Best Labour Hire Software in Australia: Workforce Management, Rostering & Compliance Guide
Choosing the best labour hire software in Australia is about more than finding a system that can create employee rosters. Labour hire businesses need to manage workers, qualifications, compliance requirements, customer sites, attendance, timesheets, payroll and billing — often across many locations at the same time.
The right labour hire workforce management software can bring these processes together in one platform, reducing manual administration and giving managers better visibility over their workforce.
Quick Answer: What Is the Best Labour Hire Software in Australia?
The best labour hire software should help businesses manage the complete workforce lifecycle — from worker compliance and rostering through to time and attendance, timesheets, payroll and customer billing.
For Australian labour hire businesses, important capabilities include:
- Online employee rostering
- Worker availability management
- Licence and certificate tracking
- Role and site compliance
- GPS and geofencing
- Mobile time and attendance
- Digital timesheets
- Payroll integration
- Award and pay-rate management
- Customer billing
- Multi-site workforce management
- Workforce reporting
ClickTime combines these capabilities in an all-in-one workforce management platform designed for Australian businesses managing employees across different roles, customers and locations.
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What Is the Best Labour Hire Software in Australia?
The best labour hire software in Australia is a workforce management platform that helps businesses manage the complete process of supplying and managing workers — from worker compliance and rostering through to time and attendance, timesheets, payroll and customer billing.
Rather than using separate spreadsheets and systems for each process, a comprehensive labour hire platform connects these functions in one place.
What Should the Best Labour Hire Software Include?
When comparing labour hire software, businesses should look for a platform that provides the following capabilities:
| Capability | What it helps manage |
|---|---|
| Employee management | Worker information, roles and employment details |
| Compliance management | Licences, certificates, qualifications and expiry dates |
| Role & site requirements | Different requirements for different jobs, roles and locations |
| Employee availability | Availability, leave and scheduling conflicts |
| Rostering | Shifts, workers, roles, customers and job sites |
| GPS & geofencing | Employee arrival and departure at authorised work locations |
| Time & attendance | Actual hours worked and attendance records |
| Digital timesheets | Recording, reviewing and approving employee hours |
| Payroll integration | Sending approved workforce information to payroll |
| Pay-rate management | Different rates, overtime and penalty conditions |
| Customer billing | Charging customers based on hours, roles, sites and rates |
| Mobile workforce management | Employees accessing rosters, attendance and other functions from their phones |
| Reporting | Workforce, attendance, payroll and operational visibility |
Why These Features Matter
Labour hire businesses have a connected operational workflow.
A worker needs to meet the requirements of a particular job before they are rostered. Once rostered, their attendance needs to be recorded. Their actual hours then need to be reviewed and approved before they can be used for payroll and customer billing.
A comprehensive workforce management system connects these steps:
Worker → Compliance → Roster → Job Site → Attendance → Timesheet → Payroll → Customer Billing
This is what separates a comprehensive labour hire workforce management platform from a basic employee scheduling or payroll application.
For Australian labour hire businesses, the best solution is therefore not necessarily the platform with the largest number of features. It is the platform that best connects the processes the business actually needs to manage its workforce efficiently and accurately.
ClickTime combines these core workforce management capabilities, including rostering, compliance, GPS and geofencing, time and attendance, digital timesheets, payroll integrations and customer billing.
Employee Rostering for Labour Hire
Rostering is one of the most important functions of labour hire workforce management software.
Labour hire companies may need to schedule hundreds of shifts across multiple customers, roles and locations. Managing this information through spreadsheets, emails or separate systems can become difficult as the workforce grows.
A good labour hire rostering system should make it easy to:
- Create and publish shifts
- Assign employees to specific roles and locations
- Manage recurring shifts
- Check employee availability
- Manage leave
- Identify roster conflicts
- Replace unavailable workers
- Notify employees about roster changes
- Track roster history
ClickTime provides online rostering tools that help businesses manage employee availability, recurring shifts, shift publishing, shift acceptance, roster conflicts and replacement workers.
This gives managers a central view of where employees are scheduled to work and helps reduce the administration involved in managing changing rosters.
Worker Compliance and Certificate Management
Compliance is particularly important for labour hire businesses because different workers, roles, customers and job sites can have different requirements.
A worker may need a particular:
- Licence
- Certificate
- Qualification
- Training record
- Site induction
- Compliance document
The best labour hire software should allow businesses to maintain these records, monitor expiry dates and identify potential compliance issues before a worker is assigned to a job.
ClickTime provides workforce compliance tools for managing certificates, licences, qualifications and expiry dates. Businesses can also apply different requirements according to roles, departments and locations.
This provides greater visibility over which workers meet the requirements for particular jobs and which compliance records require attention.
Labour hire businesses should also consider the employment and workplace obligations that apply to their workers and industry. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s labour hire and supply chains guidance provides information about the responsibilities of labour hire employers and host employers.
Labour hire licensing requirements can vary between Australian states and territories. Businesses should check the requirements that apply in the jurisdictions where they operate. For example, the NSW Government provides information about the current labour hire regulatory position in New South Wales.
Match the Right Worker to the Right Job
A worker being available does not necessarily mean they are suitable for a particular shift.
When allocating workers, labour hire businesses may need to consider:
- Availability
- Role or position
- Qualifications
- Certifications
- Customer requirements
- Site requirements
- Existing roster commitments
- Compliance status
The best labour hire software should make it easier for managers to consider these factors when assigning workers.
For example, a worker may be available for a shift but not have the required certification for the customer or site.
Connecting worker information, compliance requirements and rostering helps businesses make better-informed staffing decisions and reduce the risk of assigning an unsuitable worker.
GPS and Geofencing for Labour Hire Time and Attendance
For businesses with employees working at customer locations, knowing that a worker was rostered for a shift is different from knowing that they actually arrived at the work site.
GPS and geofencing can provide an additional layer of visibility.
A geofence is a virtual geographic boundary created around a physical location. When an employee enters or leaves an authorised work location, a workforce management system can use that event as part of the employee’s attendance record.
ClickTime uses GPS and geofencing to help automate employee time and attendance at configured job sites.
This can help businesses create more consistent attendance records without requiring employees to manually enter every arrival and departure time.
GPS-based attendance can be particularly useful for labour hire businesses where employees work across multiple customer locations.
Businesses using GPS and location-based workforce technology should also consider their privacy and employee information obligations. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) provides guidance on privacy and employment records
Labour hire licensing requirements can vary between Australian states and territories. Businesses should check the requirements that apply in the jurisdictions where they operate. For example, the NSW Government provides information about the current labour hire regulatory position in New South Wales.
Digital Labour Hire Timesheets
Timesheets are a critical part of the labour hire process.
Timesheets are a critical part of the labour hire process.
The hours recorded by an employee can affect:
- Employee pay
- Overtime
- Penalty rates
- Customer charges
- Payroll
- Invoicing
Paper timesheets and manually maintained spreadsheets can create additional administration and make it harder to identify discrepancies.
Digital timesheets allow employees to record working hours electronically while giving supervisors and managers the ability to review and approve those hours.
ClickTime provides digital timesheet functionality that allows businesses to manage, review and approve employee hours.
When timesheets are connected with roster and attendance information, managers can compare scheduled shifts with actual hours worked before approving the timesheet.
This creates a more structured workflow:
Roster → Attendance → Timesheet → Approval
Payroll Integration
Once employee hours have been reviewed and approved, the next step is payroll.
Manually transferring hours from spreadsheets or timesheets into payroll can create duplicate data entry and increase the risk of errors.
The best labour hire software should integrate with the payroll systems already used by the business.
ClickTime supports payroll integrations including Xero, MYOB and KeyPay, allowing approved workforce information to be transferred into payroll rather than manually re-entered.
This creates a more connected process:
Roster → Time & Attendance → Approved Timesheet → Payroll
Reducing duplicate data entry can save administrative time and help businesses maintain more consistent payroll records.
Pay Rates, Overtime and Award Rules
Labour hire payroll can become complicated when different workers have different pay arrangements.
Pay calculations may include:
- Base rates
- Overtime
- Penalty rates
- Weekend rates
- Public holiday rates
- Break deductions
- Different rates for different roles
- Different rates for different shifts
The best labour hire software should provide enough flexibility to manage the pay rules relevant to the business.
ClickTime provides configurable pay templates and payroll functionality designed to support different working hours, penalty rates, overtime and other pay conditions.
This can help businesses reduce manual calculations and provide a more consistent process for preparing employee payroll information.
Businesses should still ensure their payroll configuration reflects their applicable employment arrangements, awards and workplace obligations.
Pay calculations may include base rates, overtime, penalty rates, weekend rates and public holiday rates. The applicable requirements can depend on the relevant award, enterprise agreement and employment arrangements. The Fair Work Ombudsman provides guidance on public holiday penalty rates and workplace pay and conditions.
Customer Billing for Labour Hire
Payroll is only one side of the labour hire process.
The business also needs to charge customers for the services and hours provided.
Customer billing can become complicated when different customers have different rates and billing rules.
For example, billing may depend on:
- Customer
- Service location
- Worker role
- Day of the week
- Time of day
- Saturday rates
- Sunday rates
- Public holiday rates
- Special customer rates
The best labour hire software should allow businesses to configure billing rules according to their customer agreements.
ClickTime provides workforce billing functionality that allows businesses to manage billing structures based on factors such as customer, site, role and time.
This helps connect actual worked hours with customer billing.
The workflow can become:
Worker → Shift → Attendance → Approved Timesheet → Customer Billing
This can also help reduce billing disputes caused by incomplete or inaccurate timesheets.
Manage Multiple Customers and Job Sites
Labour hire businesses rarely operate from a single location.
A business may supply workers to:
- Construction sites
- Warehouses
- Manufacturing facilities
- Commercial buildings
- Retail locations
- Security sites
- Cleaning sites
- Industrial facilities
Each customer and location may have different workforce requirements.
A workforce management system should therefore allow businesses to manage employees, rosters, compliance and attendance across multiple customers and job sites.
ClickTime is designed for businesses managing employees across multiple customers and locations.
By keeping customer and site information connected to workforce operations, managers can gain a clearer view of where employees are scheduled and what requirements apply to each location.
Employee Availability and Leave Management
Rostering becomes easier when managers can see employee availability before assigning shifts.
Without a central availability system, managers may need to contact employees individually or maintain separate spreadsheets.
A workforce management platform can provide visibility into:
- Employee availability
- Leave requests
- Approved leave
- Existing shifts
- Scheduling conflicts
- Availability changes
ClickTime allows employees to submit leave requests through the mobile app while managers can review availability and leave information when planning rosters.
This can help reduce scheduling conflicts and make it easier to identify available workers when a shift becomes vacant.
Digital Forms and Workforce Documentation
Labour hire businesses may also need employees to complete forms, declarations, inspections or other workplace documentation.
Digital forms can replace paper-based processes and allow information to be submitted directly through a mobile device.
Depending on the business requirements, forms can be used for:
- Workplace inspections
- Safety checks
- Incident reporting
- Employee declarations
- Site checks
- Customer-specific forms
- Operational records
ClickTime provides digital forms that can be configured for different workforce and operational requirements.
Keeping these processes within the same workforce management environment can make it easier for managers to access information associated with employees, sites and daily operations.
Workforce Reporting and Visibility
Labour hire managers need more than a list of employees and shifts.
Useful reporting can help answer questions such as:
- How many hours were worked?
- Which customers are using the most labour?
- Which sites are generating the most hours?
- Which workers are absent?
- Which certificates are expiring?
- Which shifts remain unfilled?
- What are labour costs by site?
- What are labour costs by role?
- How many hours have been approved?
The best labour hire software should provide reporting that turns workforce information into useful operational data.
ClickTime provides workforce reporting and dashboard functionality that can help businesses monitor workforce activity, attendance, payroll information and operational performance.
14. What Makes ClickTime Different?
Many businesses use separate systems for rostering, employee compliance, time tracking, timesheets, payroll and billing.
The problem is that information then needs to be transferred between those systems.
ClickTime takes a connected approach to workforce management.
For a labour hire business, the workflow can be managed as:
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Frequently Asked Questions
Labour hire workforce management software helps businesses manage workers, rosters, compliance, job sites, time and attendance, timesheets, payroll and client billing from one system.
Yes. Workforce management software can maintain worker qualifications, licences and certificates and help businesses identify whether workers meet the requirements of particular roles, clients or job sites.
Yes. Labour hire rostering software allows businesses to allocate workers to specific shifts, roles, dates and locations while giving managers a central view of their workforce schedule.
GPS can be used for time and attendance purposes, such as recording when an employee arrives at or leaves an authorized work location. With geofencing, businesses can create virtual boundaries around job sites to help automate attendance events.
Yes. ClickTime can help businesses manage certificates, qualifications and other workforce compliance requirements, including requirements associated with particular roles or work locations.
Yes. ClickTime supports payroll integrations including Xero and MYOB, helping businesses transfer approved workforce information into their payroll processes.
Yes. Workforce management software can connect employee work hours with customer billing rules, including different rates based on roles, locations, days and times.
Yes. ClickTime is designed for Australian businesses managing employees across different roles, customers and locations, with features for rostering, compliance, GPS time and attendance, timesheets, payroll and billing.
Payroll software primarily focuses on calculating and processing employee pay. Labour hire workforce management software manages the operational processes before payroll, including rostering, worker compliance, attendance and timesheets, and can then connect approved information with payroll.
Consider the software’s rostering, compliance, GPS and geofencing, timesheet, payroll, billing, reporting and mobile capabilities. It is also important to consider whether the system can support multiple clients, roles and job sites as your business grows.
