Shift penalties
Workforce Management Glossary
Shift penalties
What are shift penalties?
Shift penalties, also known as penalty rates, are essentially a higher rate of pay that applies to employees who work certain hours during the early morning or evening and any time on public holidays or weekends.
Why are shift penalties instituted?
Shift penalties are essentially a form of compensation to workers who work outside traditional normal hours of pay. Working during the early hours of the morning or late at night can take a toll on a person and therefore compensation needs to be just.
Shift penalties are also used as an incentive in order to ensure that a business can remain staffed during public holidays such as Easter or on the weekends. By offering employees a higher rate of pay, workers are more likely to take on these shifts.
How do businesses enforce shift penalties?
Depending on the industry in which a business operates and therefore, the award they are under, employers may need to pay shift penalties to employees when working during these so-called untraditional hours.
Keeping track of which staff is working what hours can be quite a tedious process. With Roubler’s online staff rostering software, roster and attendance data is sent directly to payroll. With access to one source of truth, payroll can quickly and accurately action payslips.