2025 Payroll & Contracts Reset: SG to 12%, Fixed-Term Limits, and Your Positive Duty
This year is a pivot point for payroll accuracy, contract discipline, and respectful workplaces. Three big rocks—superannuation, fixed-term contracts, and positive duty—need board-level attention.
Superannuation Guarantee hits 12%
From 1 July 2025, the Super Guarantee rate increases to 12%. Apply 12% to all salary and wages paid on or after 1 July, even if part of the pay period falls before that date. Review salary-package clauses to ensure there are no unintended take-home pay impacts.
Action:
Update payroll settings and budgeting models.
Communicate the change simply (“your super goes up; your package remains X”).
Check concessional caps for salary-sacrificers.
Fixed-term contracts: the two-year reality
Since 6 December 2023, strict limitations apply: typically no more than two years (including renewals/extensions) and no more than two consecutive contracts, with limited exceptions. If you’ve been rolling fixed-term deals for “flexibility,” it’s time to reset.
Action:
Create a contract expiry register.
Where ongoing work exists, transition to permanent with clear probation and performance expectations.
Use exceptions sparingly—and document the basis.
Your positive duty: prevention, not posters
Under the Sex Discrimination Act, businesses have a positive duty to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, hostile work environments, and related victimisation as far as possible. The AHRC now has powers to monitor and enforce compliance—so “policy plus once-a-year training” is no longer enough.
Action:
Conduct a psychosocial risk assessment that explicitly includes sexual harassment as a WHS hazard.
Implement controls (supervision, rostering, supervision in hotspot locations/timebands, complaints triage).
Track leading indicators: training reach, time-to-respond, repeat-offender patterns.
Publish “if you see it, say it” reporting pathways—anonymous options included.
Bonus: labour-hire “same job, same pay” momentum
The FWC can order that labour-hire workers performing the same work at a host receive protected rates of pay aligned to host employees—applications and early outcomes are already reshaping the market. If you use labour-hire, model your exposure now.
Book a Manager Workshop (half-day or full day) and we’ll convert all of this into practical muscle memory—scripts, checklists, and rhythms your leaders actually use.
