The Australian EOR onboarding sequence, from signed offer to final pay

Three facts need to be fixed before any offer is written: the state where the person will work, the modern award (if any) that covers the role, and the salary expressed before superannuation. Each one changes the contract wording or the cost, so settling them first avoids a revised offer later.

The state matters because each state or territory runs its own payroll tax, injury insurance scheme, long service leave statute and holiday calendar, and because four jurisdictions (Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT) require labour hire providers to hold a licence. The award matters because it sets the minimum rate for the classification and may add penalty rates, overtime and allowances. Award minimums rose by 4.75% on 1 July 2026, and the adult minimum under the national wage order is AUD 26.44 per hour.

Salary is quoted exclusive of super in Australia. If you offer AUD 110,000, we add 12% super guarantee, AUD 13,200 a year in that case, and pay it to the employee’s fund. Candidates expect the offer letter to say “plus super”, and an offer that appears to include it can read as a pay cut.

Hours need the same attention. Under the NES a full-time week is 38 ordinary hours, and extra hours must be reasonable, and many awards define when overtime or penalty rates start. If the role involves evening calls with your head office, say so at this stage so we can check whether the award treats those hours differently and price them into the estimate.

Right to work comes last in this stage. Citizens and permanent residents can start without a visa. Sponsored candidates usually go through the subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa, the successor to the TSS visa since December 2024. Home Affairs publishes the salary floors, so look them up on the day of nomination.

We issue both the offer and the employment contract in our own name, since the contract binds us as employer. You agree the commercial terms with the candidate; we turn them into a document that meets the National Employment Standards and the relevant award.

A typical contract at this stage records the job title, employment type (full-time, part-time or casual), ordinary hours, place of work, salary plus super, notice terms above the NES minimum if you want them, confidentiality and intellectual property clauses, and the award or agreement that applies. Fixed-term roles carry a cap introduced in December 2023: with some exceptions, the total term including renewals is limited to two years, and the employer cannot chain more than two contracts for the same kind of work.

Before sending, compare our draft with the email or call in which you made the verbal offer. Mismatched start dates, titles or bonus wording are the most common reason a signature is delayed. When the contract is signed, we open the employee record in our payroll system and the countdown to the first pay run begins.

Our Australian employment contract checklist lists the clauses worth reviewing line by line.

Every new employee must be given the Fair Work Information Statement, a Fair Work Ombudsman document that explains the NES, award coverage, flexible work, the right to disconnect and where to get help. We send it with or before the contract. You can read the current version in the Fair Work Information Statement PDF.

Two tax and super forms follow. The tax file number declaration tells the payroll how much PAYG to withhold, including whether the person claims the tax-free threshold. The superannuation standard choice form lets the employee name the fund that will receive contributions; if they do not choose, the employer has to follow the default fund steps set by the ATO.

• Signed employment contract and the Fair Work Information Statement
• Tax file number declaration
• Superannuation standard choice form, or details of an existing fund
• Bank account for wages and emergency contact details
• Evidence of right to work in Australia where a visa applies

We keep these records for the life of the employment and afterwards, since the Fair Work Ombudsman can ask an employer to produce pay and time records. There is no need for your own team to hold copies of the tax file number.

Your part here is limited: confirm the start date, the manager’s name and any equipment the person needs. Missing tax or super details do not stop employment starting, although they change how the first pay is processed.

Since 1 July 2026 each super contribution has a deadline of 7 business days after the payday it relates to. That rule, called Payday Super, replaced the quarterly timetable and changed onboarding more than any other reform this year, because super now has to be set up before the first wages are paid.

The ATO gives 20 business days for a newly hired person’s first contribution, and the same for any fund the employer is paying for the first time. After that first payment, every pay run carries its own 7 business day deadline, and we have to match each contribution to the right fund, member number and qualifying earnings. The ATO sets these deadlines out on its Payday Super payment deadlines page.

Missing a deadline now costs more. The revised super guarantee charge piles notional earnings and an administrative uplift, capped at 60%, onto the unpaid amount, and a separate loading applies if the fund the employee picked was bypassed. The ATO has signalled a supportive stance for the 2026-27 year, yet the deadlines have run since the first payday after 1 July 2026. The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House is no longer available, so contributions go through our own super payment channel.

For a wider view of the rate, the contribution base and the charge, see our explainer on Payday Super from July 2026.

The first pay run works out gross pay, withholds PAYG according to Schedule 1 and sends an STP Phase 2 report to the ATO no later than the payment date. You approve the amounts; we file the report.

STP Phase 2 reports break gross pay into its parts, such as paid leave by type, allowances, overtime, bonuses and commissions, and salary sacrifice. From 1 July 2026 each report also includes qualifying earnings and the super liability, which lets the ATO match what was owed with what reached the fund.

As an illustration, take an employee in Sydney on AUD 110,000 a year, paid monthly, who is an Australian tax resident, claims the tax-free threshold, has no study debt and holds private hospital cover. Monthly gross pay is AUD 9,166.67, PAYG withheld under the 2026-27 Schedule 1 coefficients is AUD 2,145, and take-home pay is AUD 7,021.67. Super of AUD 1,100 a month goes to the fund on top of that.

Your approval step matters more than it looks. Anything you want paid in the month, such as a sign-on bonus, a pay rise agreed in the second week or an allowance for home internet, has to reach us before the payroll cut-off. Items that miss it go into the next run, and because super now follows each payday, a late bonus also moves a super deadline.

After the first run, a few items repeat on every cycle: a payslip for the employee, a super contribution inside the deadline and an STP report. Each 30 June closes the financial year, and we must make an STP finalisation declaration by 14 July so the employee’s income statement is ready for their tax return.

An exit follows the same discipline in reverse: a decision from you, a written notice from us, a final pay calculated under the NES and the award, a last STP report and a final super contribution. Raising it with us ahead of any talk with the employee avoids a notice that falls short of the statutory minimum.

NES notice depends on continuous service: one week up to one year, two weeks from one to three years, three weeks from three to five years and four weeks after five years, and staff aged over 45 with at least two years in the job get an extra week. Payment in lieu is allowed. Where a role is made redundant, NES redundancy pay starts at four weeks after one year of service and reaches 16 weeks at nine to ten years. The Fair Work Ombudsman notice and redundancy guide has both tables.

Unfair dismissal rules sit alongside those tables. An employee paid below the AUD 190,100 high income threshold in force from 1 July 2026 can usually lodge an unfair dismissal application once the minimum employment period has passed, as can a higher earner whose role falls under an award or agreement, so the reason and process for any dismissal need to be documented.

On your side, the exit checklist is practical: agree the last working day with us, arrange the return of laptops and access cards, remove system access on the right date and brief the team. We handle the final payslip, which brings together wages to the last day, any notice paid in lieu and other amounts owed under the NES, the award or the contract, and report it through STP as the employee’s final pay event.

Genuine redundancy payments in 2026-27 carry a tax-free component of AUD 13,598, increased by AUD 6,801 per full year worked. Our guide to notice, redundancy and unfair dismissal goes further. For the other end of the relationship, Employer of Record Australia also covers what the employer of record model involves before you begin.