Hiring new employees can be stressful. What paperwork do you need? What do you need to pay? Full time, part time, or casual?
This is the time to make sure you have all your ducks lined up. Not only will this protect you and your business, but it will also give your new employees a great first impression.
It’s not only time to get the contract and documentation right for your new employee, but also to create, review and update your HR policies and procedures to ensure you are, and continue to be, compliant and meet your legal employment obligations.
While it may sound like it is a difficult and time-consuming task, taking the time to ensure that you have the correct documentation and procedures in place will help save you time (and potentially money) down the track should issues arise.
To assist with this process, Kerrie Canning and Sally Garner from HR Advice Online have prepared the following checklist of key steps to take:
This is a perfect time to review your record keeping practices and to ensure your employment agreements are current and up to date.
Some questions to consider are:
If you have any employees who are paid an annualised salary:
Are new employees being provided with the most recent version of the Fair Work Information Statement?
When was the last time you reviewed your recording keeping practices?”
A large proportion of employees in Australia are covered by a modern award or workplace agreement. As such, you need to ensure that:
You are meeting your minimum obligations under the applicable award or industrial agreement. This includes:
The appropriate award and position classification level has been identified for each employee.
You remain familiar with the applicable awards and any communicated updates or changes to ensure ongoing compliance.
Annual award wage increases are applied.
Ensure that all workplace agreements meet the minimum obligations.
Workplace policies and procedures can provide a number of benefits for employers, including helping employees know what is expected of them, setting guidelines for employees and can help provide protection from breaches of employment legislation.
Ensure that you have policies in place that cover key employment areas, including:
Ensure that your policies and procedures have been communicated to all employees and that a copy of the documents are available for all employees to review.
Ensure that your policy manual and employment agreement documentation make it clear that the policies may be reviewed and amended by the employer from time to time, and that the policies do not create contractual entitlements upon which employees can rely.
Workplace policies and procedures set guidelines for employees and can help provide protection from breaches of employment legislation.
While having up to date policies in place is a must have, steps need to be taken to ensure that your employees know what to do with them and what is required to comply.
Regular compliance training should be conducted with your employees to assist with managing potential legal risks.
Consideration should be given to the frequency of when you last undertook:
To ensure that you are meeting your legal obligations and responsibilities, it is recommended that sexual harassment and bullying training be conducted at a minimum of every two years.
HR Advice Online can assist you with reviewing and addressing each of the above items. Ensuring you are not only compliant but are provided everything your new employee needs to commence working with you and your business.
Information in HR Advice Online guides and blog posts is meant purely for educational discussion of human resources issues. It contains only general information about human resources matters and due to factors, such as government legislation changes, may not be up to date at the time of reading. It is not legal advice and should not be treated as such.
Content reviewed February 2026
