Rate rise tool

To learn how to manage an Annual Wage Increase, watch the videos below.  More detail is provided in each step in the article below.

  Please note: Watch both videos to execute your rate rise effectively. The videos show fake dates and percentage increases for demonstration only. Please make sure to choose the correct dates and use the appropriate percentage increase related to the current financial year.

In this video, you'll learn more about:

• Key Facts about Annual Wage Increases.
• How to set the date for your rate rise on your platform.

In this video, you'll learn more about:

• How to access the rate rise tool in your platform.
• Choosing the date and percent increase for your rate rise.
• Selecting the awards to increase.
• Checking the classifications and editing where needed.
• How to edit the rates book for your rate rise.
• Checking the rates for your permanent employees.
• Checking the rates for your casual employees.
• Adjusting your Allowances, including award, meal, shift and profile allowances.

Following the success of the Rate Rise Assistance Sessions, we are pleased to announce the continuation of this service.

Would you like to do your rate rise this year with a Coach? This will provide you with numerous benefits if you feel you need extra support during the Rate Rise period.

• You will use the rate rise tool to learn the process, and your CS coach will be available to guide you through it.
• Your session will be recorded. You can use this for future rate reviews so that you won't need any help next time.
• It's Easy to book - Sign up in May/June through the form link in the Rate Rise Article. Keep in mind, spaces will fill up fast, so get in early!
• A low fee of $350* for a session (1 hour duration) *GST exclusive. Pricing is effective as of May 2025. Pricing is subject to change.

If this is your first year with foundU, you're either in implementation or on our Enterprise package, and there will be no cost. We'll be able to help you through your first Rate Rise if you need help in addition to the available resources.

Sign me up for Rate Rise Assistance!

Register your interest by completing the form below, and we will be in touch.

Before you start, please consider the following:

• The rate rise applies to the first full pay period after the effective date. 
• Print the new Pay Guide for your award or have it on a second monitor for easy reference. You will need this for steps 2- 5 of the Rate Rise process. These will often be released a day or two before the effective date. 
• Even if your business doesn’t pay an award, you’ll still need to ensure that your agreement meets the minimum wage rates.
   
• Set aside an appropriate amount of time to complete the rate rise. For single awards, allow 30 minutes; if you have multiple awards, please allow 30 minutes per award. For businesses using charge rates, you should allow a few hours.
• If you need to edit or add new positions, awards, or rates books, do this before starting the rate rise or after it has been processed. Changes made to these things during a pending rate rise may cause errors or for your rate rise to not be processed.

  Please note: Your rate increase will be processed based on the date you choose to apply it, and will be updated in your platform by the next morning. If you're scheduling the rate increase, the earliest it can take effect is the day after you finish applying it. 

Once the pay guides have been released and you've determined the pay period this will apply to you will be ready to start your rate rise. 

To create a new rate rise:

1. From the main menu, navigate to Payroll Settings > Rate Rise. 
   • Here you will see any incomplete rate rises in progress, any scheduled and any complete rate rises. You can use the badges in the top right to filter them by these statuses.
2. Select + New rate rise.

  Hot tip: You can see past rate rises from previous years by selecting the down arrow next to the year.

To use the rate rise tool, the first step is to enter the necessary details, such as the effective date as specified by Fair Work, the percentage increase, and the date you want the rate rise tool to be triggered.

  Please note: Your rate increase will be processed based on the date you choose to apply it, and will be updated in your platform by the next morning. If you're scheduling the rate increase, the earliest it can take effect is the day after you finish applying it. By no means can your 'Processing on' and 'Effective dates' be the same date.

 

Set up your rate rise

1. Select the rate rise date, if necessary.
   • This value defaults to July 1st of the current year, which is accurate for all awards in this financial year. 
2. Set the base rise percentage increase. 
   • This percentage value will be determined by Fair Work for the Annual Minimum wage increase.
     
       Tip: In certain situations, you might start the rate rise process with a 0% increase in order to rectify errors or address some mistakes caused by human error. If you're interested, please refer to our relevant FAQ at the bottom of this guide.

3. Next, select how often payroll is processed. 

         

4. Select Next.

From the tabs below, select the timeframe for which you pay to view the corresponding instructions.

  Please note: The images display fake dates and percentage increases for demonstration purposes only. Please ensure that you select the correct dates and apply the corresponding percentage increase for the current financial year.

 

Finalise date selection

After selecting your date settings, you'll be given a summary of your selections on the review screen. This includes:

• The date you must generate your final payroll using the old rates.
• An option to have an email reminder to ensure payroll is processed on this date. We highly suggest ticking this box. This email reminder will be sent to the admin who started the rate rise.
• The date your rate rise is processed.
  • Under this date, you'll be able to note the effective date for the rate rise. This will be the start of the pay period when your new rates will take effect.

Select Continue with rate rise to finalise your choice.

After selecting Continue with rate rise, please check the dates at the top right corner of your screen.

  Warning: It is crucial to review your dates before proceeding to the next section (Award selection), as if you realise your date selection is incorrect after moving through all the steps in your Award, going back to change the date will undo all your work in Steps 1–6!

When reviewing these dates, please keep in mind:

• Processing date - This is the date that the rate rise will run (On the morning of this date)
• Effective date - The first date your new rates will be effective from.
  •   Warning: The Processing date and the Effective date cannot be the same.
  •   Warning: The Processing date cannot be set before the Effective date.

In the example below, an error has occurred, and the rate rise process date has been set to the same day as the effective date. In this case, select the edit pencil and adjust the dates according to the guidance above before proceeding with the rate rise.

 

Award Selection

After selecting your date settings, you'll need to select the awards to include in your rate rise. 

1. Select the awards to include in your rate rise.
   • You can perform several rate rises if need be. Not all awards need to be updated in one go. A common use case for this approach would be a rate rise per client (if they have their own awards). 
   • Archived awards are included in the rate rise process. If you would like to keep the rates up to date, should you wish to reinstate these awards later.
2. Update the Base Rate Increase if required.
   • The base percentage increase can be different per award; please refer to the relevant award.
3. Select Next at the bottom of the screen when you are ready to continue.

  Hot tip: You'll note the 'Processing on' and 'Effective Date' in the top right of your rate rise on this page. Select the edit pencil if you need to change the process date.

This section will make changes to the classifications in your award. The rate rise tool will increase your current rate by the percentage you entered in the previous steps. 

You will need to have the new Pay Guide for your award handy and ensure that each rate in this step matches the rate in the pay guide to the decimal exactly.

To update your classifications:

1. Select the down arrow to open the classifications.

   

2. Edit each classification to match the pay guide.
   • Only the base (permanent) rate will need to be edited. The casual rate will auto-adjust based on your changes to the base rate. 
   • Each award selected will likely have multiple pages of classifications. 
   • You can edit these values in CSV format if you prefer by selecting Use CSV Import.
     
      Please note: The CSV download will not reflect any manual edits that you have already made.

3. Update Rate Overrides if you have any.

   • These will be denoted by a yellow Override badge with an edit icon next to the relevant classification.
   • A red exclamation circle will show on overridden rates that have fallen below the base rate. Please edit and adjust these to be in line with the award rate or above.

   

4. Scroll down to ensure you have selected and adjusted classification rates on all pages. Select Next once all classifications have been edited to match the pay guide.

If your business utilises any of the following features, they can be updated on the Rates Book menu. 

•  
  • Charge rates in rates books
  • Overridden rates in rates books
  • Charge rates for entitlements
  • Rates book templates

If you need to make edits to your rates books, it is recommended that you use the CSV Import/export option. This will allow you to edit your pay and charge rates relatively quickly.

 Warning: You can singularly edit rates or use the CSV option; however, you should choose one preferred method and continue with that method. If you've made some manual edits to the classification or rates books page, they won't be reflected if you export to do the CSV import/export.

To update rates in rates books templates and Operation rates books:

1. Select Use CSV Import and select Export CSV.
   
    

   

2. Edit the downloaded CSV file, updating your rates as required. Save the file. 

3. Select your file (or drag and drop it), then select 'Import CSV'.
   
    

   

  Please note: All items on this page can be edited manually if you prefer, but due to the volume of records you're likely to have, this is not the most efficient method.

The next 2 steps in the rate rise tool will detail all of the permanent and casual employees in your platform. These employees will be separated into 2 sections: 'On-award rate' (getting a base increase), and 'Above award rate' (employees currently still above award).

 

On-award rate vs Above award rate

Open the tabs using the down arrow to review the employees in each of the 2 sections:

• On award rate - Employees in this tab will be getting an increase as a result of the rate rise as the base increase has been applied.
  • Use the Display option to see the 'previous rate' and the 'increase amount'
  • This includes positions that were above the award but would fall below after the increased rate. 
• Above award rate - Employees in this tab are currently still paid above award (including the recent increase).
  • Please edit the rates for these employees, should you wish to pass along the new increase.

 

Key Information 

•  
  • Current and future positions will be listed and updated. 
  • Positions assigned to pending employees will also be listed and updated. 
  • In either section, if need be, you may edit an employee's rate and increase it. 
  • You cannot decrease a position rate to below the new minimum rate. 

As increases are not automatically applied to the above award employees, you may also wish to increase these employees by the rate increase or a lesser amount. This can be done by a manual per-employee amount or via CSV in bulk.

To edit the above award rate:
 

1. Select the down arrow in the Above award section.
2. Locate the employee you wish to increase and make the required changes in the editable rate field. Press enter or tab to see the change take effect. 
3. Review the Increase in the right-hand column. 
4. Make any more necessary edits, and select Next to move to the next section in the rate rise.

In the below example, we increase the existing above award rate of one of our employees Cheyne before continuing with the rate rise.

You'll now follow the same instructions on the next page to review your on-award and above-award casual employees.

  Hot tip: A warning advising not to change position data will now display on the employee card of any employees with positions included in a scheduled rate rise. After the rate rise takes effect, this warning will no longer appear.

The last step of the rate rise is to update your allowances. Please ensure that you address the allowances in all tabs.

The allowances you may need to increase include:

•  
  • Award Allowances
  • Shift Penalties
  • Meal Allowances
  • Profile Allowances

You can see the number of allowances to update or check in each section, denoted by the blue number next to the down arrow. 

Like the rates books, these can be updated manually but due to the potentially high volume of allowances (especially shift penalties and meal allowances), it is recommended to use the CSV Import.

To do so: 

1. Select Use CSV Import and select Export CSV.
2. Edit the downloaded CSV file, updating your rates as required. Save the file. 
3. Select your file (or drag & drop) then select Import CSV.
4. Select Finish rate rise to complete your rate rise.

After updating allowances and selecting Finish rate rise, the rate rise will be set in a pending state. Depending on when you started the rate rise and the options you selected at the start will determine when the rate rise will process. 

Once the rate rise has been processed, your awards, rates books, rates book templates, timesheets, and employee positions will all be updated from the start of the selected pay period. 

You can review all of your rate rises, scheduled or incomplete. You can also edit or delete rate rises that have not yet been processed.

From the main menu, select Payroll Settings > Rate Rise. Here you will see all of your rate rises.

• Any unprocessed rate rises may be edited if need be. If you need to go edit any step, all future steps will need to be completed again.
  • For example, if you edit the classifications step, the rates books, employee tabs, and allowances will need to be re-completed. 
• If editing a rate rise that has a process date in the past, you will need to go back to the first step and reset the date. 
• You can also delete any unprocessed rate rises if needed, using the delete icon.
• If you add a new rate rise, please note that any awards included in a pending rate rise will not be available for the new rate rise.

Why does the system allow me to enter a 0% base rate rise, and how is this useful for me?

In previous years, the ‘Base rise percentage’ field in the rate rise tool needed a value above 0% to proceed with the rate rise process. Consequently, some customers previously made a 0.01% rate increase to fix errors. This 0.01% is no longer necessary, as the system now accepts a 0% increase.

Depending on the situation, re-entering the rate rise process with a 0% increase can be a useful solution to fix some rate rise errors.

• Performing the rate rise and forgetting to update allowances in step 6. Using the 0% method will allow you to start a new rate rise (with a 0% increase) and progress to Step 6 to update allowances before your next pay run.
• Performing the rate rise and then wanting to subsequently update a few more positions.

We suggest that in all circumstances you reach out to our helpful Support team prior to using this method to ensure its a viable to solution to the issue you are experiencing.

I have just employed some people and need to roster them for tomorrow. Can I do this with a pending rate rise?

There are 2 options here.

1. Add the person and their position before you commence the rate rise.
2. Add the person and their position after the rate rise has been processed.

New positions added during a pending rate rise will not be included in the rate rise.

What will happen to the shifts I have rostered? Do I need to hold off approving shifts until the rate rise is done?

The rate rise tool will handle all of this.

You can continue rostering & approving shifts without concern. The rate rise tool will update any shifts/timesheets for the correct period with the correct new rate.

Can the rate rise tool be used for an enterprise agreement?

Absolutely!
The rate rise tool can be used to increase the rates for any of the award configurations you may have set up. We use the term 'award' most commonly throughout the platform and in our communication but it extends to Enterprise Agreements, salaried positions, or any other type of custom arrangement.

Will the rate rise tool allow me to see and potentially increase above-award positions?

Yes, in the permanent and casual steps in the rate rise tool, you'll see a section for Above-award employees. These employees will not automatically have an increase applied, but you can increase them if you wish.

If you'd like to apply an increase to an Above-award employee, this can be done:

1. Singularly - By updating the 'edit' column next to that employee.
2. In Bulk- By using the CSV export/import option.

My employee says their new rate is wrong - What should I do?

Follow the below instructions.

1. Check the employee's payslip to confirm the rate that they were paid.
2. Check the Pay Guide to ensure that the rate paid to the employee is correct.
3. If you can't work out what is wrong or how to fix it, note down everything and provide us all the details.