To budget for labour hire after your enterprise agreement (EBA) rates go up, start from the new agreement and rebuild the cost line by line. Do not take the last invoice and add a guess. The rise may touch some classifications and not others, and it changes more than the base hourly rate.
This guide to labour hire budget planning is for hosts in Melbourne and across Victoria who run manufacturing, warehouse or trades sites under an EBA. It works through five steps, from confirming what moved to setting a review date. How an EBA shapes labour hire pricing in the first place is covered in our article on how an EBA affects labour hire pricing.
Confirm which instrument and which classifications moved
Fair Work explains that some employers and employees are covered by an enterprise agreement and not an award, so your first job is to name the instrument. Open the current approved agreement, find the new pay schedule and note the date each change starts. The Fair Work agreements pages explain how to check coverage.
Then list only the classifications you actually use on site, and mark each as moved, unchanged or moving later. A rise may not land evenly across levels, and a flat uplift across every line will overstate some costs and understate others. That uneven pattern is why an EBA wage increase on labour hire spend needs a line-by-line check.
Capture every other item in the agreement that carries a dollar value. The Fair Work Ombudsman lists penalty rates, loadings, allowances, overtime, incentive-based payments and bonuses among the amounts that make up a protected pay rate. Those same items drive your roster cost whether or not an order applies, so check whether each one changed.
Rebuild the roster cost, not only the base rate
Base rate alone rarely describes what a labour hire shift costs, especially when your roster runs nights, weekends or long production runs. To forecast labour hire costs properly, rebuild them per shift pattern, not per hour, using what the agreement pays for those hours under the new schedule.
- Base roster. The shifts you book every week. Price these first, because they set the run-rate you carry all year.
- Peak roster. The extra shifts and longer hours you add in busy periods. Price these separately, since overtime and weekend loadings matter more here.
- Allowances. Any site allowance or other item the agreement attaches to a classification.
- Paid time that is not output. Inductions and handover time cost the same new rate as productive time.
Our guide to labour cost per hour sets out the pieces that sit inside an hourly charge. Here the job is narrower: which of those pieces moved on your actual roster? Use a sheet with one column for the old schedule and one for the new, and let the gap show where the budget changes.
Finish by splitting the result in two. Run-rate cost recurs every week. One-off transition cost is paid once, such as overlap while a new provider settles in or a re-induction after a change of crew. Mixing the two makes the rise look bigger or smaller than it is.
Re-quote labour hire on the new instrument
Fair Work says labour hire employers hire their employees and are responsible for providing them with their pay and entitlements. That means the agency sets its own charge rate under its agreement with you. Ask each agency what its current rate assumes rather than guessing what a host rise might do to it.
Send every provider the same package: the classifications and levels you use, the base and peak rosters, the start dates and a short description of each role. Ask them to state which instrument and classification each charge rate assumes, the date the rate starts and how long the quote holds. Identical inputs make the answers comparable, and our separate article on how to compare labour hire quotes from multiple agencies covers scoring them.
Rosters differ by site type. Warehousing labour hire often swings with dispatch peaks, while manufacturing labour hire tends to follow production runs. Say which pattern yours is.
If you already use Chandler Personnel for labour hire in Melbourne, ask for a re-quote against the new schedule at the same time you contact other providers. Then check the contract clauses that govern rate changes, including how and when an agency may adjust its charge rates and what notice you get. If a clause is silent, settle it before the next shift is booked.
Watch protected-rate and order sites
Some labour hire arrangements sit under a regulated labour hire arrangement order. Fair Work says employees, unions and host employers can apply to the Fair Work Commission for one, and that when an order applies, labour hire employees working for that host must be paid no less than the protected pay rate under the host's enterprise agreement or another relevant workplace instrument.
The order names the host, the labour hire employer, the employees covered, the relevant workplace instrument and the start date, so it is your reference document. Check whether an order covers your site and which roles it names. It covers only the employees it names, so it does not turn every labour hire booking into a protected-rate booking.
Where an order applies, the protected pay rate is defined by the host's instrument, which makes your rise the number to test the agency's rate against. Where no order applies, ask the agency which award or agreement covers its employees and what pay floor that sets.
Either way, read the Fair Work pages on labour hire and supply chains, which state that employers must make sure employees in their supply chain receive the correct minimum entitlements. A quote that looks too low to cover lawful pay is a problem to raise with the agency, not a bargain to accept.
Set a review date before the next peak
Put two dates in the diary. The first is the day the next scheduled pay change in your agreement takes effect. The second is the start of your busy period, because peak rosters are where loadings and overtime bite. Re-quote ahead of whichever comes first.
Record what you assumed: the instrument, the classifications, the roster, the quote date and how long the quote holds. When an invoice drifts from the forecast, that record shows whether the rate, the hours or the mix changed, which keeps your EBA rate rise staffing budget honest. If a role keeps returning to your roster at the new rate, price permanent recruitment as the alternative. Chandler Recruitment handles permanent roles, separate from labour hire.
Related Resources
- Labour hire in Melbourne
- Warehousing labour hire
- Manufacturing labour hire
- Labour cost per hour for blue-collar roles
- Labour hire contract clauses before the first shift
- Fair Work agreements
- Fair Work labour hire and supply chains
Common Questions About Budgeting for Labour Hire After an EBA Rise
1. Do labour hire rates rise automatically when our EBA increases?
Not automatically. The agency sets its charge rate under its agreement with you and pays its employees under the instrument that covers them. Where a regulated labour hire arrangement order applies, Fair Work says those employees must be paid no less than the protected pay rate under your enterprise agreement, so your rise can flow through to their pay. Check the order and your contract, then ask the agency to confirm the new rate in writing.
2. How soon should we re-quote after an EBA wage rise?
Re-quote as soon as you know the new schedule and its start date, and before the new rates take effect if you can. Waiting for an invoice leaves you reacting instead of planning. Send the same roster and role details to each provider so the answers compare cleanly.
3. What if only some classifications increased?
Re-price the classifications that moved, but still ask for a full re-quote so the agency states a rate for every level you use. Check allowances and loadings as well, because they can change even when a base rate does not.
4. How do protected pay rates interact with an EBA increase?
According to Fair Work, the protected pay rate is the total amount employees would get under the host's workplace instrument, including penalty rates, loadings, allowances, overtime and bonuses. It applies only where an order covers them. The agency's own award or agreement can still apply alongside it, so ask how it builds pay for covered workers.
5. Should we freeze headcount until quotes return?
A full freeze is rarely needed. Book the shifts you cannot run without, keep the rest of the roster flexible until quotes return, and confirm in writing which rate applies to shifts worked before and after the new schedule starts.
Re-Quote on the New Instrument
An EBA rise changes your labour hire budget only where it changes the shifts you book, so rebuild the cost from the schedule, shift by shift. Ask each provider to re-quote on the same inputs, check whether an order covers your site, and put the next review in the diary. When your revised roster is ready, you can request staff and compare the answer with your other quotes.
