How do I model a roster to meet EBA regulations?

Managing roster compliance is essential to ensuring your organisation adheres to Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (EBAs) and standard award rules. Platform for Care allows you to model rosters that automatically align with specific employee roles, classifications, and mandatory requirements to maintain legal and operational standards.

1. Set Up Compliant Employee Roles

To ensure your roster models meet regulations, you must first link employee roles to the correct award and set of rules.

1. Navigate to Employee Roles: Go to Admin in the main menu and select Employee Roles.
2. Define the Role: Click Add New Role. Enter the Role name and select the applicable Award.
3. Assign Mandatory Requirements: Select the Service Type this role applies to and choose the necessary skills.
4. Enforce Compliance: Determine if specific documents (e.g., Police Check, First Aid) are mandatory or optional for the role. If a document is mandatory, the system will prevent uncertified staff from being rostered to that shift.
5. Save the Configuration: Press Save.

2. Model the Roster with Award Matching

Once roles are defined, you can build a compliant schedule using service templates or manual shift entry.

1. Access the Roster: Select Rosters from the menu and choose your specific service type (Individual, Group, Accommodation, or Workforce).
2. Add a Shift: Click Select Action and choose Add Shift.
3. Match Role and Shift Type: Select the required Role for the shift. Ensure the Shift Type (e.g., Ordinary, Afternoon, Sleepover) matches the award requirements.
   • Note: Use the Sleepover shift type only when linked to specific allowances to avoid hourly pay discrepancies.
4. Verify Staff Suitability: When assigning an employee, the system will only display staff who are approved for the service, have the correct role, and possess valid mandatory documents.

3. Utilise Role Tagging for Flexibility

If your organisation is transitioning between awards or has one role covered by two different rule sets, use Role Tagging to maintain roster flexibility without breaking compliance.

• Logic: Tagging allows two distinct roles (e.g., "Support Worker" and "Support Worker - NEW") to be assigned to the same shift.
• Outcome: This ensures the correct EBA rules are interpreted and applied to each staff member while the shift remains filled.

Troubleshooting Compliant Rostering

If you cannot assign a worker to a modelled shift, check the following:

• Mandatory Documents: Ensure the worker's required documents haven't expired.
• Award/Role Alignment: Verify the worker has the specific role assigned in their profile under the Role tab.
• Availability: Confirm the worker is marked as Available during the modelled shift times.