Equal Remuneration Project

Communiqué No. 8 – Responses Due Wednesday

Salary Census 2012 due WednesdayWe are now in the final week of the Salary Census, with completed responses required by 5pm this Wednesday. We have been receiving a steady flow of Census responses in the last week, and the standard of the data has generally been very good.There are still around 170 responses that we are expecting to receive this week. If you have not submitted a response by close of business today we will be sending a specific reminder out to your organisation.

Do you have to complete a Census?As we have mentioned in these communiqués and the information sessions, the Salary Census is not optional for those organisations who require a funding increase to support the Equal Remuneration Order (ERO). To clarify, all staff employed under the SCHADS SACS employees component of the Modern Award are covered under the ERO.If we do not receive a Census response from your organisation, you will not be receiving additional funding

to support these salary increases in this financial year. It also means that we will not have your information to include in the submission to Government around the required funding levels, which will impact the future allocations of additional funds.If you are having issues meeting the deadline you need to contact the Project Manager (Kylie Dunn on 6233 4054) or your Tasmanian Government contract manager to discuss the issues.

If you do not have to complete a CensusIf you believe that you do not have to complete the Salary Census because you pay staff under a different award or a collective agreement of some kind, please let us know. It will help us identify which organisations need to be followed up this week. If you do not need to complete the Salary Census for a funding increase we would really appreciate if you could take the time to complete the Supplementary Questions. This is particularly important for the workforce profile question, since we may end up with significant gaps from the process.

5 August 2012

Accessing the Salary Census documentsIf you have not already done so, you can download all of the required documents from the Salary Census page on the DHHS website. The documents you will need are the: Salary Census Data Collection Tool Salary Census Data Guide Salary Census Scenario We are also encouraging you to read the Frequently Asked Questions page as there have been some great clarification questions asked in the information sessions.

Further supportA reminder about the support that is available during the Census. As mentioned there is the project website, particularly the regularly updated frequently asked questions page.The second point of contact is your Contract Manager within DHHS, or the Agency that funds you. Since they have an understanding of your organisation they are the best people to ask about how the question applies to you.If you cannot get in contact with your contract manager, the TasCOSS Industry Development Unit is available to answer questions during the Census period. Please call Dale Rahmanovic

on 6231 0755 or 0419 557 854. Or you can of course talk to your own Peak body.As a final option you can contact the Project Manager, Kylie Dunn, on 6233 4054. Please note that Kylie is running the information sessions so she will not be in the office until Wednesday.

Salary Census SubmissionsOrganisations are required to complete the Salary Census and submit it to Disability, Housing and Community Services (DHCS) by 5pm Wednesday 8 August. Submissions must be sent by email to dhcs@dhhs.tas.gov.au. You can also send it by mail if you have limited email access:Kylie Dunn Disability, Housing and Community ServiceGPO Box 125Hobart TAS 7001It is vital that all organisations employing staff under the SCHADS Modern Award complete the Salary Census, as your funding increase will be based around the information you provide.

What happens next?As outlined in the Project Overview Fact Sheet, the next step in the process is for DHHS to analyse all of the responses. This will include a

process of benchmarking organisations by size and service type so we can identify whether there are any responses that need to be audited.We will continue to communicate with you throughout the remainder of this project so that you know where we are in the process, and when you can expect to know the funding increase that will be provided to your organisation.Regards,

Mercia BresnehanEqual Remuneration Steering Committee ChairDeputy Secretary - Disability, Housing and Community Services