Harvest Job Ads: Check the Pay Before You Copy Last Season’s Post
• Hari Yellina
Last season’s harvest advertisement is still on a supervisor’s phone. It names the correct town and the same crop, so the quickest option is to copy it into a new recruitment post. The pay wording, employment arrangements or accommodation details may no longer match the job being offered.
Review the advertisement as a current offer of information to applicants. A familiar template needs a new check before it travels through job boards, social media and translated crew messages.
Check the advertised rate against the actual role
The Fair Work Ombudsman says job advertisements cannot include pay rates below the employee’s minimum entitlements under the Fair Work Act or an applicable award or agreement. Its guidance identifies the applicable award, enterprise agreement or National Minimum Wage order as the starting point. Fair Work: Job ads
Before approving the text, identify the employing business, duties and employment type. Ask the person responsible for payroll to confirm which pay rules apply and the date of the rates used. Picking, machinery operation and packing should not be treated as interchangeable descriptions simply because they happen on one property.
Keep a record of that check with the approved advertisement. This is a suggested recruitment control, rather than a Fair Work-prescribed advertising register. If the role changes, send the wording back for review.
Make piecework wording understandable
Fair Work says that when an advertised pieceworker position also carries an entitlement to a periodic pay rate, the advertisement must specify that rate or state that a periodic rate will apply. Fair Work’s pieceworker advertising guidance
A promise about what fast pickers might earn does not explain the whole pay arrangement. Decide how applicants will receive a clear description of the applicable method and any guaranteed minimum, without implying that a particular daily output or take-home amount is assured.
Have payroll check the final wording against the applicable instrument. This article does not set an hourly rate or piece rate for a particular vacancy. The fruit picker pay guide provides related background; use current official pay tools for the actual role.
Separate the job from the surrounding arrangements
As a practical communication step, describe the location, expected tasks, employment type, application contact and anticipated season. Explain which hours or dates are confirmed and which depend on operational conditions. Avoid turning an estimate into a promise through a shortened repost.
If accommodation or transport is offered, say how applicants can obtain the terms and costs. Keep these arrangements separate from the advertised wage. A phrase such as “good money with accommodation” gives an applicant little basis for deciding whether the job suits them.
The accommodation and transport deductions guide addresses the later payroll check. An advertisement should not imply that publishing a charge settles whether a deduction is permitted.
Control every version that applicants see
Hypothetical example: payroll approves a new advertisement, but an older screenshot remains in a community group. The two versions show different pay wording. An applicant arrives having relied on the screenshot.
Give the approved text a date and a named owner. Keep a list of where it is posted, and check translations against that version. When a correction is needed, update the places the business controls and explain the correction to applicants already in contact. Retain the old version as a record rather than continuing to circulate it.
This review has a current enforcement context. In its 27 August 2026 release, Fair Work reported increased fines for advertisements offering unlawful rates. The release reinforces the need to review pay wording before recruitment begins; it does not mean every unclear advertisement has been found unlawful. Fair Work’s August 2026 enforcement update
Read the final post as an applicant
Ask someone outside the recruitment team to explain the job from the final advertisement. Can they identify the employer, location, pay arrangement and application route? Resolve any mismatch before posting. Keep the recruitment wording connected to the offer and first-shift information so the worker receives a consistent explanation.
Sources checked 10 October 2026. Australian national workplace relations guidance; determine the applicable instrument and employment arrangements for each vacancy.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration of a fictional recruitment workspace. No actual vacancies or pay offers are shown.
