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Creative Workplaces Foundations

Fair, safe and respectful creative work — a practical framework for creative businesses and organisations

Essentials

Record keeping essentials

Keeping records is not just good business practice — some records are required by law.

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Many creative projects involve different work arrangements, different agreements and different safety risks — it’s essential that you keep records of information and decisions.

Record keeping means keeping clear, accurate records of your work, payments and agreements, and storing them safely so you can access them later.

Clear and accurate records can help your organisation:

  • know if you’re meeting your obligations around pay and entitlements, safety, superannuation, use of intellectual property (IP) and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and other workplace responsibilities
  • have conversations with artists and arts workers about what was agreed, paid or reported
  • respond effectively when questions, concerns or disputes arise in the workplace
  • show regulators that you are complying with workplace laws and regulations.

Your records should be clear enough that someone else can understand them. Other people may have rights to access your records – such as your employees, the ATO and work health and safety regulators. This means your records need to be legible and accessible.

For First Nations employees, be mindful of when and how you collect and protect Indigenous Data. 

Employment records

It is essential to keep employment records for your employees.

Common employment records include:

  • the employee’s name and address
  • the type of employment arrangement e.g. casual employee
  • the employee’s pay
  • superannuation
  • working hours
  • leave arrangements
  • ending employment.

The exact employment records you need to keep will depend on the laws in your employment system. Your employment system refers to the set of workplace laws that apply to your business.

Tip:  Knowing your employment system is set out in our Essential: Know your workplace laws. 

Pay slips

It is essential to create and provide employees with a pay slip. A pay slip is a document that shows how much an employee has been paid and how that pay was calculated.

The exact information you need to include on a pay slip, how soon after payday you need to provide it, and how long you need to keep records for will depend on the laws in your employment system. 

Tip:  Knowing your employment system is one of our Essential: Know your workplace laws. 

Written employment contracts

Keeping a record of an employment contract can help minimise misunderstandings or disagreements with your employee, particularly when it comes to pay and employment conditions. 

Some awards and workplace agreements may require you to have a written employment contract, or to record certain terms of employment in writing. 

Learn more about employment offers and contracts

Records that support role clarity and accountability 

Keeping track of the work that your employees do beyond their formal role descriptions can help you:

  • recognise additional labour and
  • make sure it’s properly accounted for. 

For example, for First Nations employees, it can help you recognise recurring cultural mentoring, cultural advice, protocol guidance or community engagement. 

Keeping track can look like:

  • making sure you include the work in project plans
  • keeping meeting notes that document additional responsibilities
  • regularly checking in with your employees. 

All of this can help you see important work that might otherwise remain invisible. 

If the work becomes regular, your organisation needs to consider:

  • Should this be formally recognised in the position description?
  • Is the person’s current workload realistic?
  • Does their remuneration reflect these responsibilities? 

Keeping track can help you ensure that you are paying your employees fairly for this work, address workload issues and protect workers against overwork and burnout, and support conversations with employees about the work they do. 

For First Nations employees, be mindful of when and how you collect and protect Indigenous Data. 

Essential: Employment records

Know which employment system you're in. Follow the rules for that employment system.

Know which employment system you're in. Follow the rules for that employment system.

Need help working it out?

Learn about:

Independent contractor records

It is essential to keep certain records when you engage an independent contractor. You need these mainly to meet your tax and superannuation obligations (your responsibilities for reporting and paying tax and super).

Essential records include:

  • Amounts paid to an independent contractor
  • The independent contractor's ABN
  • Invoices you have received from an independent contractor  —  an invoice is a request for payment
  • Any Goods and Services Tax (GST) charged by the independent contractor — GST is a 10% tax that may be included if the independent contractor is registered for GST.

Written agreements and contracts

Having a written agreement is not a legal requirement — but we strongly recommend it. This is set out in our Essentials for hiring independent contractors.

If you have a written agreement, keep a copy as part of your records. 

It can be a valuable record if there is a dispute about contract terms, or whether the independent contractor is a genuine independent contractor and not an employee.

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and First Nations cultural authority

Where relevant, keep records of agreements relating to ICIP, cultural knowledges, permissions, licences or cultural protocols.

This may include records of permissions, licences, approvals, attribution requirements or agreed cultural protocols relating to the use, sharing or storage of First Nations cultural knowledges or cultural expressions.

Intellectual property (IP)

Independent contractors generally keep the intellectual property (IP) rights to their work.

If you want to use, share, sell or own the work created by an independent contractor, you need the independent contractor’s agreement – preferably in writing.

Tip:  Acquiring IP rights from an independent contractor may also mean you pay them a higher fee. 

Insurance

If you require an independent contractor to have certain types of insurance, keeping a record of their insurance certificate or insurance policy number can help if things go wrong.

Essential: Independent contractor records

For example, in relation to payments, invoices received and GST paid

 Know the rules for each type of record

Need help working it out?

Learn about record keeping for businesses and organisations

Superannuation records

It is essential that you keep records relating to superannuation (super). Super is money you pay into a worker’s retirement savings fund.

You are required to pay super for almost all employees as well as some independent contractors. 

These include records relating to:

  • super fund of choice
  • super contributions.

You need to keep these records for at least 5 years, but we recommend keeping them for longer.

Tip:  Knowing and paying your superannuation obligations is part of our Essentials for employment relationships and Essentials for hiring independent contractors.

Essential: Superannuation records

Do this for each employee and eligible independent contractor. Keep these record for at least 5 years.

Do this for each employee and eligible independent contractor. Keep these records for at least 5 years.

Need help working it out?

Learn about keeping super records

Work health and safety (WHS) records

Creative organisations have a range of work health and safety (WHS) obligations. You need to keep certain records to show that you are meeting your WHS obligations. Safety regulators may also inspect your safety records. 

Common safety records include:

  • safety training and instruction
  • hazards identified or reported in your workplace
  • emergency plans and procedures
  • maintenance records for plant and equipment
  • reports of workplace incidents or injuries
  • workplace injury management plans

State and territory governments may have different requirements for record keeping for certain things, such as high risk work and workplace injuries. These requirements may be set out in a regulation of the state or territory.

Essential: Work health and safety records

Know the requirements in your state or territory

Know the requirements in your state or territory

Need help working it out?

Learn about work health and safety records

Records relating to children and young people 

Working with children and young people requires you to keep certain records. These records are essential to support child safety. 

Record keeping obligations for working with children and young people are dealt with by the laws in your state or territory. 

There are record keeping requirements that relate to:

  • screening and recruiting people who may work with children
  • worker training on child safety
  • engaging children or young people to work or perform
  • child safety incident reporting.

If you are hiring a child or young person, you also need to know which employment system applies so you can work out what records you must keep about the work arrangement.

Tip:  Knowing and complying with your obligations to children and young people — as workers as well as participants and audience members — is part of our Essential: Know your workplace laws. 

If you have First Nations children and young people in your workplace

In addition to your compliance obligations, it’s important that your record keeping practices are culturally safe for First Nations children and young people. This includes considering connections to family, community and Country when managing records and child safety obligations.

For example:

  • recognising kinship or family structures in consent processes
  • respectfully recording absences linked to cultural obligations such as Sorry Business
  • ensuring incident reporting can appropriately capture concerns involving racism, cultural harm or exclusion.

Creating culturally safe workplaces for First Nations children and young people is part of our Essentials for engaging First Nations artists and arts workers.

Essential: Records relating to children and young people

Know this for any adult workers who will (or even might) engage with children and young people under 18 in your state or territory. For example, Working With Children Checks, child safety training records, and records of reports and concerns about child safety. 

Know this for any workers under 18 in your state or territory. Child employment laws generally also apply to independent contractors under 18.

Know the rules in your state or territory

Know the requirements in your state or territory

Need help working it out?

Learn about:

The other essentials

Essentials for engaging First Nations artists and arts workers

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Safety essentials

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Essential: Know your workplace laws

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Knowing the laws that apply to your work arrangements supports you to create a fair, lawful and sustainable workplace.

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Essentials for employment relationships

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Essentials for hiring independent contractors

Essentials for hiring independent contractors

Clear agreements with independent contractors help reduce misunderstandings, manage risk and support fair, respectful and sustainable working relationships.

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We acknowledge the many Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and honour their Elders past and present.

We respect their deep enduring connection to their lands, waterways, and surrounding clan groups since time immemorial. We cherish the richness of First Nations peoples’ artistic and cultural expressions. We are privileged to gather on this Country and to share knowledge, culture and art, now and with future generations.

 Art by Jordan Lovegrove