Solving the Independent Contractor Classification Issue, One Worker at a Time
Today’s guest post is by Toni Jackson, Fieldglass company director.
The problem: It’s no secret that misclassification of workers has expensive ramifications. With the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) under severe pressure to increase revenue, Australian companies that utilise contingent labor and independent contractors are in an even riskier situation. The ATO is set to formally enforce worker classification laws and aggressively ramp up audits to ensure that all independent contractors are compliant. Unless organisations can easily classify and track their non-traditional workforce correctly, this has a potential price tag worth millions to the ATO.
The solution: Fieldglass customers have access to a fully integrated solution to ensure workers are properly classified. Before a job posting or Statement of Work is created, hiring managers first complete a decision form, answering a series of questions that can be customised to include government-mandated information. This creates the compliance framework for which all non-traditional workers are to be engaged. All engagements are reviewed and workers are vetted by experienced internal teams, the Master Service Provider (MSP), or one of several external independent contractor compliance companies that have specific expertise.
The result: All work and workers are classified correctly from the outset, and alerts and warnings are set up to ensure compliance with licenses, insurance, visa tenure and qualifications. All processes and information can be stored within the Fieldglass solution, leaving a full audit trail. Companies can retrieve all this documentation easily. To date, nearly a dozen Fieldglass customers are successfully using this process to ensure 100% compliance to various classification regulations, therefore reducing costs and mitigating risks associated with misclassification of workers.
Tags: Australia, independent contractors, misclassification, This Week We're Talking About...