Each year the Fair Work Commission raises the minimum wage by a percentage. The rate rise tool will assist you in updating your rates across the system for the required pay period.
In this article we'll cover:
- Important considerations before starting your rate rise.
- Setting up a rate rise.
- Selecting awards to increase.
- Updating classifications.
- Updating rates books.
- Updating employee positions.
- Updating allowances.
- FAQs
Please be aware of the following:
- The rate rise will be effective from July 1.
- The increased rate applies to the first full pay period after July 1.
- Regardless of the percentage increase, you should set your classifications to match the pay guide exactly.
- You may not add new or edit existing positions, awards, or rates books while a rate rise is pending. Doing so may result in a failed rate rise.
Resources
Subscribe to the Fair Work Commission to get updates on your awards.
Download a copy of the latest pay guides from Fair Work.
Watch our Masterclass webinar on Rate Rises for a deep dive into the topic.
Watch our Rate Rise videos below for a high-level look at the process.
Sign up for assistance with your Rate Rise in the new form below.
Additional Resources
To learn how to manage an Annual Wage Increase, watch the below videos. More detail is provided in each step in the article below.
Please note you should watch both videos to ensure that you execute your rate rise effectively.In this video you'll learn more about:
- Key Facts about Annual Wage Increases
- How to set the date for your rate rise in your platform
In this video you'll learn more about:
- How to access the rate rise tool in your platform.
- Choosing the date and percent increase for your rate rise.
- Selecting the Awards to increase.
- Checking the classifications and editing where needed.
- How to edit the rates book for your rate rise.
- Checking the rates for your permanent employees.
- Checking the rates for your casual employees.
- Adjusting your Allowances including award, meal, shift and profile allowances.
New for 2023, we are offering Rate Rise Assistance Sessions!
Would you like to do your rate rise this year with a Coach? This will provide you with a multitude of benefits if you feel you need extra support during Rate rise time.
- You will drive the rate rise tool so that you can learn the process, and your CS coach will be there to guide you through.
- Your session will be recorded - Use this for future rate rises so you won't need assistance next time!
- It's Easy to book - Sign up in May/June through the form link in the Rate Rise Article. Keep in mind spaces will fill up fast, so get in early!
- A low fee of $280* for a session (regardless of duration) *GST exclusive
If this is your first year with foundU, you're in implementation or are on our Enterprise package, there will be no cost. We will support you through your first Rate Rise if you need assistance in addition to the available resources.
Sign me up for Rate Rise Assistance!
Register your interest by filling in the form details below, and we will be in touch!
Using The Rate Rise Tool
Before you start please consider the following:
- The rate rise applies to the first full pay period after the effective date.
- Print the new Pay Guide for your Award or have it on a second monitor for easy reference. You will need this for steps 2- 5 of the Rate Rise process. These will often be released a day or two before the effective date.
- Even if your business doesn’t pay an Award, you’ll still need to ensure that your agreement meets the minimum wage rates.
- Set aside an appropriate amount of time to complete the rate rise. For single awards allow 30 minutes, for multiple awards allow an hour. For businesses using charge rates, you should allow a few hours.
- If you need to edit or add new positions, awards, or rates books, do this before starting the rate rise or after it has been processed. Changes made to these things during a pending rate rise may cause errors or for your rate rise to not be processed.
- The rate rise processes overnight.
- The rate rise process will not necessarily cater to employees that are paid above award. This is dependent on how you have set up your above-award positions.
Once the pay guides have been released and you've determined the pay period this will apply to you will be ready to start your rate rise.
- From the main menu, navigate to Payroll Settings > Rate Rise.
- Here you will see any existing rate rises in progress and any processed rate rises.
- Select + Create a new rate rise.
Set up your rate rise.
- Select the rate rise date, if necessary.
- This value will default to 1 July 2023 which is accurate for all awards this financial year.
- Set the base rise percentage increase.
- Select how often payroll is processed.
- Click Next.
From the below tabs, select the timeframe you pay to view the appropriate instructions.
- Choose the date you will run a final payroll using the old rates.
- If you're completing your rate rise after you've run the final payroll at the old rate, you will be prompted to select the following:
- Choose the period end date of your final payroll. The day after this date will be used as the start of your first full pay period at the new rate.
- Select the date you want to schedule your rate rise. The earliest selection for this will be the next day as the rate rises will process overnight.
- Choose the date you will run a final payroll using the old rates.
- Choose the period end date of your final payroll. The day after this date will be used as the start of your first full pay period at the new rate.
- If you're completing your rate rise after you've run the final payroll at the old rate, you will be prompted to select the date you want to schedule your rate rise.
The earliest selection for this will be the next day as the rate rises will process overnight.
- Choose the date you will run a final payroll using the old rates.
- Choose the period end date of your final payroll. The day after this date will be used as the start of your first full pay period at the new rate.
- If you're completing your rate rise after you've run the final payroll at the old rate, you will be prompted to select the date you want to schedule your rate rise.
The earliest selection for this will be the next day as the rate rises will process overnight.
Award Selection
After selecting your date settings, you will need to select the awards to include in your rate rise.
- Select the awards to include in your rate rise.
- Note that you can perform several rate rises if need be. Not all awards need to be updated in one go. A common use case for this approach would be a rate rise per client (if they have their own awards).
- Update the Rate Increase if required.
- The base percentage increase can be different per award if appropriate.
- Click Continue.
This section will make changes to the classifications in your Award. The rate rise tool will increase your current rate by the percentage you entered in the previous steps.
You will need to have the new Pay Guide for your Award handy and ensure that each rate in this step matches the rate in the pay guide to the decimal exactly.
- Edit each classification to match the pay guide.
- Only the permanent rate will be edited as the casual rate is based on that.
- Each award selected will likely have multiple pages of classifications.
- You can edit these values in CSV format if you prefer by selecting Use CSV Import.
- Update Rate Overrides if you have any.
- These will be denoted by a Rate Overrides clickable text next to the classification name.
- Select Continue once all classifications have been edited to match the pay guide.
If your business makes use of any of the following features, these can be updated on the Rates Book menu.
- Charge rates in rates books
- Overriden rates in rates books
- Charge rates for entitlements
- Rates book templates
If you need to make edits to your rates books, it is recommended that you use the CSV Import option. This will allow you to edit your pay and charge rates relatively quickly. To do this:
- Select Use CSV Import and select Export CSV.
- Edit the downloaded CSV file, updating your rates as required. Save the file.
- Select your file (or drag & drop) then select Import CSV.
Note: All items on this page can be edited manually if you prefer but due to the volume of records you're likely to have there, this is not advisable.
The permanent and casual employee tabs will list all of your employees that will be getting an increase as a result of the rate rise. This includes positions that were above the award but would fall below after the increased rate.
Key Information
- Employees who are paid above-award and will remain so, will not be present.
- Current and future positions will be listed and updated.
- Positions assigned to pending employees will also be listed and updated.
- If need be, you may edit an employee's rate and increase it.
- You are not able to decrease a position rate to below the new minimum rate.
Note: If an employee is to receive a pay rise and they are not present in these menus, their increase will be actioned on their profile. You can read more about editing the rate of a permanent employee's position here. And read more about editing the rate of a casual employee's position here.
The last step of the rate rise is to update your allowances. The allowances you may need to increase include:
- Award Allowances
- Shift Penalties
- Meal Allowances
- Profile Allowances
Like the rates books, these can be updated manually but due to the potentially high volume of allowances (especially shift penalties and meal allowances), it is recommended to use the CSV Import.
To do so:
- Select Use CSV Import and select Export CSV.
- Edit the downloaded CSV file, updating your rates as required. Save the file.
- Select your file (or drag & drop) then select Import CSV.
- Select Finish to complete your rate rise.
After updating allowances and selecting Finish, the rate rise will be set in a pending state. Depending on when you started the rate rise and the options you selected at the start will determine when the rate rise will process. The earliest a rate rise will process is overnight.
Once the rate rise has been processed, your awards, rates books, rates book templates, timesheets, and employee positions will all be updated from the start of the selected pay period.
You can review all of your rate rises, processed or unprocessed. You can also edit or delete rate rises that have not yet been processed.
From the main menu, select Payroll Settings > Rate Rise. Here you will see all of your rate rises.
- Any unprocessed rate rises may be edited if need be. If you need to go edit any step, all future steps will need to be completed again. For example, if you edit the classifications step, the rates books, employee tabs, and allowances will need to be re-completed.
- If editing a rate rise that has a process date in the past, you will need to go back to the first step and reset the date.
- You can also delete any unprocessed rate rises if needed using the delete icon.
- If you add a new rate rise, please note that any Awards included in a pending rate rise will not be available for the new rate rise.
FAQs
Q. I have just employed some people and need to roster them for tomorrow. Can I do this with a pending rate rise?
There are 2 options here.
- Add the person and their position before you commence the rate rise.
- Add the person and their position after the rate rise has been processed.
New positions added during a pending rate rise will not be included in the rate rise.
Q. What will happen to the shifts I have rostered? Do I need to hold off approving shifts until the rate rise is done?
The rate rise tool will handle all of this.
You can continue rostering & approving shifts without concern. The rate rise tool will update any shifts/timesheets for the correct period with the correct new rate.
Q. Can the rate rise tool be used for an enterprise agreement?
Absolutely!
The rate rise tool can be used to increase the rates for any of the Award configurations you may have set up. We use the term 'Award' most commonly throughout the platform and in our communication but it extends to Enterprise Agreements, salaried positions, or any other type of custom arrangement.
Q. Will it work with above Award positions?
It depends on how you've set up your above Award positions.
- On the position (employee profile) - These will only update if they are no longer above award. To increase the rate of an above-award employee, do so manually on the position.
- In the rates book (position override) - You'll have the opportunity to update the overridden rates in the Rates Book tab of the rate rise process.
- Custom classification - You can increase the custom above award classification to the value you want on the classification tab of the rate rise process.
Q. My employee says their new rate is wrong - What should I do?
- Check the employee's payslip to confirm the rate that they were paid.
- Check the Pay Guide to ensure that the rate paid to the employee is correct.
- If you can't work out what is wrong or how to fix it, note down everything and provide us all the details.