Are we paddling in the same direction at the same speed (scope, budget and schedule) and not up S##t Creek? How do you build team engagement and what makes an effective team?

Team 1

Team is a common term that is not practiced well.  Some of us have had the good fortune to have been in high performing teams and the memories and relationships are still important to us. Our memories connect us to doing a good job, exceeding expectations, learning, celebrating and having a sense of meaning and belonging.  Teams just don’t happen, are often less effective than a group of individuals and can be terribly inefficient.

Basics first, what are the attributes of a team:

  • Complimentary skills
  • Common purpose
  • Shared performance goals
  • Mutual accountability

What makes an effective team?

  • Purpose
  • Clear goals
  • Complimentary perspectives and skills
  • Process and timings are clear
  • Reflective learning and celebration
Team 2

Problem solving: trust and communication

Team 3

Tactical: clarity/ directive style

Team 4

Creative: Freedom/ autonomy

Questions to ask your team regularly:

  • How did you feel?
  • What did you learn?
  • How were you affected?
  • What inter-discipline issues should you consider?

A leaders willingness to discuss learnings and openness to constructive criticism will over time, develop team engagement.  This social exchange develops trust and a reciprocation of benefits.  In the eye of the beholder, perception of mutual obligation develops and how an individual interprets cues and signals from their leader.  No cues and signals, no teamwork, failure to deliver on cues and signals is worse than having no cues and signals at all.

In summary, our personal reflections on actions for team-work and what makes an effective team (Bold=Bang for Buck):

  • Equal recognition for contribution
  • Goals should be measurable and defined for those responsible for achieving them
  • Achievement, however big or small, should be recognized and celebrated
  • Deal with issues face to face
  • Commit fully to goals set
  • Act emphatically all the time, but don’t carry passengers
  • Reduce the documentation you need to justify delivery
  • Simplify language
  • Reduce the time it takes to get something approved
  • Set expectations around quality, time and cost, then trust your team to find the best way to do the work.
  • For long-term growth, focus on new ways of behaving, not new ways of working.

These are not new principles.  Check out the biography on Napoleon Bonaparte and one of his quotes was:

‘morale is to physical as three is to one.’

Team engagement and alignment is one of the elements to improve overall performance & offers practical and effective solutions.

You might also be interested in our recent blog on performance based rewards.

You can now register for the JobMaker scheme as announced in the Federal Budget back in October.

(Please note that the following are based on draft Rules as announced by the Treasurer)

Please note that according to the draft Rules, if you would like to claim JobMaker for the first period (7 October 2020 – 6 January 2021), you must register on or before 6 January 2021.

What is JobMaker?

JobMaker is a new scheme aimed at supporting employers to employ additional people in their businesses, specifically those aged between 16 and 35 years of age. Employers will get reimbursed for each new employee they hire over the period of 7 October 2020 until 6 October 2021. The hiring credit is then available for another 12 months for each of those new jobs (meaning the scheme is set to come to an end on October 6, 2022).

Employers will receive:

  • $200 per week for each eligible employee aged between 16 and 29 years of age
  • $100 per week for each eligible employee between 30 and 35 years of age

The credit will be capped at the value of the increase in the total payroll for the JobMaker Period over and above the baseline payroll amount (more on this later).

Am I Eligible?

As an employer, you are eligible to claim the JobMaker you can answer YES to all of the following:

  • You are registered for ABN and PAYG Withholding during the relevant JobMaker Period (more on the JobMaker Periods later).
  • You are not entitled to receive any JobKeeper payments for the employee during the relevant JobMaker Period.
  • You are not a major bank, government agency or entity in liquidation/bankruptcy.
  • As at each claim date, your tax and BAS lodgements are up to date.
  • You have employed at least one additional employee on or after 7 October 2020, and the additional employee is aged between 16 and 35 years of age on the date of commencing employment. Also, for a period of 28 consecutive days within the 84 days immediately before the commencement of employment with you, the additional employee received either:
    • Parenting Payment;
    • Youth Allowance; or
    • Jobseeker Payment.
  • Each additional employee must give you a completed JobMaker Hiring Credit Employee Notice, confirming eligibility.
  • You had an increase in employee headcount, meaning the number of employees employed by you at the end of each JobMaker Period is higher than the number of employees in your baseline headcount. Your baseline headcount is your headcount on 30 September 2020 for the first year of JobMaker. All employees are included in the headcount, including full-time, part-time, casual, fixed-term and non-fixed-term employees. However, it excludes contractors.
  • The additional employee’s average hours of work (including paid absences) across the JobMaker Period is equal to or greater than 20 per week.
  • The additional employee is not a related party (e.g. a trustee, beneficiary, shareholder or director of the employing entity, or a relative of these parties).
  • In the six months immediately before 6 October 2020, the additional employee was not engaged otherwise by you to perform substantially similar duties (e.g. as an independent contractor).
  • Please note that eligibility for each JobMaker Period is assessed independently. This means you can become eligible at any point during the program.

JobMaker Periods & Claim Periods

The program has eight quarterly JobMaker Periods, each with a corresponding Claim Period. The Claim Period is the time within which you must submit a form to the ATO through its online services (e.g. the Business Portal or the Tax Agent Portal) in order to receive the JobMaker for the relevant period.

The JobMaker Periods and related Claim Periods are as follows:

Screen Shot 2020 12 15 At 1.10.48 Pm

How do I register?

Before you can make a claim for JobMaker, you must first register your intent to claim with the ATO through the ATO’s online services (e.g. the Business Portal or the Tax Agent Portal). This registration must be completed before the end of your first applicable Claim Period. This means if you intend to claim JobMaker for the first JobMaker Period (7 October 2020 – 6 January 2021), you must register on or before 6 January 2021.

In the registration, you will need to declare:

  • The total number of employees employed as at 30 September 2020 (the “baseline headcount”);
  • The total payroll for the quarter up to 6 October 2020 (the “baseline payroll amount”).

How do I claim?

For each JobMaker Period, an online form needs to be lodged with the ATO before the end of the corresponding Claim Period.

As part of this form, the following information will need to be declared:

  • The baseline payroll amount, if it changes from the amount declared as part of the initial registration;
  • The total payroll amount for the relevant JobMaker Period;
  • The total number of employees employed at the end of the JobMaker period.

The online form will rely upon information submitted to the ATO via Single Touch Payroll (STP), including the dates on which eligible employees commenced and/or ceased employment. It is therefore important that you ensure that your outstanding STP filings are lodged with the ATO at least 3 days before the end of each Claim Period, as it can take up to 3 days for these to be processed.

What happens after this?

Once the online form is submitted, the ATO will calculate and pay JobMaker to you. The amount of the credit depends on the number of additional employees throughout the relevant JobMaker Period compared to the baseline headcount, along with the ages of the additional employees ($200 per week for employees aged 16-29 year and $100 per week for employees aged 30-35). However, the credit will be capped at the value of the increase in the total payroll for the JobMaker Period over and above the baseline payroll amount. Please contact us if you would like to know how this cap may affect your claim.

What Do I Do Next?

The first step is to assess your eligibility to claim JobMaker in the first JobMaker Period.

The team at MGI South Queensland is available to assist you to assess your eligibility and navigate the complexity of the scheme. We are also able to assist you with lodgement of the registration form and quarterly claims.

If you need assistance understanding or actioning this new program, do not hesitate to contact us.

The Queensland State Government has recently announced a potentially significant stamp duty exemption for small business restructures.

Often, people going into business for the first time may set up as a sole trader, partnership or family trust. As the business grows this structure may no longer be the best option, particularly with small business company tax rates reducing to 25% from next financial year. In the past, it has been a potentially costly and complicated process to transfer business assets out of these structures and into a company.

The above concessions significantly simplify this process and remove the potentially costly stamp duty impost. Here is a summary of the new concessions:

Eligibility

The above concessions now provide significant flexibility for businesses currently operating as a sole trader, partnership or trust structure to “rollover” into a company structure. This can have a number of benefits including:

It is important to note that the legislation to implement these changes have not yet been passed by the Queensland Parliament, however will have retrospective effect from 7th September 2020. It is possible that there may be some minor changes to the above eligibility requirements so we recommend that you contact us before proceeding with any restructure.

Further Information

Please contact the team at MGI South Queensland if you wish to discuss your personal circumstances.

The Queensland Government has passed legislation to establish a new portable long service leave scheme available for community services workers. The scheme seeks to reward workers for service to the industry by ensuring they receive long service leave benefits, even if they change employers.

Under the scheme, employers in the community services industry will be required to register their business or organisation with QLeave.
The scheme starts on 1 January 2021, so community services organisations must start preparing for the upcoming changes now.

QLeave is the statutory authority administering existing portable long service leave schemes in Queensland and will be the authority for the community services industry portable long service leave scheme.

How does it work?

As an employer, you must register with QLeave and submit quarterly employer returns. These returns detail the total of ordinary wages paid to your workers during the return period.

Qleave will record the time worked and wages received by each worker. This results in service credits accruing towards a worker’s long service leave entitlement.
Workers can check their service record online at any time. If any service is missing, workers should contact their employer/s.

You’re an employer in the Queensland community services industry if:

How much does it cost?

There is no fee to register with QLeave. However, registered employers pay a levy based on the ordinary wages of their workers. The levy collected is invested, and the accumulated funds then pay the workers’ long service leave claims.

Who is eligible?

Workers in Queensland’s community services industry who:

This includes workers who:

Community service work covered by the scheme

From the Community Services Industry Act 2020:
The “community services industry” is the industry in which entities provide community services in Queensland.  Types of “community services” as prescribed by the Act are:

Who is not eligible?

Some community services workers are not eligible to join QLeave.

These include:

If you engage only workers that are not eligible to join QLeave, you’re not required to register with the scheme.

What are the steps from here?

1.     Register
If you’re an employer in the community services industry in Queensland and engage one or more eligible workers to perform community services work, you must register with QLeave. Registrations are now open.

Please note: Registration is compulsory, and penalties may be imposed if you fail to register. You must register within 7 days of becoming an employer in the community services industry.

2.     Inform QLeave of your workers’ service each quarter
It’s a legislative requirement that employers give details to QLeave about their workers’ service each quarter. You can do this when you complete your quarterly an employer return.

You must provide details to QLeave about your workers’ service and wages on a quarterly basis. You can do this by completing an Employer Return.

The time worked and wages received are recorded against your worker’s QLeave membership and counts towards their long service leave benefit. The return is a list of all eligible workers recorded by Qleave as being employed by you or your company.

If you have additional workers that are eligible and don’t appear on the list, you’ll need to add them.

Due dates

Due dates for submitting Employer Returns and paying the levy are:

Avoid penalties

It’s a legislative requirement to submit the Employer Return by the due date. There are penalties should returns not be lodged by the due date.
Failure to lodge the return may result in QLeave commencing prosecution, without further notice to you. Prosecution may result in a conviction and fine for each worker not included on your return. You may also have to compensate QLeave for costs incurred due to legal action.

3.     Pay a quarterly levy based on your workers’ ordinary wages
You’re required to pay a levy each quarter based on the ordinary wages of your workers as reported on your employer return. The current levy rate is 1.35% of workers’ ordinary wages.

Payment options include credit card, BPay and EFT.

4.     Books and records
QLeave conducts random inspections of registered employers’ books and records to check compliance with their obligations.

QLeave Compliance and Liaison Officers are authorised to perform inspections of employers’ books and records, to check compliance with their obligations.

You must keep books and records for six years after the last entry was made in the book or record which include:

Long service leave claims

Workers, who are employed by the same employer for ten or more continuous years, may be entitled to long service leave paid by the employer under the Industrial Relations Act 2016.

If you pay long service leave to a worker under the Industrial Relations Act 2016, you may claim reimbursement from QLeave for some, or all, of the payment made to the worker. You will only be able to claim reimbursement for service that is recorded with QLeave (from 1 January 2021).

Paying long service leave under the Industrial Relations Act 2016

Workers, who are employed by the same employer for ten or more continuous years, may be entitled to long service leave paid by the employer under the Industrial Relations Act 2016. The portable long service leave scheme doesn’t replace an employer’s obligation to pay long service leave to their worker/s.

Claim reimbursement for long service leave paid to a worker

QLeave may reimburse you for some, or all, of the payment you make to the worker. You must lodge your claim for reimbursement to QLeave within three months of the day you paid long service leave to the worker. The payment is calculated in accordance with the legislation and is based on the wages declared for the individual worker.

To ensure you receive the maximum amount reimbursed, you need to include an Employer Return detailing service in the most recent quarter and the levy payment for the worker up to the date of leave, especially if the worker is retiring or resigning from the company.

Employers can apply for reimbursement by completing an Employer Claim form.

For QLeave to process an employer reimbursement, they require proof that you made the long service leave payment to the worker. A copy of the pay-slip indicating long service leave paid, or an extract from the payroll system confirming payment should be attached to the claim form.

How Can MGI Help You

If you are a Community Organisation that may be impacted and need assistance understanding the potential financial impact, please contact us for a free consultation.

(This blog is an update to the previously posted blog on this scheme 12 July 2020)

The alternative decline in turnover test for JobKeeper fortnights from 28 September onwards has been released by the ATO.

The new alternative tests are in line with the original covering the 7 circumstances outside the usual business operation that resulted in your 2019 relevant comparison period not being appropriate for applying the basic decline in turnover test.

This includes the following:

  1. Business that started after the comparison period
  2. Business acquisition or disposal that changed the entity’s turnover
  3. Business restructure that changed the entity’s turnover
  4. Business that has had a substantial increase in turnover
  5. Business affected by drought or natural disaster
  6. Business that has an irregular turnover
  7. Sole trader or small partnership with sickness, injury or leave

Below are some of the key changes that you should take into consideration when applying the appropriate tests

As with the previous alternative test or the basic decline in turnover tests, you will need to maintain sufficient and appropriate documentation on how the tests have been applied in case of an ATO review.

Please feel free to contact the team at MGI South Queensland if you wish you to discuss the application of the alternative test to your circumstances.

Following the recent passing of legislation to extend JobKeeper, Treasury has provided further detail surrounding eligibility and payment details.

Am I eligible?

To be eligible for the Jobkeeper extension under the basic test your business must have experienced an actual decline in turnover of:

  • 50% for those with aggregated turnover of more than $1 billon.
  • 30% for those with an aggregated turnover of $1 billon or less
  • 15% for Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission-registered charities (excluding schools and universities)

In some situations, your business may still be eligible under an alternative test depending on your circumstances. The details of the alternative tests are being finalised by the Tax office. Please contact us if you wish to discuss.

What is the turnover period?

Businesses will satisfy the actual decline in turnover test if your current GST turnover for quarter ending 30 September 2020 has declined in comparison to the same prior-year period (30 September 2019). If you satisfy the turnover test, you are eligible to continue JobKeeper until 3 January 2021.

In order to get a further extension of JobKeeper until 28 March 2021 – your business will have to re-test and demonstrate an actual decline in GST turnover for quarter ending 31 December 2020 compared with the same prior year period (31 December 2019).

Changes to employee eligibility

As of the 3rd August 2020, the key date for assessing employee eligibility is now 1 July 2020. This will capture employees who may have started in your business between 1 March 2020 and 1 July 2020.

Employees that were eligible as at 1 March 2020, will continue to be eligible going forward.

Changes to Jobkeeper payment rates

From the 28 September 2020, there will be two payment rates – a tier 1 and tier 2 rate – which will be stepped down in two stages, see below.

Jobkeeper 1

An employee’s entitlement to Tier 1 or Tier 2 payments is based on whether they meet the 80-hour threshold.

An employee or business participant/religious practitioners is entitled to the Tier 1 rate if the 80-hour threshold is satisfied. If they do not meet this threshold they are eligible for Tier 2 payment rate.

80-Hour Threshold

There are two steps to satisfying the 80-hour threshold:

1.      Determine the individuals reference period

For eligible employees – 28 days finishing on the last day of the last pay period that ended before either 1 March 2020 and 1 July 2020. If the employee was working during both 28-day periods you will need to consider both reference periods.

If you are looking to qualify as a Business Participant, the reference period is the month of February 2020.

In some circumstances, an alternative reference period can apply if the standard period (above) is not suitable.

There may be more than one reference period that applies to an individual – if the employee satisfies the 80-hour threshold in any reference period then Tier 1 applies

2.      Apply the 80-hour test

Jobkeeper 2

Generally, a full-time employee who has been employed for their full 28 day reference period will satisfy the 80-hour threshold.

Further consideration is required for employees that are part-time, long-term casual, not paid on an hourly basis or stood down

28-day reference period

The 28-day reference period or periods are based on when the pay cycle ends and therefore won’t be the same for all employers.

Use either:

  • the pre-March period which is the 28 days which finish on the last day of the last pay cycle that ended before 1 March 2020, or
  • the pre-July period which is the 28 days which finish on the last day of the last pay cycle that ended before 1 July 2020.

Your pay cycle for an employee may not be the same as the period between the days you actually pay them. For example, the amount you pay an employee each Friday may be for the hours worked in a week ended on the previous Wednesday – in this case the pay cycle is the week ended on the Wednesday.

If your pay cycle is longer than 28-days (for example monthly), a pro-rata calculation will need to be performed.

Jobkeeper 3

Example – determining the reference period:

Callum runs a business and has 10 employees.

The business has a fortnightly pay cycle, which ends every second Wednesday.

In February 2020, the pay cycle for Callum’s business ended on the 5th and the 19th.

The pre-March period of Callum’s employees is the 28 consecutive days ended on the 19 February (being the 23 January to the 19th January).

In June 2020, the pay cycles for Callum’s business ended on the 10th and 24th.

The pre-July period for Callum’s employees is the 28 consecutive days ended on the 24th June. The reference period is the 28th to May to 24th June

If any of his employees do not meet the 80-hour threshold for the pre-March and pre-July periods he should consider applying an alternative reference period.

Please contact us should you wish to apply an alternative reference period.

What doesn’t change?

You do not have to re-enrol for the extension if you are already enrolled prior to 28 September.

You do not need to re-assess employee eligibility if you are already claiming for them before 28 September.

You do not need to meet any further requirements if you are claiming for an eligible business participant.

Notifying the ATO

From the 28th September, you will need to notify the ATO of the following:

  • Actual GST turnover reduction
  • Which Tier will apply for all eligible employees/business participants/religious practitioners

We expect that the identification process will be a declaration via the Business portal or lodgement through a tax agent

Within 7 days of notifying the ATO of the Tier rate, you must also notify each individual employee in writing of their rate.

Further Information

Please contact the team at MGI South Queensland if you wish to discuss your personal circumstances.

The Government has announced the extension of the JobKeeper Payment until 28 March 2021 and is targeting support to those businesses that continue to be significantly impacted by the Coronavirus.

From 28 September 2020, eligibility for the JobKeeper Payment will be based on actual turnover in the relevant periods and the payment will be stepped down and paid at two rates.

How can you be Eligible?

To be eligible for JobKeeper Payments under the extension, businesses and not-for-profits will still need to demonstrate that they have experienced a decline in turnover of:

Periods of Turnover Testing

In order to be eligible for the JobKeeper Payment from 28 September 2020, businesses will have to meet a further decline in turnover test for each of the two periods of extension, as well as meeting the other existing eligibility requirements for the JobKeeper Payment.

To be eligible for Jobkeeper payment from 28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021

Businesses will need to demonstrate that their actual GST turnover has fallen in the September quarter 2020 (July, August, September) relative to a comparable period (generally the corresponding quarter in 2019).

To be eligible for the second JobKeeper Payment extension period of 4 January 2021 to 28 March 2021

Businesses and not-for-profits will need to demonstrate that their actual GST turnover has fallen in the December quarter 2020 (October, November, December) relative to a comparable period (generally the corresponding quarters in 2019)

The Commissioner of Taxation will have the discretion to set out alternative tests that would establish eligibility in specific circumstances where it is not appropriate to compare actual turnover in a quarter in 2020 with actual turnover in a quarter in 2019

The JobKeeper Payment rate

From 28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021, the JobKeeper Payment rates will be:

From 4 January 2021 to 28 March 2021, the JobKeeper Payment rates will be:

Who are eligible Employees

Employees are eligible in the extension period if they:

Were either:

Only one employer can claim the JobKeeper Payment in respect of an employee

The self-employed will be eligible to receive the JobKeeper Payment where they meet the relevant turnover test, and are not a permanent employee of another employer. Employees will continue to receive the JobKeeper Payment through their employer during the period of the extension if they and their employer are eligible and their employer is claiming the JobKeeper Payment. However, the amount of the JobKeeper Payment will change at the rates set out above.

Further Information

Please contact our office if you wish to discuss your personal circumstances and how to meet the eligibility criteria.

The government has announced that the current $1,500 per fortnight JobKeeper payment will continue past 27 September. However, it will be reduced to $1,200 per fortnight from 28 September, and $750 per fortnight for employees working less than 20 hours a week.

From 4 January, the rate will fall to $1,000 per fortnight and $650 for people working less than 20 hours a week.

Full details of the updated JobKeeper program can be found here.

New Eligibility Tests

Businesses looking to remain on JobKeeper beyond 27 September will be required to meet new eligibility tests.

Businesses will still be required to demonstrate the required reduction in turnover i.e. 30 per cent for businesses with turnovers of $1 billion or less, 50 per cent for those with turnover of more than $1 billion, and 15 per cent for ACNC-registered charities.

The current JobKeeper programs requires a business to apply the test for one period (a month or a quarter) prospectively. However, the government will now require businesses to reapply the tests for the June and September quarters to be eligible for JobKeeper beyond September.

In addition, businesses will need to demonstrate that they have met the relevant decline in each of the three quarters ending on 31 December 2020 (June, September and December quarters) to remain eligible for the payment from January 2021 to March 2021.

We will continue to update this post once more details are known.

Please contact your MGI South Queensland advisor should you have any queries.

 

The Palaszczuk Government has passed legislation to introduce a portable Qld long service leave scheme for workers in the community services industry. This bill was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The exact start date of this scheme is still unknown, but we expect that it will start later in the year (and not backdated from 1 July 2020).

The recent media release provides some more detail.

The scheme works by employers registering and providing a ‘return’ to QLeave about the service and earnings of the workers covered by the scheme for each return period, then paying a levy based on the earnings reported.

The levy rate is proposed to be 1.35 per cent of a worker’s gross ordinary wage, lower than the 1.67 per cent average employers currently have to make provision for and will be subject to review at least every two years.

Which Organisations will be Impacted?

The proposal is for organisations operating in the following sectors (but not limited to):

What does this mean for my organisation?

1.      From the inception date of the scheme (yet to be confirmed), community services organisations will pay employees long service leave to Qleave – not just simply accrue long service leave. This will have a cash impact on the organisation, and your 2020/21 financial year budgets.

2.      It is expected that LSL already accrued will stay as a liability on the employer’s balance sheet for LSL accrued up to the inception date (not paid as a lump sum to Q Leave); but after this, no further LSL will be accrued as a liability on your balance sheet (it will be paid to Q Leave as it is accrued by employees).

How Can MGI Help You

If you are a Community Organisation that may be impacted and need assistance understanding the potential financial impact and employees entitlement to long service leave, please contact us for a free consultation.

The Queensland Government has announced that the Small Businesses COVID-19 Adaption Grants program has been extended. This will provide an additional $100 million in grants of up to $10,000 for small businesses and these will be made available from July 1. Successful applicants from round 1 of this program cannot apply for funding under round 2.

What will and won’t be funded

Screen Shot 2020 06 17 At 8.45.56 Pm

Click here to find out if you are eligible. Read the frequently asked questions here.

Applications will open July 1 and please contact your MGI South Queensland Advisor should you have any queries on this.

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