Sasphire's experience in wage audits
With over 10 years of experience, Dean Tolkin shares how Sapphire’s deep understanding of modern awards across industries allows his firm to deliver more efficient, cost-effective audits—ensuring long-term compliance and helping businesses enhance their payroll practices.
About the speaker
Dean was shortlisted as a finalist in the Lawyers Weekly 30 under 30 Awards for Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety for three consecutive years (2017 – 2019) and was fortunate to have won this prestigious award in 2018. Dean was also recognised in 2018 in the Australian Law Awards as a finalist in the categories of Rising Star of the Year and Senior Associate of the Year and has been recognised as a leading employment law specialist.
Summary
With over 10 years of experience, Dean Tolkin shares how Sasphire has developed a deep understanding of modern awards across various industries, enabling the firm to conduct efficient, accurate, and cost-effective wage audits.
Wage audits are essential for businesses to ensure they are paying employees correctly, meeting Fair Work Australia compliance standards, and avoiding potential underpayment risks. With a proven track record, Sapphire helps businesses streamline payroll processes, minimise errors, and implement best practices for long-term compliance.
By leveraging industry expertise, Sasphire ensures that audits are not just about compliance but also about helping businesses improve payroll efficiency, reduce liabilities, and protect their reputation.
Key topics covered
- How Sasphire helps businesses navigate modern award complexities
- The importance of efficient, accurate, and cost-effective wage audits
- Identifying and addressing underpayment risks before they escalate
- How wage audits contribute to long-term payroll compliance
- Strategies to optimise payroll processes and reduce liabilities
Watch the full interview to learn how Sasphire’s expertise can help your business maintain payroll accuracy and compliance while improving efficiency.
Transcript
0:00
We've been doing audits for some time now. The firm's been going for just over 10 years. We have conducted audits throughout that entire time in a range of just different industries from hospitality to farming to financial services. So we're and we're across, you know, effectively all of the modern awards.
0:16
So we, I think, have a unique and uniquely placed in the market in that we've got very broad exposure to lots of different industries. We work with clients across all of those industries. We know the awards extremely well. We know how to classify employees properly. And as I say that's the that should be the starting point for any audit.
0:34
As I say, we try and deliver a value based pricing for clients in the way that we do these audits. And through our new offering, which is a technology enabled solution. We can provide these audits in a far more efficient and cost effective manner for employers and do so in a way that delivers greater outcomes for their business and greater successful, you know, in terms of achieving their their their objectives.
0:58
Rather than just looking at a very small isolated picture of the business and whether they have underpaid or whether they've overpaid, we look at we take a more holistic approach to ensuring that the contracts are correct, that they have improved payroll practises going forward.
1:15
For example, we've assisted a number of clients who were paying on a an hourly rates basis move towards an, an all up rate or an annualised rate of remuneration. And we've received feedback that that has plead the burden that was otherwise placed on their payroll teams, on their external accountants, etcetera.
1:32
We like to consider ourselves as partners of our clients. That's really the way in which we approach these audits. Rather than just being an isolated instruction. We do the work and we send the client on their way. We deliver that report and then we socialise those issues with the client and try and work out a way forward that is conducive to the client's needs.
