Hiring Manager/Supervisor

The University has made changes to the way it engages casual staff.

From 26 August 2024, casual staff will be offered a Contract of Employment at the commencement of their employment with the University, and this contract will not have an end date. Casual academic and professional contracts will remain separate.  

Separate to the Contract of Employment, and prior to performing any work for the University, a casual staff member will be required to review and accept a Work Schedule. This Work Schedule provides the details of the work that may be available for the casual under their overarching casual Contract of Employment. A staff member can be issued multiple Work Schedules for different roles under the same Contract of Employment (details below).
 
These changes have been made to reflect recent amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009. .

User guide

  • How do I request a casual engagement?

    The Hiring Manager is responsible for providing the required information to the HR Operations team in order for them to initiate a casual engagement. The prospective casual employee will have 7 days from date of offer, to accept their casual contract.

    NOTE: Following academic staff transfer to Adelaide University, the HR Operations team are unable to process requests for back-dated academic contracts (pre May 3rd 2025). Please contact HR Operations for more information.

    • Complete the Casual Request Form and email to HR Operations
    • Identify whether an engagement is prescribed (requires a Working With Children Check) and ensure the prospective casual employee has a current Working With Children Check
    • Confirm that the prospective casual employee has valid work rights to work in Australia and sight visa or Australian citizenship evidence. If they are unable to prove their working rights, the engagement should not be initiated.
    • Ensure that the prospective casual employee is appropriately qualified in the relevant discipline or seek approval from the Head of School for the prospective casual to be employed at the requested classification level.

    Background checks are important to ensure appropriate alignment to the role and the values and objectives of the university. If you wish for reference checks to be undertaken, contact Talent Acquisition prior to submission of the casual request form.

    Note: Casual staff and Titleholders can be timesheet validators but not supervisors. 

  • How can I update or end an existing engagement?

    Once the casual staff member has completed onboarding, changes can be made to:

    • Account code
    • Supervisor
    • Timesheet validator
    • Further task/course combinations can be added to an existing academic engagement in addition to the ones the casual staff member was originally engaged for.  Note that only new combinations of task and/or course may be added

    The HR Operations team can also action the termination of a casual engagement or contract.

    Email your change request with casual engagement details to HR Operations

  • Working With Children Checks / Prescribed Engagements

    A prescribed engagement is where it is reasonably foreseeable that during the course of their employment, the staff member will work with children (under 18 years) for more than 7 days in a calendar year. Casual staff in prescribed engagements require a valid Working With Children Check (WWCC).

    If an engagement is prescribed, the staff member will be required to provide evidence of their WWCC before a Contract of Employment or Work Schedule issued.

    For more information on prescribed engagements, including how to apply for a WWCC, please visit the Working with Children page.

  • Visa requirements

    Prior to initiating an engagement, the Hiring Manager should confirm that the Prospective Casual employee has valid work rights to work in Australia and sight visa evidence. If they are unable to prove their working rights, the engagement should not be initiated.

    The following guides will help to navigate through the VISA process:

    Note: Casual staff members on a bridging visa can be engaged for a period up to desired duration (3+ months). The HR team will run reports to ensure casual staff continue to hold legal work rights. If not, they will communicate with Casual Coordinators to take appropriate action.
    Any further questions can be directed to visa@adelaide.edu.au

  • Evidence of Australian Citizenship

    Casual engagements are subject to the staff member obtaining and retaining a legal entitlement to work in Australia and staff must provide documentary evidence of this.
    Following changes to Australian citizenship laws (responsibility of the Department for Immigration and Border Protection), Australian citizens can provide:

    • Their passport bio page
    • Their citizenship certificate or
    • Their birth certificate, but only if you were born prior to 20 August 1986

  • Qualifications

    The University of Adelaide has a responsibility to ensure that all students receive a quality learning experience across all its teaching locations and delivery modes.

    In order to achieve this we must ensure that our academic staff are appropriately qualified in the relevant discipline, have a sound understanding of current scholarship and/or professional practice in the discipline that they teach, and have an understanding of the teaching methods and/or adult learning principles relevant to the students being taught, and:

    • Are qualified to at least the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) Qualification Standards level higher than the program in which they are teaching a course of study; or
    • Are deemed to have obtained the “equivalent professional experience” in lieu of the formal qualifications.

    This means that as part of the casual engagement initiation Casual Coordinators will be required to either:

    • Confirm qualifications held by prospective academic casual staff member and that they have documents (parchment/ transcripts) of relevant qualifications. The casual staff member will then be required to provide this evidence through their onboarding task. Note: UOA qualifications will auto populate for existing casuals.
    • Where the prospective academic casual does not hold the relevant qualifications, seek approval from the Head of School for the prospective casual to be employed at the requested classification level by completing the Academic Staff Qualifications Assessment form.

    The Qualifications & AQF for Casuals Guide can help navigate through this process.

    For further assistance you can access information on the University’s AQF website.

  • Casual engagement and payment process

    The below diagram shows the full CAPS Engagement and Payment Process

    CAPS Engagement and Payment Process HR Operations

  • Planned vs actual report

    There are three CAPS reports available to help Hiring Managers manage engagements. The data in the reports is based on the level of access approved on the request form.

    The 3 reports available are:

    Report name Details
    CAPS Casual Worked Time Planned vs Actual (Cost Centre) The purpose of this report is to show both summary and detailed view of casual engagements for a cost centre including engagement details, accounting distribution, planned vs actual comparison by hours/sessions and dollar value. This report will be used by financial administrators and casual coordinators to monitor casual costs.
    CAPS Casual Worked Time Actual (Pay Year/Calendar Group) This report displays actual figures following pay finalisation. Engagements, which span calendar years, will only be shown one calendar year at a time.
    CAPS Casual Worked Time Planned vs Actual (Course Level) This report is to show the total accumulative worked time by course where the engagement start or end date occurs within the selected year. This report includes information about Academic casual staff members only.

    Notes:

    • The actual data on the report is as at the last finalised pay period.

    Access
    To request access please download and fill out the Access Request Form.
     

    Access to BI Cognos tool 
    Note: Internet Explorer is the preferred browser when using BI Cognos.

    The following help guides are available to assist with the CAPS Planned vs Actual Report:

  • IT access

    The following IT access for casual staff will continue for the duration of their overarching casual contract. This includes when a casual staff member is ‘inactive’ —i.e., between Work Schedules and after a Work Schedule ends.

    • computers on campus 
    • @adelaide email address 
    • access to calendar 
    • access to staff only websites 
    • access to online services and internet 

    Should a Manager or Supervisor have concerns about a casual staff member retaining IT, please contact HR Operations to request the termination of the overarching casual contract in accordance with the University’s Enterprise Agreement.

  • Systems and Building Access

    Access to buildings can be manually requested for casual staff through Infrastructure. When requesting building access, please include an end date on the  to ensure that building access is only granted for the term of the casual Work Schedule. If an end date is not entered on the form, casual staff will continue to have access to buildings in your Department until access is manually removed, or their overarching contract is terminated.

    Access to Business Systems can be manually requested for casual staff through . When requesting Business System Access, an end date should be entered to ensure system access is only granted for the term of the causal Work Schedule. If an end date is not entered on the relevant form, casual staff will continue to have access to Business Systems until access is manually removed, or their overarching contract is terminated.

    Each faculty & division has their own set of secured folders and sub-folders on the Shared (S:) or Resources (R:) drives. These can be restricted to ensure only authorised staff members can view them. Local areas should regularly audit who has access to secured folders and manage folders and permissions through . Access to secured shared folders should be removed for casual staff who do not have an active Work Schedule.