This help guide will explain how to configure, manage, and apply Individual Flexibility Agreements (IFAs) in Tanda, including details about what IFAs are, how to configure them, and how to apply them to employees.
What Does This Help Guide Cover?
What Are IFAs?
As defined by the Fair Work Commission, an Individual Flexibility Agreement (IFA) is “a written agreement used by an employer and employee to change the effect of certain clauses in their award or registered agreement (like an enterprise agreement)...an IFA is used to make alternative arrangements that suit the needs of the employer and employee. The purpose of an IFA is not to simply reduce or remove an employee’s entitlements.”
As such, employers must ensure that employees are “better off overall with the IFA than without it, compared to their award or registered agreement at the time the IFA was made.” To determine whether an employee is better off overall, the Fair Work Commission recommends considering the following questions:
Who initiated the IFA request?
What entitlements of the registered agreement are being changed?
What is the value of these entitlements under the award or registered agreement?
Does changing the employee’s span of hours change their penalty rates?
Is the employee better off financially?
Are there any situations where the employee wouldn’t be financially better off? (e.g., a roster cycle or after a certain amount of overtime.)
Are there any other circumstances or characteristics unique to the employee that should be considered? (e.g., the employee’s family commitments, their health, whether they have a second job.)
An IFA is only applicable between an individual employee and an employer. It will not apply to any other employees in a business.
IFAs vs Flexible Working Arrangements
IFAs are not the same as ‘flexible working arrangements.’
Flexible working arrangements are a separate type of workplace flexibility derived from the National Employment Standards (NES). Employees eligible to request these arrangements include pregnant employees, employees with disabilities, and employees over 55 years old.
On the other hand, IFAs change the effect of clauses under an award or registered agreement. They’re distinct from requests for flexible working arrangements made under the NES.
To learn more, see this Fair Work Commission resource on Flexible working arrangements.
IFA Requirements
As outlined by the Fair Work Commission, an IFA must meet the following requirements:
It must be in writing and signed by both the employer and employee. If the employee is under 18, it must also be signed by their parent or guardian.
It must specify the terms of the award or registered agreement being changed.
Both parties must genuinely agree to the IFA. Employees cannot be coerced into signing an IFA to get a job.
The employer must keep a copy of the signed IFA for at least seven years and also give a copy to the employee.
An IFA must outline how the employee or the employer can terminate the agreement.
To learn more, see this resource from the Fair Work Commission.
Terminating An IFA
If circumstances change, an IFA can be terminated by mutual agreement at any time.
If only one party agrees to the IFA termination request, the other party can terminate it by providing notice. An IFA made under an award requires the terminating party to provide 13 weeks written notice. An IFA made under a registered agreement requires the amount of notice stated in the agreement (this can’t be longer than 28 days).
To learn more, see this resource from the Fair Work Commission.
How to Configure IFAs in Tanda
To begin configuring an IFA in Tanda, navigate to Time & Attendance > Compliance. Then, select ‘Manage’ next to Individual Flexibility Agreements.
You will see the following page:
Next, click + CREATE INDIVIDUAL FLEXIBILITY AGREEMENT to configure a new IFA. You will see the following screen:
From here, input the necessary details for your IFA, including:
A name.
A description (Optional)
The tag that needs to be applied to an employee to use this IFA (i.e. any employee with this tag will be assigned to the IFA). This tag cannot be modified after the IFA is created. For more details on how to create and apply Tags, see our Shift Tags help guide. Alternatively, typing a tag into this field will automatically create a new tag.
The Award Template to which the IFA applies. This cannot be modified after the IFA is created.
The Template Award Rules/Allowances that will be disabled when this IFA is enabled.
Once you are happy with the details of your IFA, click CREATE. You will see the following screen:
From here, either click EDIT to continue editing your IFA or BACK to be taken back to the main IFA page.
Applying Custom Award Rules to an IFA
To apply a custom award rule to your IFA, it must be tagged with the same tag as the IFA. To do so, navigate to Time & Attendance > Compliance > Custom Award Rules > Manage.
Then, either edit an existing custom award rule or click + New award rule. Next, under step 1b, ‘Who will it apply to?’, enter the appropriate tag in the ‘Search or create staff tags…’ text box.
Additionally, under step 4b, ‘Link to your payroll system’, ensure you select the same Award Template as your IFA.
From there, all staff under this award template with the same tag will be added to this custom award rule and your IFA.
To confirm your custom award rule has been applied, refer to the table on the main IFAs page. For example:
To see more information about your custom award rule, select ‘View’ under ‘Actions’ on the main IFA table, then expand the ‘Custom Award Rules’ menu:
To learn more about creating custom award rules, see our help guide: Create Custom Award Rules.
Applying Custom Allowances to an IFA
To apply a custom allowance to your IFA, it must be tagged with the same tag as the IFA. To do so, navigate to Time & Attendance > Compliance > Allowances > Manage.
Then, either edit an existing allowance or click + New allowance. Next, under step 4, ‘Who will it apply to?’, enter the appropriate tag in the ‘Search or create staff tags…’ text box.
Additionally, under step 2, ‘Link to Tanda Payroll’, ensure you select the same Award Template as your IFA.
From there, all staff under this award with the same tag will be added to this custom allowance and your IFA.
To confirm your custom allowance has been applied, refer to the table on the main IFAs page. For example:
To see more information about your custom allowance, select ‘View’ under ‘Actions’ in the main IFA menu, then expand the ‘Custom Allowances’ menu:
To learn more about creating custom allowances, see our help guide: Create and Apply Allowances.
Assigning Employees to an IFA
To assign employees to an IFA, they must be tagged with the same tag as the IFA. To do so, navigate to the user’s Staff Profile (via Workforce > Staff). Then, select Payroll > Pay Conditions > Edit Current Pay Conditions. Next, select the date from which you want your changes to apply.
Then, under Additional tags, select the same tag as your IFA.
Click CONFIRM CHANGES at the bottom of the page to save your updates.
To confirm that the tag has been applied to the employee, refer to the Tags column in the main staff list. For example:
To see a list of all employees with this tag (and therefore all employees to whom that IFA applies), use the Award Tags filter on the main staff list.
To confirm that the employee has been successfully added to the IFA, refer to the ‘Assigned Employees’ column on the main IFAs page. For example:
To learn more, see our help guide: Managing Employee Pay Conditions.
Applying IFAs on a Shift-by-Shift Basis
If you only want to apply the terms of an IFA to certain shifts an employee works, rather than all shifts they work, you also have the option to apply IFAs on a shift-by-shift basis. To do so, ignore the above instructions about tagging the employee with the same tag as the IFA. If you do this, the IFA will apply to all shifts the employee works.
Instead, you will need to apply the tag specifically to that shift. To do so, navigate to the user’s timesheets and locate the shift you wish to tag. Then, from the dropdown ‘Select Tag’ menu, choose the same tag as the IFA.
By following this method, the terms of the IFA will only apply to this specific shift (and any other shifts to which you apply this tag).