Instant and ongoing visa verification for labour hire firms

About the Business

Founded in 2011 in Victoria’s leafy Yarra Valley and working across the country, Yarra Valley Labour Hire provides skilled and reliable contract labour for the viticulture and horticulture industries. They specialise in picking, packing, planting for farms and vineyards of all sizes for an array of well-known clients, including Treasury Wine Estates. During busy times, they can have hundreds of employees and contractors out on dozens of sites a week.

Pain Point

With over 24 years of experience, company founder Andrew Moate was committed to bringing a high quality labour hire service to his clients, while being fully compliant with workplace safety regulations and labour hire licensing laws.

But, the seasonal nature of the work means Andrew’s pool of labourers is constantly changing size, and sometimes he relies on contracting workers from other firms to get the job done. Picture a busload of workers turning up to a site, unable to work until each of their passports have been manually VEVO checked. This takes precious time and requires each worker to have their passport on hand.

Additionally, Andrew is responsible for confirming working rights for contractors he employs temporarily from other companies. But, he legally cannot VEVO check those people as they are not his employees, adding another layer of complication.

Then, trying to manually keep track of each worker’s visa status, conditions, and expiry date creates a third administrative nightmare – one so scary that some of Andrew’s competitors simply opt to ignore this legislative requirement entirely, risking potential fines and imprisonment.

Yarra Valley Labour Hire needed a user-friendly solution they could implement quickly across many sites.

Solution

The development team at CheckWorkRights got to work creating a system-generated ID card that includes a QR code. It functions like an event ticket, and can be printed and put on a badge or used digitally on a phone. Employees and contractors of Yarra Valley Labour Hire produce this ID to managing staff on site who scan the QR code with the CheckWorkRights app on their smartphone or tablet.

Instant verification of work rights is produced along with a photo of the individual to confirm identity. Contractors from other labour hire firms that use CheckWorkRights can produce their QR code to have their work rights checked legally by Yarra Valley Labour Hire.

In the background, the CheckWorkRights app time and date stamps this verification process occurring, and creates a list that includes everyone who has been checked, and which user completed the checks. An audit trail is created automatically and reporting is available for authorised relevant management.

Management can set up automated alerts for any changes to visa status or upcoming expiry, so they can foresee potential labour shortages and initiate conversation with workers that may need to plan for a new working visa.

Result

CheckWorkRights provided Yarra Valley Labour Hire with a solution that solved visa verification problems, saves time, and allows them to price their services at a premium. Founder Andrew likes the peace of mind he gets from knowing his company is legally compliant, and he’s received more revenue because he can guarantee this.

‘We can charge more for our service and have picked up larger customers, because when we are approached we can say we are doing this when other companies aren’t. Andrew said, ‘The big companies are happy to be paying a bit extra for the guarantee that they won’t be on the front page of the newspaper.’

Centralising visa data minimises risks and provides an audit trail, while secure self-service workflows ensure compliance and data security.

‘The Labour Hire Authority came to a vineyard we were at, and I was able to pull up the CheckWorkRights desktop app to export the information they needed instantly,’ Andrew said.

An additional benefit is that Andrew can now take on new employees at the drop of a hat. People can turn up at a site that morning with their passport in hand, scan to receive a QR code instantly to check their visa and conditions, and get straight to work. Then, the administrative team at Yarra Valley Labour Hire uses automated alerts to keep up to date on any changing visa conditions when completing rostering.

‘CheckWorkRights gives my company the peace of mind that every single one of our workers has current work rights in Australia.’

Ready to see how CheckWorkRights can help you? Book a demo today.