Help Wanted

It’s a sign for our times. As the available pool of labour continues to shrink across our community, employers are resorting to desperate recruitment practices, more familiar in times past, by displaying "help wanted" signage on premises in the hope of attracting the "passing" interest of potential employees. As a business community, this approach to the current shortage of skilled labour is understandable and yet seriously myopic in meeting the long-term labour requirements of employers.

Now for the segue.

Want to help Status meet the needs of disadvantaged kids in our community and at the same time have an opportunity to win some great prizes and, address future labour market shortages?

Our partnered charity Kids Future Kids has been invited to participate in this years’ "Australian Central Community Lottery". Long term subscribers to our newsletter would know that Status is the founding patron of Kids Future Kids [KFK] and in 2006 our partnership won the Prime Ministers Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships SA. This year, we are proud to be raising funds in support of our Connections program, which aims to assist highly disadvantaged children who have fallen, or are at serious risk of falling out of, the mainstream education system and, endeavours to reconnect these kids to structured education and employment opportunities.

The annual Australian Central Community Lottery is the largest and most successful community lottery in Australia and in 2008, it is expected that more than $1 million will be injected into not-for-profit communities across Australia from the proceeds of ticket sales. All prizes are donated by sponsors and as such, all monies raised from ticket sales are retained by the participating charity or "for-community-profit" organisation, to provide direct services and resources to the communities they serve.

In support of our Connections program, KFK has been allocated 1,000 tickets, out of a total ticket pool of approximately 500,000. Tickets cost just $2 and with over 100 opportunities to win, and the value of donated prizes approaching $200,000, this is a great opportunity to reward yourself - materially, if you are lucky enough to win a prize and; altruistically, by helping Status assist all of the kids associated with our Connections program to become productive members of our business community.

Books of tickets [10 per book] are available for sale at each of Status’ offices and we have until 30th June 2008 to sell as many as we can. So please consider either buying a ticket or even a book of ten, or better still, if you have access to a wide social or business network we will happily arrange for multiple books to be delivered to you. Please contact our Corporate Services Assistant Mrs Dora Zalunardo on telephone 8377 0101 or email dora@status.net.au to purchase tickets.

Oh, and by the way, if you need help recruiting staff for your business, give us a call at one of our offices. Alternatively, browse through the candidate profiles accessed through the "hot chilli" link at right and remember to use the "search" function to reduce your list of "hot prospects". Using the search function is easy, type in any word or words and our database will return all profiles matching your search. However, the more words used the more you will reduce your returns but always remember to check each page listed as your new employee maybe hidden just below the surface!

In this week’s edition of Status e News, we provide employers and business owners with access to some new FBT calculators just released by the ATO and advise of new Superannuation Guarantee arrangements to be introduced from 1^st July 2008. We also introduce two new “Employee Hot Prospects” which can be accessed from the "hot chilli" link at right and, announce the winner of our Round 3 Footy Tipping Competition.

The fringe benefit tax [FBT] year ended on 31^st March and employers need to be aware of recent changes to FBT rates and thresholds in order to complete their return this year. Rates for the FBT year 1^st April 2007 – 31^st March 2008 are as follows:

Year ending 31/3/2008: 46.5%
Year ending 31/3/2007: 46.5%
Year ending 31/3/2006: 48.5%

The Australian Taxation Office [ATO] has also released a number of new calculators to assist with the calculation of reportable fringe benefits.

The FBT car calculator will help employers calculate the taxable value of a car fringe benefit using either the statutory formula method or the operating cost method. Additionally, the PBI, HPC and rebatable calculator will help you work out the FBT for public benevolent institutions [PBI], health promotion charities [HPC] and rebatable employers after 1^st April 2001. The effects of GST as well as the $30,000 capping are considered.

Finally, the ATO provides a downloadable PDF guide that provides useful information to help you complete the 2008 FBT return for your business. The guide includes step-by-step instructions, and examples from a completed return to help you provide the information requested.

The ATO is also reminding employers that from 1^st July 2008, ordinary time earnings as defined in the super guarantee law, must be used to calculate super contributions for their employees.

Changes to how employers calculate super contributions are less than four months away and the ATO is urging employers to make sure that they have the correct systems in place to handle this change in requirements and to plan for any additional costs.

Ordinary time earnings [OTE], as defined in the super guarantee law, is generally what an employee earns for ordinary hours of work including over-award payments, shift loading or commissions. It excludes such things as overtime.

Most employees have OTE as their earnings base however, some have other earnings bases that may be contained in:

• an industrial award
• an existing agreement they have with their employer
• a fund’s trust deed, or
• a Commonwealth, State or Territory law

Some employers currently pay super on an earnings base from a source that was permitted when the super guarantee law was introduced. This means an employee may be paid lower super contributions [as a proportion of total remuneration] when compared with another employee in similar circumstances. The new law standardises the earnings base to ordinary time earnings for all employees.

If the current super guarantee amount paid is less than the minimum 9%, employers have to increase this amount to meet the minimum to avoid the super guarantee charge.

Clinton Bailey
with Status’ Employment Consultant-
May Loi