Register as an employer
As an employer, you must register as such, with an ABN number required.
“You need your ABN number to register for PAYG withholding tax that you deduct … it’s money that you deduct on behalf of the employee and pay across to the ATO,” Grohn said.
“If you are anticipating employing working holiday makers … you need to register as an employer of working holiday makers.”
Write a job description
It is important to ensure that you and your applicants are aware of what the job entails and what responsibilities would be placed on the new employee.
“You don’t have to go into every little detail, but it’s just making sure that they’re very clear on their requirements … often they’re signed as well,” Grohn said.
The recruitment process
When it comes to the recruitment process, it is important to ensure the job profile is done first.
From there, using the right avenues to find your candidates, such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Seek etc, depending on what the role is, is imperative.
“I would very much suggest that you have your job profile done first and then make sure that you use relative avenues to make sure that you attract the right candidate,” Grohn said.
Employee onboarding
While an important step in the process, Grohn said that doing one thing correctly would ensure that this aspect is as smooth sailing as possible.
“It’s about being organised, making sure you’ve got the right information and using that information to feed into Xero. Valid tax file number, super guarantee details up front, whether there’s any student loans and so forth,” she said.
Run payroll for your employees
Paying your employees is essential and a legal requirement. A list of your employees and the total amount of money you pay them, payroll includes salaries and wages, bonuses, allowances, benefits and deductions such as tax.
There are three ways you can run your payroll for employees:
- Using handwritten spreadsheets
- Using timesheets that can be integrated with Xero
- Using Xero Me
“You need to pay an additional payroll tax to your state government and you need to report on it as an employer. It’s only if your wages exceed $1.3 million per year,” Grohn explained. (but can differ depending on which state you are based in).
“You need to register as an employer for payroll tax. It flags once you hit the threshold once.”
Manage employee evaluations
Once a member of your staff, communication and feedback is vital to ensure enjoyment in the role and fulfilment of the job’s requirements.
“It’s that need to give feedback and obviously as an employer you benefit from that as well because there might be a few issues that you’re not aware of that are causing difficulties for the employee to perform their duties,” Grohn said.
“Just make sure you touch base with them, make them feel wanted, review salaries where applicable and touch on any issues.”
Tools and guides for your business
The ATO contains resources, videos and training materials that cover the above areas.
“Right from engaging a worker, employing a worker, hiring, obligations, if the employee leaves your business and when you’re no longer hiring,” said Grohn.
“You can use the Fair Work Guide to double check on award wages if you need to. There’s a calculator that you can use to double check that what you’re paying an employee is correct.”
