Case Study: How NoahFace Helps Pay Accurate Allowances Under the SCHADS Award

The SCHADS award is a complex award - especially when it comes to the allowances. 

More often than not, employers think they can add an extra chunk of money to their employee’s salary or wage. But that’s not how it works. 

The award proposes certain specific allowances when employees have a particular skill or perform certain tasks. The allowances also apply when employees use their own tools or work in unpleasant or dangerous conditions.

Because there is an allocated payment amount to each allowance, you can’t simply pay your employees an unspecified amount of money and expect to be compliant. You have to pay them according to each and every allowance relevant to their line of work.

Using manual processes as an attempt to adhere to this can end up being time-consuming and inaccurate. Instead, putting the process on autopilot by using automated time and attendance software in conjunction with a cloud payroll system can deliver this in a cost-effective and even profitable manner. 

In this article, we’ll explore how NoahFace time and attendance software, coupled with cloud payroll, can help you stay on top of allowance compliance. 

• Clothing & Equipment Allowance: paid to employees if the employer doesn’t supply uniforms.
• Laundry Allowance: paid to employees if uniforms are not laundered by the employer free of charge.
• Meal Allowance: paid to an employee if they work at least an hour of overtime.
• First Aid Allowance: paid to an employee that has a  first aid qualification and who is expected to perform first-aid duties on the shift:
  • Full-time employees
  • Part-time or casual employees
• Travelling, Transport & Fares Allowance: paid to employees that need to use their own vehicles to perform their duties.
• Heat Allowance: paid to employees that need to work more than one hour in artificially raised temperatures in the following ranges:
  • 40°C - 46°C
  • Over 46°C

• On-Call Allowance: paid to employees that are required to be on call. 

Search our database for all relevant allowances to the various modern awards.

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When it sees a face, it compares it with known faces within its facial database. If there’s a match, it will acknowledge and register attendance onto NoahFace’s server. 

So, whenever your employees start or complete their work, they simply present themselves to NoahFace, which will automatically recognise them through its facial recognition technology. A photo record is always taken with each access attempt for you to review at a later time if you need. 

Alternatively, NoahFace can be run on each employee's iPhone or Android phone. So, if they’re completing a job off-site, they simply open the NoahFace Go App, enter their job number (or scan a barcode) to record their action. 

The records can also flow directly into your payroll system, ensuring staff get paid accurately and efficiently.

The benefit? Frictionless, safe and reliable attendance control in the workplace, around the clock.

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And suppose you’re not capturing this data correctly. In that case, you risk underpaying your employees, which essentially leads to non-compliance with award regulations. 

The following case study will show you how NoahFace can help you pay allowances to your employees accurately and efficiently. 

Her role requires her to: 

• Provide input into meal planning
• Liaise with dietitians on special needs
• Order foodstuffs and commodities
• Prepare the meals for the residence of Home Care X. 

Based on her job description, Kim doesn’t get supplied with a uniform - she is required to purchase it herself, and she must launder it herself.  She is also needed to be on call two shifts a month. 

So, she is entitled to three different allowances in addition to her weekly wage. 

Home Care X currently has the NoahFace Time and Attendance in place, so when Kim starts and finishes work, she simply has to clock in using the NoahFace mounted Ipad.

Once she gets to work and approaches the NoahFace device, her face will be automatically recognised, after which she will simply click the Start Task button. 

It’ll take her to a list of the different types of tasks that she’ll typically perform or the different shifts that she typically works. In her case, she signs into a normal shift. Once she’s done that, NoahFace will record the exact time she starts. 

When Kim finishes her shift, she simply repeats the process and hits the Finish Shift button. 

If it was one of the days where she had to work an on-call shift, she would sign in and out of her normal shift using the NoahFace mounted iPad at work. And then, once she gets home, she can sign into her NoahFace Go app, select the “on-call” shift and start recording the period that she is on call.

NoahFace records real-time, accurate data without the issues around paper timesheets or trying to backtrack what types of tasks they were doing at a certain point in time with a certain client site.

This is especially important when it comes to paying Kim’s uniform and laundry allowance. 

Home Care X is responsible for paying her $1.23 per shift or part thereof on duty or $6.24 per week, whichever is the lesser amount, as a result of requiring her to supply her uniform. 

They are also responsible for paying Kim a laundry allowance of $0.32 per shift or part thereof on duty or $1.49 per week, whichever is the lesser amount.

Because the allowance payments are dependent on the shifts she works, NoahFace plays a significant role in Home Care X’s compliance with the SCHADS award. 

The time records collected for Kim’s shifts flow directly into Home Care X’s payroll system, where the allowance rules can be applied - ensuring that she gets paid accurately and efficiently. 

Using these solutions in conjunction with one another allows employers to track employee attendance against rosters with accuracy and ensure that all allowances are paid according to those rosters. 

Not only that, it can save a significant amount of time when going through the payroll approval process because NoahFace seamlessly syncs with your cloud payroll software. 

If you’re interested in learning more about NoahFace and/or moving from a manual payroll system to an automated cloud payroll system, get in touch with us today for a free demo.