Change an employee's Employment Type

Change an employee's position from Permanent to Casual or vice versa

It is not uncommon for employees to change their employment type. They may wish to change to a permanent position after having been employed casually. Sometimes, a permanent employee may wish to change to casual employment. 

In all cases, there are some key things to note when changing employment types for an employee. Understanding how this works in foundU and the recommended processes will mean that you have a smooth transition experience for you and your employees. 

In this article, we will cover:

• Changing from Permanent to Casual employment
• Changing from Casual to Permanent employment
• FAQs

   For further reading on how you can Create New Positions, please refer to this guide. 

Permanent to Casual transition

When changing an employee from permanent employment to casual employment, the change can be made entirely on the employee's profile.

This process does have a few considerations:

• The new casual position may only commence at the start of a week. From a system perspective, it is best practice to line up your employee's change in employment type for the first day of a week. That way, the employee will be paid their new rate for the entirety (or half for fortnightly) of a pay period. 
• The new position can only commence at the start of an unpaid (current or future) pay period. This allows for any accrued leave to be processed in one payment.
• For any leave types to be paid out due to the change, your platform will create a separate payslip to pay out the leave; this may result in the employee having 2 payslips to process.
  • One payslip is for any worked hours or approved leave requests.
  • A second payslip for a leave payout. 
• Under the Fair Work Casual employment legislation, casual employees must have the CEIS (Casual Employment Information Statement) provided to them at regular intervals (initial start date, 6 months, 12 months and 12+ months). To learn more about how this communication is automated in foundU, please explore this guide on the subject.

To change to casual employment:

1. Navigate to the employee's profile > Employee Card > Employment Type.
2. Select Add new position and select Casual as the employment type.
3. Add the applicable position details. For more information about adding a new position, please refer to this article. 
4. Lastly, you'll be prompted to take care of all the employee's entitlements. You can read more about the available options here. 
   
   • If the employee has an existing draft payslip for this period, the leave payout will be added to the payslip. 
   • If the employee does not have an existing draft payslip, your platform will create a payslip to pay out the leave. This may result in the employee having 2 draft payslips to process (one for leave payout, the other for worked hours). 
5. Navigate to Payroll > Pay, and process any draft payslips.
   
    Hot tip: The payslip with the leave payout will be blocked from processing until the employee's previous draft payslips have been either processed/ deleted. This will be the case if the employee has two payslips for the pay period (see Step 4).
6. If you would like to align the employee's CEIS automated comms with the 6, 12, 12+ month intervals, you can optionally edit the Employment start date on the Employee Profile to match the start date of the casual position. 

The following is an interactive demo of the process described above.  Use the expand option on the top right side to view in full screen. You can click through at your own pace and navigate backwards if needed.

Casual to Permanent transition

Before changing an employee from Casual to Permanent employment, please be aware of the following:

• Permanent positions may only commence at the start of a pay period. From a system perspective, it is best practice to line up your employee's change in employment type with the start of a pay period. That way, the employee will be paid their new rate for the entirety of a pay period. 
  
    Please note: If you do wish to change to permanent employment during a pay cycle, this will require additional steps. Please contact support for more information. 
• Entitlements can only be added to profiles when the permanent position has started. If you are future-dating a permanent position, the entitlements can only be added to the profile on this date. Please remember to add these to ensure the employee accrues their entitlements correctly.  

If you have an employee moving from a casual position into a permanent one, you'll need to ensure they are set up properly with a new position and relevant entitlements.

To change to permanent employment:

1. Navigate to the employee's profile > Employee Card > Employment Type.
2. Select Add new position and select Full Time or Part Time as the employment type.
3. Add the applicable position details. For more information about adding a new position, please refer to this article. 
4. When adding the position details, you will set the start date of the permanent position. This date can only be the start of a pay period. 
5. Add entitlements to the employee profile. If you are future-dating the position, this will need to be actioned on the start date of the position. Please refer to this article for information on adding entitlements manually. 

The following is an interactive demo of the process described above.  Use the expand option on the top right side to view in full screen. You can click through at your own pace and navigate backwards if needed.

FAQs

I've changed an employee from casual to permanent and set the date for 2 weeks in the future. How do I add in additional positions for them?

Additional positions can only be added to permanent employees on the date they become permanent. When this position starts, you'll be able to add additional positions. 

I want to change a permanent employee to a casual. When is the best time to change their position? Before the end of the pay period or after the last pay period as a permanent employee but before I generate pay?

The best times to change employment types are either before the end of the pay period (by future dating the position) or after you have generated pays.

When changing an employee's position from permanent to casual, any leave being paid out due to the change will create a separate payslip. This payslip will need to be processed after the employee's final pay at their permanent position.

I have no future shifts rostered but I'm being asked to review timesheet data when changing positions. What are these?

When changing positions, you may be prompted to manage existing items that are linked to the position. This can include shifts, timesheets, and leave applications. Timesheet data means that something has been approved based on the position you're changing. This is most likely a leave application. 

Do I need to terminate an employee and then reactivate them to change their employment type?

You do not! This can be done by adding a new position on the employee profile. The ATO will be notified correctly through STP without you having to terminate & reactivate.