Compliance: Helpful tips to Small Business

Compliance is a term we have all heard being used but that, especially amongst small businesses. many don’t really understand. In short, it is a way that reflects how well a business or company follows the regulations or laws governing the industry they are in. 

Small Businesses often start out as solopreneurs with little or no intention to grow to the stage of becoming an employer. As the business grows though, hiring additional help usually becomes an essential step in achieving your dreams. 

Whilst these steps will bring about excitement, this might also come with a healthy dose of anxiety. Making sure your business is compliant isn’t that hard so, to get you started, here are some tips that will help you and your business get on track with their compliance plan 

Your company structure

The reason that you start with this is so that you can clearly outline responsibilities across your business. Of course, when you start off small, this almost seems to be overkill, but what it does do – even if it’s just 2 people, is breaking up who is responsible for what parts of the business. 

It also means that you can sit down and make a list of what is actually needed across the business so that nothing is overlooked. 

Contracts and policies

When employing someone, you need to make sure that you have the right contract in place to clearly outline the terms and conditions of employment for both parties. Keep in mind that an employment contract cannot offer anything less than the legal minimums set out in the relevant award or under the National Employment Standards (NES). You will also need to provide your employees with a copy of the NES or Fair Work Information Statement. 

But contracts aren’t enough, you also need to make sure that you have some policies in place to outline proper behaviour such as a code of conduct and ethics, harassment and bullying policy, and a grievance handling policy as a minimum. You may also want to consider an EAP. 

Finally, you’ll have to be careful to store your employee's data (such as TFNs and bank details) in a secure way. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has some very clear rules that need to be considered when storing personal information. 

If you are still not sure about exactly what policies you need for your business, we would be happy to support you with these needs. 

PAYING YOUR EMPLOYEES 

Paying your employees correctly is an essential part of business compliance and knowing how to calculate the correct payment cycles under the correct award with the right penalty rates or overtime if needed is part of your compliance plan. Putting in place internal checks and or audits will ensure that you have more than 1 set of eyes checking the details and ensuring you have considered all areas of payroll and the relevant awards.  

Here in Australia, The Fair Work Ombudsman dictates the standard working practices and they often make changes and rulings that could affect your workplace. We recommend that you conduct an annual review of the minimum wage and awards at a minimum. You can also sign up to receive email updates to make sure you always get the latest updates.  

Finally, in July 2019, Australia made Single Touch Payroll (STP) mandatory for all businesses with more than four employees. STP means that businesses must report all tax and superannuation payments to the Australia Tax Office (ATO) at the time a pay-event happens. While it has removed the tedious quarterly and year-end reporting, it has also increased admin requirements to every pay cycle. depending on your Payroll systems these may be automated. Like with Fair Work, you can sign up to receive email updates from the ATO.

STAYING COMPLIANT 

As a small business owner, culture sits with you and you lead by example. If you show that you care about compliance, then so will your employees.  

Take the opportunity to look across your business and notice if there are areas that need improvement. If so, consider having a sit-down meeting with your team. Encourage them to look at key areas across the business that may need a compliance update and seek their input, but know that you can always reach out to seek advice on what else may be needed. By involving them, they’ll see where your values stand. 

It is vital that your employees understand their role in the implementation of the compliance plan. The procedures do not provide enough information on their own and there are several sections that must be read by all users in order to fully understand their responsibilities.  

 Your process and policy should also clearly define the timeframes for the monitoring of the plan (how regularly you need to review it) as well as the key people responsible for each area. This will create a framework that makes it more likely that the whole business will adhere to the plan.

Get external help

Of course, you can outsource your compliance and payroll needs by leveraging one of the many companies and consultants who help businesses make sure they’re meeting their obligations. 

Solutions2you is one of these companies and we would be happy to discuss your needs with you and to help you prepare a Business Compliance Plan that extends across all parts of your business. We want to make sure all small businesses have the support that they deserve so that they can focus on what they do best. If you would like more details on compliance, get in touch or book your free consultation using the link below.