Employer Guide: How to register and sign in to your Workforce Australia Online account

Workforce Australia Online is a free service for all registered Australian businesses. It helps you find and hire the right people quickly and easily.

To access these features, you’ll need to:

1. Set up your Digital ID
2. Set up your business in RAM (Relationship Authorisation Manager)
3. Register for Workforce Australia Online for Businesses

CVGT Employment can guide you through every step of this process.

To fully and smoothly complete this process, you must be a principle authority of the business.

A principal authority is a person responsible for the business, such as:

• a sole trader
• an eligible individual associate listed on an Australian business number (ABN) in the Australian Business Register (ABR), for example
  • a trustee
  • a director
  • a public officer
  • a partner
  • an office bearer of a club or association
• a primary person (no individual associates listed in the ABR) who holds one of the following roles
  • director or public officer for the corporate trustee or subsidiary company
  • authorised contact of a government entity
  • director or public officer of the corporate trustee or subsidiary company or the responsible person of an Australian charity or not-for-profit organisation
  • executor after probate is granted of a deceased estate
  • office holder of an unincorporated association.

Your role must be recorded in one of the following:

• 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 the above do not apply to you and you are acting on behalf of a business, the principal authority (usually the owner or manager) must authorise you to complete these steps.

Not sure who that is? CVGT Employment can help you identify and contact the right person.

Follow these steps to create and link your Digital ID so you can register for Workforce Australia for Businesses.

Step 1: Create your Digital ID

• Download the myID app on your smart device
  • Apple App Store
  • Google Play Store
• Open the myID app on your smart device and follow the prompts to enter your details:
  • enter your email address – choose a personal email you have ongoing access to
  • create a password
  • enter your full name and date of birth.
• Choose Strong identity strength to access Workforce Australia for Businesses

• To set up a Strong myID, you will be prompted verify your ID using:
  • your Australian passport (either current or no more than 3 years expired) and photo – a one-off face verification check which involves taking a selfie that’s compared to the photo on your passport.
    • For those without a passport, please call the ATO phone helpline on 1300 287 539 for alternative ID verification options. 
  • AND one of the following
    • citizenship certificate
    • drivers licence or learner’s permit
    • Medicare card (this option appears after you verify one of the above documents)

Once your Digital ID verification is complete, move to Step 2.

Need help?

• Visit the myID website for instructions.
• CVGT Employment can assist you with Digital ID setup.
• For technical issues with myID, call 1300 287 539.

Step 2: Set up your business in Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) to link your Digital ID and ABN

As a principal authority, you can set up your business in RAM by linking your Digital ID to your Australian business number (ABN) in RAM.

• Now that you have set up your Digital ID, you can Log in to RAM
• Select Link my business – select the checkbox to provide your express consent to be redirected to the ATO to find your business or businesses, then select Continue.
• Add your personal postal or residential address (as held by the ATO) and select Continue.
• Enter your Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Select the business or businesses you want to link and select Continue.
• Enter an email address (this can be different to the one used to set up your Digital ID) and select Send email to receive a verification code.
• Enter the verification code and select Verify and Continue.
• On the Agency Access screen, select ‘Department of Employment Workplace Relations’ and click continue
• Review the summary of the selected business or businesses – select the checkboxes to declare you understand and accept and provide your express consent, then select Submit.
  • Express consent allows RAM to share your personal information with participating government agencies so you can act on behalf of a business online.
• A message will display confirming your business is successfully linked – you can then add another business or Continue.

Once you have successfully linked your Digital ID to your Australian Business Number (ABN) using Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM), continue to Step 3.

Need help?

• Visit the RAM website for detailed steps and videos.
• For technical issues with setting up or linking your business in RAM, call 1300 287 539.
• CVGT Employment can assist you with linking your ABN and setting up authorisations for non-Principal Authorities in the business to act on your behalf.

Step 3: Register for Workforce Australia

• Go to the Workforce Australia for Businesses registration and sign-in page
• Select Continue with Digital ID and follow the prompts
  • Agree to the terms and conditions
  • Review and confirm your personal, business, and contact details are correct

You have now successfully registered your Workforce Australia for Business account.

Need help? CVGT Employment can:

• guide you through the registration process.
• explain what the terms and conditions mean for your business.
• help you make sure your business profile is accurate and set up correctly.
• help if you run into any issues signing in.

Your registration is complete, and you can now claim Wage Subsidies through CVGT Employment!

Step 1: Speak with your CVGT Employment representative

• Speak to your representative at CVGT Employment to complete a Wage Subsidy Agreement with your employee.
• Once your representative has agreed to offer you a Wage Subsidy, they will send you an email with a secure link.
• This link will take you to your wage subsidy management portal where you can approve your new Wage Subsidy.

Please note:

You must approve the agreement via the link provided within 28 days of the employment start date.

If you miss this timeframe, you will not be eligible for any wage subsidy payments for your new employee.

If you haven’t received this email, contact your CVGT Employment representative and confirm they have your correct email address. We can send you a new link if you need one.

Step 2: Approve your employee’s wage subsidy

When you enter into a new wage subsidy agreement, you can use the link in the email sent to you by CVGT Employment to go to that wage subsidy on Workforce Australia.

• Once you approve this link, you will be able to see your wage subsidy agreement in your Workforce Australia account.
• Sign in to Workforce Australia with your Digital ID to access details of wage subsidies. Once you’re signed in, if there is an agreement awaiting approval, you will see a red ‘Urgent’ button.
• You can also view your wage subsidy agreements in a few places on your homepage:
  • in the ‘Reminders’ section, use the ‘Review agreement/s’ button
  • use the ‘wage subsides’ link in your account menu.
• You will need to approve the wage subsidy agreements in two parts:
  • Your head agreement (if you don’t already have one with CVGT Employment): A head agreement is set up when you approve your first wage subsidy with a provider. This will only happen once with each provider you access wage subsidies through. Your agreement has general terms and conditions that are essential to understand in order to receive your wage subsidy payments.
  • The agreement schedule (for the individual placement): The agreement schedule is set up for each individual employee for whom you have negotiated a wage subsidy to support their employment. It has details of your new employee and specific terms related to their job.

Each agreement has a status depending on whether it:

• requires signing (awaiting approval)
• is approved
• has ended.

Need help?

• CVGT Employment can explain what the agreement terms mean and answer any questions
• For technical issues with Workforce Australia:
  • phone the Employer Hotline on 13 17 15
  • email [email protected]

Step 2.1: Approving a new head agreement

To approve a new head agreement:

• follow the prompts in the email from your provider
• read and select that you agree to the terms and conditions
• confirm your details
• click on the ‘Approve’ button.

Approving this initial head agreement also approves the first agreement schedule.

Step 2.2: Approving a new schedule

To approve a new agreement schedule:

• follow the prompts in the email from your provider
• confirm your details
• click on the ‘Approve’ button.

Step 3: Claiming a wage subsidy payment

Your agreement schedule will include details of your wage subsidy payments and the frequency. When negotiating your wage subsidy, CVGT may offer instalment payments or full payment at the end of the Wage Subsidy period, whichever works best for your business.

To receive a wage subsidy payment from CVGT Employment, you must:

• click the checkbox to confirm that you have complied with the terms and conditions of the wage subsidy agreement
• declare that your employee has worked the required hours over that wage subsidy period.

Prior to being eligible for a wage subsidy payment, you are required to provide CVGT with pay slip or payroll summary evidence to show the hours worked and the amount paid to the employee.

You can send these documents directly to your CVGT Employment representative in an email.

You can view and manage all your wage subsidy agreements through your Workforce Australia account menu.

The first step is to sign in and select the ‘Your wage subsidies’ option to:

• approve agreements
• find and search all your agreements
• upload wage subsidy supporting documents like payslips
• update your details.

You can enter into agreements for wage subsidies with more than one provider. They will all be available via your homepage for you to manage.

• The head agreement screen will let you filter by the provider or status.
• The agreement schedule screen will let you filter by the employee name, schedule status or vacancy.
• If you don’t select a filter all your agreements will be displayed.
• You can use ‘Sort by’ to arrange your results in the way you want to see them.
• Click on the ‘Detail’ button to see the head agreement. The head agreement will display its details and all related agreement schedules.

Tip: You can download and save wage subsidy agreements by clicking on ‘View schedule agreement’ link.