Workforce Australia Online for Businesses

Working with AXIS Employment can give your business access to wage subsidies of up to $10,000 for eligible placements, plus workplace modifications, training and ongoing post-placement support. To unlock those payments, you’ll need a registered Workforce Australia Online for Businesses account linked to your ABN.

This guide walks you through the whole process. If anything feels unfamiliar or you’d rather have someone sit with you through it, our consultants do this every week. Give us a call on 1800 811 622 and we’ll put you in touch with a consultant in your area to talk you through it.

What is Workforce Australia Online?

Workforce Australia Online for Businesses is a free Australian Government platform that any registered business can use to find staff, advertise vacancies, and manage wage subsidy agreements with employment providers like AXIS Employment.

Before you can claim a wage subsidy through us, three things need to be set up and connected:

1. A myID (your personal Digital ID)
2. Your business linked to that Digital ID through the Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM)
3. A registered Workforce Australia for Businesses account

Once those are in place, AXIS can send wage subsidy agreements straight through the platform for you to approve, and your payments flow through your account.

Who in your business should register?

This process needs to be completed by someone the Australian Business Register recognises as a principal authority for the business. That covers:

• A sole trader
• An eligible individual associate listed against the ABN, such as a director, public officer, partner, trustee, or office bearer of a club or association
• A primary person for businesses with no individual associates listed (for example, the director of a corporate trustee, the responsible person of a charity, the executor of a deceased estate after probate, or an office holder of an unincorporated association)

Your role needs to be on record with one of these registers:

• Australian Business Register (ABR)
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC)
• Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)

If you’re not the principal authority but you’ll be doing the day-to-day work, that’s fine. The principal authority just needs to authorise you in RAM first.

Registering with Workforce Australia

Three steps will get you set up. Allow yourself around 30 minutes if you have your ID documents ready.

Step 1: Set up your myID (Digital ID)

Your Digital ID is a personal verification, not a business one. Use a personal email address you’ll keep access to long term.

1. Download the myID app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store
2. Open the app and follow the prompts. You’ll be asked for your email, a password, your full name, and your date of birth
3. Choose Strong identity strength. This is the level required for Workforce Australia for Businesses

To reach Strong, you’ll need to verify two identity documents:

• Your Australian passport (current, or expired by less than three years), plus a quick selfie that’s compared to your passport photo. If you don’t have a passport, call the ATO on 1300 287 539 for alternative options
• One of: a citizenship certificate, driver’s licence or learner’s permit, or Medicare card (the Medicare option appears once you’ve verified one of the others)

When your Digital ID is verified, move on to Step 2.

Step 2: Link your business in RAM

The Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) is the bridge between your personal Digital ID and your business ABN. As a principal authority, you can do this yourself.

1. Log in to RAM using your new Digital ID
2. Select Link my business, tick the consent box, and continue. You’ll be redirected to the ATO so it can find your business
3. Enter the personal postal or residential address the ATO has on file for you
4. Enter your Australian Business Number (ABN) and pick the business or businesses you want to link
5. Provide an email address (it can be different from your Digital ID email) and enter the verification code that’s sent to it
6. On the Agency Access screen, select ‘Department of Employment and Workplace Relations’ and continue
7. Review the summary, tick the consent boxes, and submit. RAM will confirm the link

You can repeat the process to link additional businesses if needed.

Step 3: Register for Workforce Australia for Businesses

1. Head to the Workforce Australia for Businesses sign-in page
2. Select Continue with Digital ID and follow the prompts
3. Agree to the terms and conditions
4. Review and confirm your personal, business, and contact details

That’s it. Your account is registered, and you’re ready to receive wage subsidy agreements through AXIS Employment.

Setting up a wage subsidy agreement with AXIS

Once your Workforce Australia account is live, your AXIS consultant can negotiate a wage subsidy with you for an eligible employee. Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Talk to your AXIS consultant

Your consultant will go through the wage subsidy options with you, confirm eligibility for the employee, and agree on the terms. After that conversation, we’ll send you an email with a secure link. That link takes you to the wage subsidy management area inside your Workforce Australia account, where you’ll approve the agreement.

Step 2: Approve the agreement in Workforce Australia

Sign in to Workforce Australia using your Digital ID. If something needs your attention, you’ll see a red Urgent button on your dashboard. You can also find pending agreements in the Reminders section, or under Wage Subsidies in the account menu.

There are two parts to approve.

Part A. The head agreement
The head agreement sets the general terms and conditions of doing wage subsidy business with AXIS. You’ll only need to approve this once, the first time you take a wage subsidy through us. It’s worth reading carefully so you understand how payments work.

To approve a new head agreement: follow the link in our email, read and tick the terms and conditions, confirm your details, and click Approve. Approving the head agreement also approves the first agreement schedule attached to it.

Part B. The agreement schedule
An agreement schedule covers a specific employee. It includes their details, the agreed wage subsidy amount, and the payment frequency. Each new placement gets its own schedule.

To approve a new schedule: follow the link in our email, confirm your details, and click Approve.

Each agreement carries a status: awaiting approval, approved, or ended.

Claiming your wage subsidy payment

Your agreement schedule sets out when payments are made. AXIS may offer instalment payments through the placement, or a single payment at the end of the wage subsidy period, whichever works better for your business.

To receive a payment, you’ll need to:

• Tick the box confirming you’ve complied with the terms of the agreement
• Declare that the employee has worked the required hours over that wage subsidy period
• Send your AXIS consultant payslips or a payroll summary showing the hours worked and amounts paid

You can email payslips and payroll documents directly to your consultant. Once everything’s confirmed, the payment is processed.

Finding and managing your agreements

Everything sits in one place inside your Workforce Australia account. Sign in and head to Your wage subsidies. From there you can:

• Approve pending agreements
• Search across all your agreements (current and historical)
• Upload payslips and supporting documents
• Update your business details

You can hold agreements with more than one employment provider at a time, and they’ll all show up here. Use the filters on the head agreement screen to sort by provider or status, and on the schedule screen to filter by employee, status, or vacancy. Click Detail on any head agreement to see all of the schedules connected to it.

Quick tip: you can download and save any wage subsidy agreement using the View schedule agreement link.