the hospitality side, the exposure is almost always penalty rates and salaried managers. Weekend and public holiday loadings are where the money is, and a flat hourly rate that looks generous on a Tuesday is frequently short on a Sunday. Venue managers on a salary are the other one: the salary is fine until you count the actual hours across a summer weekend.
For home care and disability providers, it is SCHADS, which is the most demanding award most small employers will ever have to apply. Travel between clients, broken shifts, sleepovers, minimum engagements and client cancellation each have their own rule, and NDIS price limits do not always move in step with them. Getting this right is as much a viability question as a compliance one.