Talent Wiki - Australia

Your quick guide on talent and labor compliance norms in Australia

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Capital

Canberra

Currency

Australian Dollar (AUD)

Languages

English (Official)

Payroll Frequency

Bi-weekly or Monthly

GDP per Capita

$57,300

Employer Tax

15.85%

Supplementary Guide for Employment and Expansion in Australia

Talent Overview

A highly developed, high-income country, Australia, has the world's 13th biggest economy. It ranks at the 8th position in human development and 10th in the world per capita income. An abundance of natural resources and robust international trade forms the backbone of the Australian economy.

Major economic hubs:

Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

Skills in demand:

Digital Transformation Skills, IT industry, Technical Specialists

Local Universities

The top local universities in Australia are as follows:

University of Melbourne

RANKING

Australia : 1

World : 51

Monash University

RANKING

Australia : 2

World : 57

‍

University of Sydney

RANKING

Australia : 3

World : 63

‍

University of New South Wales

RANKING

Australia : 4

World : 69

‍

University of Queensland

RANKING

Australia : 5

World : 85

‍

Salary Data

Some of the top jobs in Australia and their annual salaries are listed below:

Job Title	Average Salary (AUD)	Average Salary (USD)
Accountant	66,100	46,237.28
Financial Analyst	122,000	85,348.30
Graphic Designer	56,100	39,250.06
Business Analyst	111,000	77,655.10
Customer Service Manager	129,000	90,285.41
Human Resource Officer	54,200	37,933.87

Talent Sourcing Tips

Top Local Job Boards:

Seek, Indeed, Jobsearch.gov.au

Number of LinkedIn users:

13 million

Top Recruitment Agencies:

Lloyd Connect Melbourne, Adecco, Randstad Australia

Employing in Australia

Employment and workplace relations in Australia are governed by the Fair Work Act of 2009. The Australian labor law framework is derived from:

~Constitution
~Federal and state laws
~Statutory agreements
~Employment contracts

Employee Contract:

‍No statutory requirements are mentioned in the language of the contract.

Probation Period:

‍The usual probationary period followed in Australia is from one to six months.

Public and Provincial Holidays:

Get to know the public holidays (state-based) in Australia here.

Employee Leaves:

Type of leave	Time Period	Mandatory
Annual leave/Earned Leave	20 days	Yes
Sick Leave	10 days	Yes
Maternity Leave	As per employment contract	Yes

Payroll

Payroll Cycle

Employees are paid bi-weekly (every second week or every 15th and 30th) or monthly (28th to 30th).

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Minimum Wage

‍The minimum wage is 20.33 AUD per hour from July 2021.

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Overtime Pay

On a general note, for overtime on weekdays, the pay is 1.5 times the regular pay for the first 3 hours of overtime and, after that, twice the regular pay. On Sundays, the payment is twice the rate of regular pay. These vary depending on the industries and states.

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Health Examination Clause

Bonus

13th Month Pay:

It is not mandatory to have 13th month pay in

Employee Benefits:

~Medicare
~Maternity leave
~Paternity leave
~Stock options (Common for listed companies)

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Taxes

Employer Payroll Tax:

Superannuation Guarantee Percentage - 10% (till 2022 July)

Afterwards, for the next one year, the rate will be 10.5%.

Payroll tax rate for individual states:

State	Payroll tax rate (%)
New South Wales	4.85% (5.45% from 1st July 2022 onwards)
Victoria	4.85% (for regional employers - 2.20%)
Queensland	4.75% - 4.95% (depending on Australian taxable wages)
South Australia	2.5% - 4.95% (depending on Australian taxable wages)
Western Australia	5.5% - 6.5% (depending on WA taxable wage)
Tasmania	4.0% - 6.1% (depending on Australian taxable wage)
Northern Territory	5.5%
Australian Capital Territory	6.85%

An entity will be exempt from payroll tax obligations if it has a quantum of wages that falls beneath the identified number.

Employee Payroll Tax:

Employees have to pay the medicare levy at 2%.

Employee Income Tax:

Taxable income	Tax(AUD)	Tax % on Excess
0 - 18,200	-	0%
18,200 - 45,000	-	19%
45,000 - 120,000	5,092	32.5%
120,000 - 180,000	29,467	37%
180,000 - onward	51,667	45%

VAT:

Australia has GST instead of VAT. The Standard rate is 10%.

Offboarding & Termination

Termination Process

An employee can resign or be terminated by the employer. The major grounds for termination include:

~Redundancy(operational changes)
~Conduct
~Poor performance

Notice Period

Notice period varies depending on the length of employment. During the probationary period, it is from 7 - 30 days, and for permanent employees, it ranges from one to twelve weeks.

Severance Pay

An employee's job might be affected by redundancy and the redundancy/severance pay for different employment terms in Australia are as follows:

Period of Employment	Severance Pay
Between 1 to 2 years service	Four weeks
Between 2 to 3 years service	Six weeks
Between 3 to 4 years service	Seven weeks
Between 4 to 5 years service	Eight weeks
Between 5 to 6 years service	Ten weeks
Between 6 to 7 years service	Eleven weeks
Between 7 to 8 years service	Thirteen weeks
Between 8 to 9 years service	Fourteen weeks
Between 9 to 10 years service	Sixteen weeks
Above 10 years service	twelve weeks*

*Note, there is a decrease in redundancy pay from 16 weeks to 12 weeks for employees with above 10 years of continuous employment service.

Visa and Immigration

Foreign nationals looking to work in Australia need to apply for a visa. Application is taken in through the various immigration programs administered by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) of Australia.

The Temporary Skills Short visa (subclass 482) can be utilized by businesses to meet skill shortages by hiring foreign nationals to live and work in Australia for 2 years – or up to 4 years in some circumstances – where a suitably skilled Australian cannot be engaged.

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Talent Wiki - Australia

Supplementary Guide for Employment and Expansion in Australia