How to hire casual employees in Australia (2026 guide)

If you run a business where the workload changes from week to week, or you have periods during the year where demand is a lot higher, then you’re probably hiring casual employees to help you manage. 

By hiring casuals, you can scale your workforce up and down, adding flexibility to your business when it’s needed most. However, there are a few considerations when hiring casual employees. 

In 2026, it’s critical to be compliant, with changes in both hiring technology and employment law shifting the landscape. The rise of AI-powered hiring platforms can help you find and manage casual staff more efficiently, whether you’re looking for one or many new casual employees. Still, speed shouldn’t mean that legal essentials are missed.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through what a casual employee is, what you need to include in casual employee agreements, pay, tax and leave obligations and how to onboard casual employees effectively. 

Download the guide by filling in the form on the right.

What is a casual employee in Australia?

A person can be a casual employee if they meet both of the following criteria:

• Their employment relationship with the employer has no firm advance commitment to ongoing work, and
• They’re entitled to a casual loading or specific casual pay rate under an award, registered agreement or employment contract.

This differs from full-time or part-time employees, who have a firm advance commitment to ongoing employment, are entitled to paid leave and must give or receive notice to end their employment. Casual employees also only work when their employer asks (and the employee agrees). 

Common types of casual employment include:

• Christmas casuals
• Seasonal farm workers
• Project-specific hires 

While casual employment is common in service industries, many different industries may get a lot out of hiring casual employees. 

What to include in casual employment contracts 

Most employees are covered by the national workplace relations system, which means they get their minimum entitlements from:

• The National Employment Standards (NES)
• An award or enterprise agreement
• The Fair Work Act

An employment contract can’t remove or provide for less than these entitlements. However, a contract can provide one central document that includes everything that applies to that employee, as well as any additional entitlements chosen by the employer. 

As well as the NES entitlements for casual employees, an employment contract should include the following: 

• The full name and contact details of both yourself (the employer) and your new employee
• Job title
• Details of your business location and a commencement date
• A detailed explanation of the role
• Who your new employee will report to, and what decisions can they make autonomously
• Agreed remuneration and notice of termination requirements

To make things easier for small-to-medium enterprises, Employment Hero has customisable contracts and policies within our platform to help you manage employee setup and compliance. Find out more about our employee management software and book a demo. 

Are casual employees entitled to leave in Australia?

Casual employees aren’t entitled to most types of paid leave. However, under the National Employment Standards, they can get:

• 2 days unpaid carer’s leave per occasion
• 2 days unpaid compassionate leave per occasion
• 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave per year
• Unpaid community service leave

Casual employees are also entitled to paid long service leave.

They can also request flexible working arrangements and take unpaid parental leave, provided they have been employed by their employer on a regular basis over a minimum of 12 months and that they can reasonably expect that to continue. 

Pay and tax obligations for casual staff

Casual employees must be paid a specific pay rate and a casual loading (usually 25% on top of the relevant minimum wage). This is usually defined by their award of agreement. If they’re an award or agreement free employee, the employer should go by the national minimum wage. 

Employers do need to pay tax for casual employees. Under the super guarantee, employers also have to pay super contributions of 12% of a casual employee’s ordinary time earnings.

Step-by-step: Hiring a casual employee

Ready to hire casual employees to boost your workforce’s capabilities? Here’s a guide to help you find that next rockstar casual.

1. Create a job ad

First, you’ll need to outline exactly who you’re looking for in your job ad. You should clearly outline the skills and experience you’re looking for, as well as the nature of the casual position (e.g. what hours are available and when you expect them to work).

2. Shortlist applicants

Once the CVs have rolled in, it’s time to decide who you want to interview. Look for the skills needed for the position and assess cultural fit. From there, decide how many people you want to interview. 

A good rule of thumb is to interview 5-10 people for a role but this’ll depend on how many quality applicants come through.

3. Conduct interviews

Next up is interviews. If you need help with knowing what to ask job-seekers, catch up on our recent webinar, ‘Hire Like A Hero’. Having effective questions can make it easier to compare candidates, while making the process fair.

4. Manage compliance

Decided who you’re going to hire? Now it’s time to put together the employment contract. 

You’ll need to include the details mentioned above, including pay and leave entitlements, as well as clearly defining the nature of the casual working arrangement. This can help prevent any legal issues down the line.

You will also need to provide new casual employees with copies of the Fair Work Information Statement and the Casual Employment Information Statement.

5. Onboard your hires

Finally, it’s time to onboard your new hire. This is the exciting part, as all your hard work can start to make a real difference to the business. The work doesn’t end here though. Regular check-ins with your new hires can make all the difference.

Looking to make life easier? Our AI-powered hiring software can help you find, shortlist and assess candidates with ease, so you can focus on interviewing the right people. When things get busy and you need to scale up your workforce fast, our software is here to help. 

Onboarding casual employees with confidence

Ready to onboard your casual employees? Having a proper workplace orientation in place, as well as an initial training schedule, can help you start things off on the right foot.

Their orientation should cover any access to tools, workplace policies and an introduction to the team(s) they’ll work with in your business. This is also a great time to share your company’s mission and values, so they feel included from day one.

If you’re looking to improve your onboarding experience, then robust onboarding software can help. Our onboarding software is designed to help your casual employees hit the ground running from day one, rather than feeling overwhelmed. 

Managing casual staff effectively

Looking to manage how you’re using your casual staff? Set expectations from the get-go. Explain how you’ll roster them on for shifts and how you’ll communicate with them, so they’re always informed of how they’re going. Employee management software can make this a lot simpler.

Like with any employee, you should look to provide ongoing support to your casual employees and conduct regular performance reviews. While they may work more inconsistently than a permanent employee, performance reviews can still help with their career development. 

If you’re looking for help with running your performance reviews, then we’ve put a template together that’s designed to help your employees get more out of their reviews. We’ve also put together a checklist so you can monitor their performance.

Remember that casual employees are also entitled to convert to permanent employment in certain circumstances after they have been working for you for a period of time. See our guidance on this here.

Ready to hire casual employees faster?

Now that you’ve learnt the ins and outs of hiring casual employees, it’s time to bolster your workforce. Here at Employment Hero, we can help you find, shortlist and assess candidates using our AI-hiring platform, to make life even easier.

Our platform is designed to save you time and help you manage compliance, so you can navigate your business’ busy season. Talk to our business specialists or download the “How to hire casual employees” guide today.

The information in this article is current as at 24 September 2025, and has been prepared by Employment Hero Pty Ltd (ABN 11 160 047 709) and its related bodies corporate (Employment Hero). The views expressed in this article are general information only, are provided in good faith to assist employers and their employees, and should not be relied on as professional advice. Some information is based on data supplied by third parties. While such data is believed to be accurate, it has not been independently verified and no warranties are given that it is complete, accurate, up to date or fit for the purpose for which it is required. Employment Hero does not accept responsibility for any inaccuracy in such data and is not liable for any loss or damages arising directly or indirectly as a result of reliance on, use of or inability to use any information provided in this article. You should undertake your own research and seek professional advice before making any decisions or relying on the information in this article.