What is an Award Interpretation Software?
As an organisation in Australia, it is crucial to clearly understand the complications of workforce compliance with Fair Work and National Employment Standards to protect your business from unnecessary risks and penalties.
An award interpretation software is an automated solution to simplify the calculations of employee entitlements including minimum hourly wages, working hours, overtime, penalties, leaves, and allowances according to the respective industry as well as ensure employees receive accurate payment as per the Modern Award or Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (EBA).
Why should you use it?
According to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) and Ombudsman, there are more than 70,000 approved agreements and roughly around 120 lists of awards to adhere to based on the industry. By implementing this software, businesses can significantly reduce workloads while maintaining compliance. Let’s take a more detailed look at how it can be a beneficial tool for many.
- Accuracy and Time-saving
Modern awards have complicated conditions that vary by employee roles and hours worked. By manual interpretation, it is prone to human errors and very time-consuming, leading to potential legal issues and financial penalties.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that some awards and EBAs have periodic changes and regular re-negotiations. It may be a struggle trying to keep up with these updates.Properly configured software minimises these risks by automatically updating to ensure compliance with any sudden regulatory changes.
- Integration with Other Systems
Manual rostering has traditionally led to issues such as duplication, omissions, disregarding employee preferences, and even overlooking legal compliance. However, these problems are largely resolved by using online rostering solutions integrated with award interpretation software.
This integration applies employment conditions to the rostering process, ensuring accurate timing, breaks, and entitlements, which helps improve employee satisfaction and morale. Additionally, these systems seamlessly work with other automated processes, such as payroll and attendance.
- Customised automated processes
Some software is designed to be flexible too. For example, Workstem’s software, together with its AI engine offers flexibility with pre-built and self-editable timesheets to handle clauses like holidays, leave, and absences. Let’s say there are changes to employee awards or agreed EBAs, it will also be updated automatically and manageable under one platform.’
To Wrap Up
The Fair Work Commission’s 2023-24 review aims to reduce outdated and complex awards. The Business Council of Australia highlights these complications that cause unintentional underpayments. This is why a reliable technology partner can greatly improve compliance, pay accuracy and reduce HR workloads.
How does Workstem help?
Simplify your payroll process and ensure accurate pay rates with Workstem’s automated payroll system. Our pre-built modern award interpretation software covers 122+ awards and 34 EBAs, and keeps you up-to-date with penalty rates and other award entitlements.
Choose between our Standard and Advanced plans, and enjoy a range of benefits such as Fair Work compliance, an employee self-service App, and custom rule set.
Book a free demo with our payroll experts. Experience the efficiency and accuracy of Workstem today!
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