Supported Wage System Explanation

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Supported Wage SystemExplanation

• Phil Tuckerman
• ACCI Disability Employment National Conference
  26/9/2006

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What is a Supported Wage?

• The Supported Wage System provides a way of
  calculating sub-award wages based on productivity
• The System operates within the normal industrial
  relations framework

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• The percentage of productivity applies to the
  wage rate only. All other employment conditions
  should apply according to the relevant award or
  enterprise agreement although payment of some
  conditions such as annual leave will be at the
  productivity-based wage rate

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Pre-assessment checks

• Letter received from the Supported Wage
  Management Unit (SWMU) confirming the worker with
  a disability is eligible for a supported wage.
• That is
• Australian resident or citizen
• Meets eligibility criteria for the
  Disability Support Pension

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• There is an appropriate match between the
  individual and the job (eg participant skills,
  interests and job preferences have been
  considered)

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• Any necessary reasonable adjustments have been
  completed within the work environment to lessen
  the impact of the disability (eg, changes in task
  allocation, physical environment or job design to
  maintain or improve productivity)

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• Training has been provided as necessary to enable
  the person to reach a reasonably stable level of
  job performance

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• An award level of job performance appears not to
  have been achieved so far on the job and is
  unlikely in the short term

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Key Assessment Steps

• Identify the major duties /tasks and briefly
  describe these
• Determine the appropriate classification for the
  position in the relevant award or agreement

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• Determine the productivity standard for each
  duty/ task required for co-workers entitled to
  receive the award rate of pay
• The calculation is based on productivity with an
  acceptable quality expected
• Typically a co-worker is timed on each duty. The
  co-worker selected should reflect the basic level
  of performance expected from an acceptable award
  wage worker
• Co-workers timed over short periods may overstate
  the rate that can be sustained over time

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• It is often necessary to specify the time of day
  or other conditions (eg, cafeteria is half full)
  when timing work rate as well as when timing
  should begin and end

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• Determine the SWS workers productivity for each
  duty/task.
• The conditions used for timing the SWS worker
  should be the same as for the co-worker. (ie,
  acceptable quality, appropriate timing duration,
  and same time of day and conditions)

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• Calculate the SWS workers relative productivity
  on each duty/task

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• Establish the proportion of time spent by the SWS
  worker on each duty/task

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• Calculate the weighted productivity for the SWS
  worker

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• Round the weighted productivity
• The 73 weighted productivity is rounded up to
  80 or down to 70
• The rounding is typically to the nearest 10 but
  can be done by agreement (eg, down to 70 because
  of high supervision needs or up to 80 because
  the worker has stabilised a high-turnover
  position

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Other considerations

• Supported Wages cant fall below a minimum
• Supported Wages are typically renewed annually
  but can be reviewed more frequently if
  appropriate (eg, if duties change)
• The Supported Wage assessment sets a minimum.
  Nothing prevents the employer paying more