Australian government understands the hardships that employers go through during hiring process. The amount of money they have to spend on adding employees and training them before they hit the production floor, often discourages employers from starting the hiring process. Keeping this in mind, the Australian government is offering employment incentives to employers who want to hire new employees or trainees to improve their businesses.
Wage Subsidies
Under this program, the Australian government is giving away financial incentives to employers so that they can easily hire new employees in their ventures. Eligible businesses can get up to $10,000 (GST inclusive) as wage subsidies to make it easier to hire new staff. Employment incentives are paid by the government over a period of time and you can negotiate with the authorities how often you can receive the assistance. This is an ongoing program that is open and you can apply for incentives anytime.
You need to contact employment services provider within 84 days of hiring a new employee to arrange a wage subsidy agreement. You can also manage wage subsidy agreement online by downloading jobactive mobile app meant for the employers. This app is available on both Google Play and iTunes.
Eligibility criteria
- You must have an ABN
- You must hire a new employee for a job opening in your business
- Your company must not be a government entity, state or federal
- Wage subsidy must not have been availed for the same employee earlier
Supporting Apprentices and Trainees
This is a program that aims to help small business owners in hiring and retaining existing trainees and apprentices. A wage subsidy or employment incentive is given to eligible businesses under Supporting Apprentices and Trainees program to make it easier to hire and retain trainees. This subsidy is available both for individual employers as well as a group training in organizations.
The program is open from 1st January, 2020 and closes on 30th September 2020. Eligible employers can receive 50% of the wages given to a trainee or apprentice during this 9 month period. The trainee must be present in the organization on 1st March, 2020 for the employer to be eligible for wage subsidy.
Eligibility criteria
- You must have a small business with less than 20 employees
- You can be a Group Training Organization with fewer than 20 employees
- The apprentice should have been taking training on 1st March, 2020 in the business
Incentives for employing a person with disability
Australian Government is offering grants for purchasing equipment and technology to make workplaces more suitable for people with various disabilities. Eligible businesses can get up to $10,000 in employment incentives for hiring individuals aged 50 or higher. Similarly, up to $6,000 is provided to employers employing individuals registered with CVGT Australia for a period of more than 12 months. Under another program called DSS Wage Subsidy, eligible employers can receive up to $1,650 per employee, if they are disabled but still are eligible for a job.
Contact one of our advisors to get help and assistance in applying for relevant employment incentives from the government, based on your requirement and eligibility.
