Australia, the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth, lies between the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. The Great Barrier Reef, off the east coast of Queensland, is the greatest mass of coral in the world and one of the world’s foremost tourist attractions.
Australia is divided into six states and two territories. Significant features of modern Australian society are isolation in the social landscape beyond the large coastal cities and the representation of a broad spectrum of cultures drawn from many lands due to immigration. Australia’s abundant and diverse natural resources attract high levels of foreign investment and include extensive reserves of coal, iron ore, copper, gold, natural gas, uranium, and renewable energy sources. The country also has a large services sector and is a significant exporter of natural resources, energy, and food.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Australia.
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Australia, the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth, lies between the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. The Great Barrier Reef, off the east coast of Queensland, is the greatest mass of coral in the world and one of the world’s foremost tourist attractions.
Australia is divided into six states and two territories. Significant features of modern Australian society are isolation in the social landscape beyond the large coastal cities and the representation of a broad spectrum of cultures drawn from many lands due to immigration. Australia’s abundant and diverse natural resources attract high levels of foreign investment and include extensive reserves of coal, iron ore, copper, gold, natural gas, uranium, and renewable energy sources. The country also has a large services sector and is a significant exporter of natural resources, energy, and food.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Australia.
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026 and are critical for hiring in Australia planning:
The Fair Work Act has specified eight public holidays. However, states or territories can add or replace more holidays. Public Holidays that fall on the weekend are observed on the following non-weekend day.
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026.
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| January 1 | New Year's Day | |
| January 26 | Australia Day | |
| April 3 | Good Friday | Movable, the Friday before Easter |
| April 5 - 7 | Easter Holidays | Movable, the first Sunday of a full moon after March 21 |
| April 25 | Anzac Day | |
| Varies | King's Birthday | Dates are different in various parts of the country |
| December 25 | Christmas | |
| December 26 | Boxing Day | |
| December 28 | Boxing Day holiday |
The approximate time for sharing the contract with an employee in Australia is 6 business days assuming no special requests or changes to our standard employment contract. Any such requests or changes would need to undergo internal and external review, directly leading to a time delay.
NOTE: This number is subject to change and is only an estimation of the Contract Sharing Time. The estimated Contract Sharing Time begins from the moment that WorkMotion has received all required information from both the client and the employee.
Employers must keep time and wages records for seven years. These need to be readily accessible to a Fair Work Inspector, legible, and in English.
There is only a 2% Medicare and 11% superannuation surcharge paid by the employers in the name of employee services. Unemployment and other statutory social services are not paid for.
Easter Saturday is observed only in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, South Australia, and Victoria
There are no social security taxes in Australia. However, a levy is imposed on taxable income and reportable fringe benefits for residents for the funding of a National Health Scheme (Medicare). The Medicare levy is currently 2%. No levy is payable to those with taxable income below the relevant low-income thresholds.
A surcharge of between 1% and 1.5% applies to high-income taxpayers where the taxpayer and their dependents are not covered by a private health insurance fund registered in Australia that provides basic hospital cover.
Employers must contribute on behalf of their employees‘ superannuation a set minimum percentage of the employee’s earnings base, subject to limited exceptions, or be liable to a superannuation guarantee charge. The required superannuation guarantee percentage is currently 11%.
Here is an overview of employer costs in Australia:
| Benefits | Employer Contribution |
|---|---|
| Superannuation | 11% |
| Payroll Tax* | up to 6.85% |
| Work Related Injury | It depends on the state |
*Payroll tax is a state or territory tax calculated based on total wages paid each month.
An employee can work a maximum of 38 hours a week unless the employer asks them to work reasonable extra hours.
Awards, enterprise agreements, and other registered agreements set out in any:
An employer can roster a full-time employee to average the employee’s hours over more than a week. This means the employee may work more than 38 hours a week, but less in another.
The overtime rate is different for each award, registered agreement, and contract. Employees should be aware of their overtime rate to ensure they are being paid correctly. An employee can refuse to work overtime if the request is unreasonable. Some employers allow employees to take paid time off instead of receiving overtime pay. This is known as ‘time in lieu’, ‘time off in lieu‘, or ‚TOIL’.
Probation periods are often implemented at the start of the employment relationship. Employers can decide the length of the probation period, which can range from a few weeks to a few months. The common practice is between three to six months. During this period, full-time and part-time employees are entitled to accrue and access paid leave entitlements such as annual and sick leave. Employers must notify employees if they do not pass their probation.
The Fair Work Act 2009 refers to a Minimum Employment Period which is determined by the amount of time the employee has worked in the business and the size of the business. If the employee has met the minimum employment period, the employee has access to unfair dismissal which is the minimum period that an employee must be engaged for before they may have access to an unfair dismissal claim if their employment is terminated by the employer. For a small business with less than 15 employees, this is 12 months, otherwise, it is six months.
Depending on an employee’s service period, employers must give the following minimum statutory notice when dismissing the employee:
| Service Period | Length of Notice |
| Less than 1 year | 1-week notice |
| 1 to 3 years | 2 weeks notice |
| 3 to 5 years | 3 weeks notice |
| More than 5 years | 4 weeks notice |
An employee has to get an extra week of notice if they are over 45 years old and have worked for the employer for at least two years.
Notice amount can be paid out completely or in a combination of the notice period and payment. If the employer pays out the notice period, the employee’s employment ends on the date that payment in lieu of notice is made.
An employee can work a maximum of 38 hours a week unless the employer asks them to work reasonable extra hours.
Awards, enterprise agreements, and other registered agreements set out in any:
An employer can roster a full-time employee to average the employee’s hours over more than a week. This means the employee may work more than 38 hours a week, but less in another.
The overtime rate is different for each award, registered agreement, and contract. Employees should be aware of their overtime rate to ensure they are being paid correctly. An employee can refuse to work overtime if the request is unreasonable. Some employers allow employees to take paid time off instead of receiving overtime pay. This is known as ‘time in lieu’, ‘time off in lieu‘, or ‚TOIL’.
Probation periods are often implemented at the start of the employment relationship. Employers can decide the length of the probation period, which can range from a few weeks to a few months. The common practice is between three to six months. During this period, full-time and part-time employees are entitled to accrue and access paid leave entitlements such as annual and sick leave. Employers must notify employees if they do not pass their probation.
The Fair Work Act 2009 refers to a Minimum Employment Period which is determined by the amount of time the employee has worked in the business and the size of the business. If the employee has met the minimum employment period, the employee has access to unfair dismissal which is the minimum period that an employee must be engaged for before they may have access to an unfair dismissal claim if their employment is terminated by the employer. For a small business with less than 15 employees, this is 12 months, otherwise, it is six months.
Depending on an employee’s service period, employers must give the following minimum statutory notice when dismissing the employee:
| Service Period | Length of Notice |
| Less than 1 year | 1-week notice |
| 1 to 3 years | 2 weeks notice |
| 3 to 5 years | 3 weeks notice |
| More than 5 years | 4 weeks notice |
An employee has to get an extra week of notice if they are over 45 years old and have worked for the employer for at least two years.
Notice amount can be paid out completely or in a combination of the notice period and payment. If the employer pays out the notice period, the employee’s employment ends on the date that payment in lieu of notice is made.
Apart from the 10 days of personal or carers‘ leave granted per year to employees, a further two days are also granted as unpaid leave.
All employees (including part-time and casual employees) are entitled to five days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave each year. The entitlement to unpaid family and domestic violence leave comes from the National Employment Standards (NES). Violent, threatening, or other abusive behavior by a close relative that aims to control an employee and causes harm or fear, falls into family and domestic violence. Employers may also provide paid family and domestic violence leave entitlements.
Employees including casual employees can take community service leave for activities such as voluntary emergency management activities or jury duty. Community service leave, except for jury service, is unpaid. There is no limit on the amount of community service leave employees can take. However, employers may request evidence that employees are entitled to community service leave.
There are no social security taxes in Australia. However, a levy is imposed on taxable income and reportable fringe benefits for residents for the funding of a National Health Scheme (Medicare). The Medicare levy is currently 2%. No levy is payable to those with taxable income below the relevant low-income thresholds.
A surcharge of between 1% and 1.5% applies to high-income taxpayers where the taxpayer and their dependents are not covered by a private health insurance fund registered in Australia that provides basic hospital cover.
Employers must contribute on behalf of their employees‘ superannuation a set minimum percentage of the employee’s earnings base, subject to limited exceptions, or be liable to a superannuation guarantee charge. The required superannuation guarantee percentage is currently 11%.
Here is an overview of employer costs in Australia:
| Benefits | Employer Contribution |
|---|---|
| Superannuation | 11% |
| Payroll Tax* | up to 6.85% |
| Work Related Injury | It depends on the state |
*Payroll tax is a state or territory tax calculated based on total wages paid each month.
WorkMotion handles the full employment lifecycle for your Australian hires through its partner network – from contract generation to monthly payroll remittance – so your team can focus on the work, not the compliance infrastructure behind it.
WorkMotion generates an employment contract aligned with the Fair Work Act 2009 and the applicable Modern Award or enterprise agreement for your hire’s role and industry.
Modern awards are legally enforceable instruments that set minimum pay rates and employment conditions for employees in specific industries and occupations – there are currently 121 of them in Australia’s national workplace relations system.
The contract covers:
Where a Modern Award applies, the contract reflects the correct classification level and associated entitlements for that role.
WorkMotion’s partner entity registers with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as the employer, obtaining the required Tax File Number (TFN) and Australian Business Number (ABN).
Employers must register with relevant authorities, implement compliant systems, and adhere to strict reporting deadlines – particularly through the mandatory Single Touch Payroll (STP) system.
This registration step is completed before your hire’s first pay run, so there are no delays due to administrative gaps on your side.
Payroll is configured to run on a fortnightly or monthly cycle in Australian Dollars (AUD).
PAYG withholding is the Australian system where employers withhold income tax from employee salaries and remit it to the ATO – this applies to wages, bonuses, and certain allowances.
WorkMotion calculates PAYG income tax, the Medicare levy, and any Award-specific penalty rates or allowances relevant to the employee’s classification.
Each pay run is reported electronically to the ATO via Single Touch Payroll (STP), and all employers are now required to use STP Phase 2, which standardizes payroll data reporting.
WorkMotion enrolls each employee into a complying superannuation fund and manages mandatory employer contributions.
From 1 July 2025, the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) rate is 12% of an eligible employee’s ordinary time earnings.
Employers must pay these contributions into each employee’s nominated superannuation fund at least quarterly.
Contributions are calculated on ordinary time earnings and tracked separately from salary to ensure accurate cost forecasting for your finance team.
WorkMotion administers all statutory entitlements required under the National Employment Standards (NES) and any applicable Modern Award – including annual leave, personal/carer’s leave, parental leave, and public holidays.
Employers in Australia must also provide workers‘ compensation insurance, which covers workplace injuries and illnesses.
Workers‘ compensation is state-based, with rates ranging from 0.5% to 3% depending on industry risk. Contribution rates vary by jurisdiction.
WorkMotion handles the policy and ensures the correct state-based coverage is in place for your employee’s location.
Each month, WorkMotion runs payroll, remits PAYG withholding to the ATO, and processes superannuation contributions on the required schedule.
Employee income tax is applied at progressive rates ranging from 19% to 45% plus the Medicare levy, with employer superannuation set at 12%.
WorkMotion monitors changes to Modern Award rates, Fair Work Act updates, and state-based payroll tax thresholds – updating employment terms automatically when regulatory changes take effect, so your Australian hire’s employment remains compliant without requiring action from your HR team.
For most companies hiring one to a handful of employees in Australia, the EOR route removes the compliance burden and gets you to first hire in days rather than months.
Here is how the two paths compare:
| Factor | WorkMotion EOR | Setting Up an Australian Entity |
|---|---|---|
| Setup cost | No entity setup cost — per-employee monthly fee | ASIC registration fee of AUD $611, plus legal, accounting, and payroll setup costs |
| Time to first hire | Days from signed contract | Can be weeks to months — ASIC registration can be fast, but payroll registration, STP setup, workers‘ compensation, and superannuation fund selection add time |
| Ongoing legal exposure | WorkMotion’s partner entity carries employer liability under the Fair Work Act | Your entity carries full employer liability — Fair Work audits, underpayment claims, and ATO penalties fall on you directly |
| Ongoing admin burden | WorkMotion handles STP reporting, superannuation, payroll tax, and Award compliance | Quarterly BAS lodgment, STP reporting every pay run, workers‘ compensation registration per state, annual ASIC review fee, and payroll tax registration once wage thresholds are exceeded |
| Exit flexibility | Offboard the employee and end the EOR arrangement — no entity wind-down required | Deregistering an Australian entity involves ASIC filings, tax clearance, and legal costs |
EOR is the right fit when you need to hire quickly, are testing the Australian market, or are running a distributed team without plans to build a permanent local operation.
Entity setup in Australia is relatively straightforward – a Pty Ltd typically becomes cost-effective at four to six employees – but Modern Award complexity and the new payday super requirements mean many companies value EOR compliance support even with small teams.
If you are building a large, permanent Australian workforce and want full brand ownership over employment relationships, direct entity setup is worth evaluating alongside the EOR path.
Australia’s employment framework is more layered than it appears from the outside.
Australia’s Fair Work system is complex. Modern Awards set industry-specific minimum pay and conditions; superannuation contributions are mandatory and are changing; and the Fair Work Commission enforces strong unfair dismissal protections.
These are the compliance gaps that most often catch out foreign employers.
The most common award-coverage mistake is defaulting to „the employee is salaried so we do not need to check the award.“
Modern awards apply regardless of whether an employee is paid hourly, weekly, or on an annual salary. Over 120 industry-specific awards set minimum pay rates, overtime rules, and penalty rates that override base employment standards – and getting the award classification wrong is one of the most common and expensive employer mistakes in Australia.
WorkMotion’s partner network identifies the correct Modern Award for each role and maps the employment contract to the right classification level before the hire starts.
Since January 2025, intentional underpayment of wages is a criminal offense under the Fair Work Act, with severe penalties for employers.
Foreign employers who set salaries based on their home-country benchmarks – without checking whether those figures clear the applicable Modern Award minimum – face back-pay liability and, in serious cases, criminal exposure.
WorkMotion calculates pay against the correct award rates and flags any offer that falls below the statutory floor before the contract is issued.
Employers must contribute 12% of an employee’s ordinary time earnings to a nominated super fund – these contributions are on top of salary and must be reported and paid at least quarterly. Late or missed contributions trigger the Superannuation Guarantee Charge, which adds interest and administration fees on top of the unpaid amount. WorkMotion tracks contribution deadlines and processes payments on schedule, removing this risk from your payroll operation entirely.
Starting July 2026, „payday super“ requires employers to pay superannuation at the same time as wages, not quarterly.
This is a significant operational change, and companies should confirm their EOR provider is ready for payday super compliance before it takes effect.
WorkMotion’s partner network is preparing for this transition, so your Australian employees‘ super contributions will move to the new payment cadence without any action required from your team.
Payroll tax is a state and territory-based tax levied on employer wage bills that exceed a certain threshold, and rates and thresholds vary by jurisdiction.
Rates vary by state:
Overseas employers often assume payroll tax is a single federal obligation.
In Australia, it is administered separately by each state revenue office, and the threshold at which it applies differs depending on where your employees are located.
WorkMotion accounts for state-based payroll tax in the total cost-of-employment calculation for each hire.
Under the Fair Work Act, every new employee must receive a Fair Work Information Statement before or as soon as possible after starting employment.
Casual employees must also receive a Casual Employment Information Statement. Companies unfamiliar with Australian onboarding requirements often skip this step – creating a compliance gap from day one.
WorkMotion’s onboarding process includes issuing the correct statements as part of the standard employment setup.
A B2B SaaS company headquartered in Germany, the Netherlands, or the UK wants to hire a senior account executive or customer success manager in Sydney or Melbourne to support Asia-Pacific expansion.
Setting up a Pty Ltd for a single hire is disproportionate — the legal setup, payroll registration, and ongoing compliance overhead outweigh the benefit at that stage. WorkMotion’s EOR service in Australia lets the company onboard a hire within days, with a locally compliant contract, superannuation enrolled, and payroll running in AUD.
A remote-first company headquartered in Europe and with employees across multiple countries wants to add Australian team members to improve coverage across Asia-Pacific time zones.
With roughly half of their workforce already hired through EOR arrangements globally, adding Australia through WorkMotion is a natural extension of the existing model.
You have found the right candidate in Australia. However, meeting Aussie compliance requirements doesn’t have to slow you down or land on your HR team’s plate.
WorkMotion’s partner network in Australia handles the legal employment relationship end to end, so your new hire can start contributing to your business in days, not months.
Whether you are making your first Australian hire or building out a distributed team across Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane, WorkMotion gives you a compliant, fast path to employment without entity setup.
Use our Employment Cost Calculator to see the full cost of hiring in Australia — including superannuation, payroll tax, and employer contributions — before you make an offer.
Book a Demo today to find out more.
WorkMotion’s partner network in Australia identifies the correct Modern Award for each role before the employment contract is issued – covering the right classification level, minimum pay rates, penalty rates, and overtime rules that apply to your hire’s industry and occupation. This matters because Modern Awards are legally enforceable and apply regardless of whether an employee is paid hourly or on an annual salary, and getting the classification wrong is one of the most common and costly mistakes foreign employers make in Australia.
As the employer of record in Australia, WorkMotion’s partner entity handles superannuation enrollment and contribution payments on your behalf. The current Superannuation Guarantee rate is 12% of an employee’s ordinary time earnings — contributions are paid on top of salary and must be remitted at least quarterly, with a shift to payday super (contributions paid at the same time as wages) coming into effect from July 2026. WorkMotion tracks contribution deadlines, processes payments on schedule, and is preparing for the payday super transition so your Australian employees‘ entitlements remain compliant without any action required from your team.
Yes – payroll tax in Australia is a state and territory obligation, not a federal one, and rates and thresholds vary by jurisdiction and each state sets its own wage threshold above which the tax applies. WorkMotion’s partner network accounts for the relevant state-based payroll tax in the total cost of employment calculation for each hire, so your finance team has an accurate picture of employer costs before you make an offer.
WorkMotion can onboard an Australian hire in days from a signed contract. This contrasts with setting up an Australian Pty Ltd, where ASIC registration, payroll registration, STP configuration, and state-based workers‘ compensation arrangements add weeks or months before a hire can start. For companies making their first Australian hire or testing the market before committing to an entity, the EOR timeline is a material operational advantage.
Under the National Employment Standards (NES), Australian employees are entitled to a minimum of four weeks‘ paid annual leave per year, ten days‘ personal/carer’s leave, 12 months‘ unpaid parental leave, and paid public holidays. WorkMotion’s partner entity administers these entitlements as part of the employment relationship, including issuing the Fair Work Information Statement and, where applicable, the Casual Employment Information Statement, which are legally required at the start of employment. Failure to issue these documents is a compliance gap that foreign employers unfamiliar with Australian onboarding requirements frequently overlook.
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