Ah, Christmas. A time of good tidings, cheer, and the insurmountable stress of hiring and managing extra staff – on top of everything else you need to do to keep your business on track!

While Christmas casuals can help you handle the influx of customers during the busy holiday season, you’ll want a simple and streamlined workforce management software system to onboard, roster and pay them correctly and with ease. To help, we asked the Wageloch elves to put together this handy guide to managing casual staff these holidays.

Calculate the costs

Before you start recruiting new staff for the festive season, you’ll want to factor the increased costs into your budget. Bear in mind that in Australia, casual employees are paid casual loading which can be 25% or higher than part-time or full-time employees. This is because they don’t receive paid sick leave or annual leave.

Remember too that casual staff must be paid for the time they work – unlike permanent employees whose can be asked to work ‘reasonable overtime’ if stipulated in their contracts.

You’ll also need to be across the Award that applies to your Christmas casuals, as well as make sure they are paid any penalty and public holiday rates that they’re entitled to.

Lastly, like other employees, your casual staff need to be paid superannuation for the time they work with you.

The elves say: In Wageloch, you can set up a roster budget to see how much your Christmas casuals will cost you for that day, week or fortnight. You can even break it down by department for a clearer view – and then use the automated sales-to-wages ratio to see how you’re tracking. And because we customise our workforce management software to your business, we can set it up with your relevant Awards.

Onboard your Christmas casuals

When the busy season hits, you simply won’t have the time to take casual employees through your usual

That being said, you’ll still need to make sure all your Christmas casuals complete the right paperwork so they can be paid correctly and so you remain compliant. This includes their tax declaration and superannuation forms.

The elves say: Because Wageloch is an all-in-one workforce management solution, onboarding is included free in Australia! Simply send a link to your Christmas casuals and they can add their bank, tax and super details – with everything seamlessly integrated into Wageloch.

Sort out your rosters

Rostering can be a challenge any time of the year. But during the holidays, hiring a heap of new staff – and then having to manage constant shift changes – can throw your paperwork into more chaos than a suburban shopping mall on Christmas Eve.

Not only do you need to make sure all your staff have seen the roster and accepted any changes, you also have to constantly monitor who’s unavailable on certain days and at certain times – as well as find a way to limit how many hours staff can be rostered on for (such as international students on work visas). And if someone is late to a shift or doesn’t show up at all, it can be a minefield cross-checking their manual timesheet with the roster.

The elves say: With Wageloch’s 24-hour paperless rostering, you can save time by setting up a roster template, so you don’t have to always start from scratch. It’s also easy for staff to accept shifts and block out when they’re unavailable. Managing shift changes is a breeze, and you can even set limits on rostered hours. Then simply print or send the new roster to staff, which they can download to their calendar.

And that’s just the beginning! A seamless, all-in-one workforce management software system like Wageloch also gives Christmas casuals the power to clock in and out of their shifts, saving you time and stress on rostering – while enjoying the peace of mind that your records are accurate and that your business is compliant with Fair Work requirements. Want to see how easy it can be to manage Christmas casuals with Wageloch? Book a demo with our elves (sorry, team) today.