Payday Super has changed super payments, but for SMEs the bigger question is who owns compliance.
Payday Super is now in effect. From 1 July, employers are required to pay superannuation at the same time as wages, replacing the previous system of quarterly contributions. For most businesses the immediate focus has been on meeting the seven-business-day payment window and ensuring payroll systems are ready.
That focus is understandable. But Mark Coyle, CEO of HeadFirst Global APAC, says it may be leaving a significant risk unaddressed. While many organisations are focused on meeting the new seven-business-day payment window, Coyle says they may be overlooking a bigger risk: whether they have a clear view of the contractors, casuals and labour-hire workers sitting outside the standard pay run.
The ABN assumption
For small businesses that rely on contractors, the default assumption is often that an ABN engagement means no super obligation. Coyle says that assumption is not always safe.
Many organisations using contingent labour assume an ABN removes super obligations, yet some contractors can still be deemed employees for superannuation purposes depending on how they are engaged. The problem is compounded when responsibility for managing contingent workers is split across HR, procurement and finance, with no clear owner for classification, payment processes or compliance oversight.
Where the risk sits
Coyle argues that Payday Super should not be treated as a payroll administration change. With the ATO gaining greater visibility into how employers are meeting their obligations, he says the stakes for getting worker classification wrong have increased.
Workforce governance is now a commercial issue, not an HR administration task, Coyle says. Procurement and finance leaders who approach it that way will be better positioned to manage compliance, assess supplier risk and understand who is working for the business, how they are classified and where exposure sits.
What to do now
Rather than relying on payroll teams to catch classification issues at the end of the process, Coyle says small businesses should strengthen governance earlier in the worker engagement process. That means improving contingent workforce visibility, tightening onboarding checks, clarifying who owns classification decisions and regularly reviewing worker status.
The goal, he says, is to identify risks before they reach payroll or the ATO. For businesses that have built flexibility into how they engage workers, Coyle’s view is clear: if organisations want the agility of a contingent workforce, they need the internal governance to match it.
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