We’re so excited to step into the new year with you and to see this community growing — slowly, intentionally, and with the right people. Thank you all for your patience over the past few months as we’ve been working out how to best shape and nurture this space. Even though the community has been live for a little while now, there’s still so much to learn — and we’re grateful to be building it with you, not just for you. What’s coming next:Starting next week, we’ll be locking in monthly community calls, held on Fridays at 12pm, based on everyone’s preferences around timing and availability. These sessions will be a space to connect, share, sense-check, and learn together. ✨ Start of 2026 promotion:To kick off the year, if you refer or invite a new HR professional to join the HR Lounge, we’ll send you a $20 Amazon voucher as a thank you. 👉 All you need to do is ask them to message me when they join and let me know they were referred by you. We have some exciting speakers lined up this year, and we want to make sure this space continues to be valuable, supportive, and worth showing up for. This community is about growing together — so if you have ideas, feedback, or things you’d love to see more (or less) of, please let us know. Here’s to another great year together in the HR world 🤍

Hey everyone! 👋💛 It’s been a few months since we kicked off our Coffee Catch-Ups and Monthly Connects, and I just wanted to say how much I’ve loved seeing this little community grow. The insights, the questions, the shared experiences — it’s honestly been so valuable, and I’d love to keep building on that. Thank you to everyone who has been posting, commenting and keeping the community engaged! I know we’re heading into a very busy time of year, but I’m wondering if we can lock in one more Catch-Up before things get too chaotic. A lot of you have mentioned that Friday lunches can be tricky with work commitments, so I’d really like to find a time that suits more of you. I’m going to put up a poll — super simple — just to understand what works best: ✨ What day works for you? Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday ✨ What time works for you? – Before work – After work (thinking something light like 4pm or 5–5:30pm) – 12/1pm lunch time The goal is to get as many of you on the call as possible so we can keep learning from each other, connecting, and supporting one another in the whirlwind that is HR and corporate life. 🙌 Thanks so much, everyone — can’t wait to see what works best for the group so we can lock it in! 💬☕

Okay HR fam — this one’s a big deal and it’s already shaking up how employers handle annualised or “set-off” salaries. The Federal Court has recently ruled that you can’t rely on overpaying someone in one pay period to fix an underpayment in another — unless the award or the pay arrangement specifically allows it. This came out of the Woolworths and Coles case (Sept 2025), where the Court made it crystal clear: 💬 “An overpayment in pay period A cannot be used to excuse an underpayment in pay period B.” So, if you’ve been using an “above-award” salary to cover overtime or penalty rates across a longer period — that might no longer cut it. ⚖️ What the Court said: - Award entitlements have to be identifiable and paid within each pay period. - You can’t “pool” or “average out” wages unless the award allows it. - Section 323 of the Fair Work Act requires wages to be paid in the period they’re earned. 🚨 Why this matters: This decision ramps up the compliance burden for anyone using annualised salaries. It means employers must be able to prove — for every single pay period — that all entitlements were met. If they can’t? That’s where underpayments start adding up fast. For Woolies and Coles, remediation is estimated in the hundreds of millions. So now I’m curious — Do you think this decision will push more employers to ditch annualised salaries altogether? Or will it finally push businesses to get serious about payroll accuracy and record-keeping? Drop your thoughts below 👇 Would love to hear how your organisations or clients are approaching this after the ruling.

Hi HR Folks A question: what is your company’s approach to company-paid parental leave? Specifically: do you offer over-and-above (paid separately to gov’t Paid Parental Leave) or top-up (tops up the government payment to a higher rate)? If you offer either, how do you manage it in payroll especially if you are doing top ups ? Thank you.

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