The split that defines it
Every labour-hire arrangement is one relationship split in two. The provider is the employer. The host is the boss. Getting clear on which side each responsibility falls on is most of what you need to understand.
What the labour-hire provider does
- Employs the electrician and pays their wages, superannuation and any portable long-service levy
- Holds WorkCover (workers' compensation) cover and public liability insurance for them
- Verifies the electrician's licence, tickets, clearances and right to work before they're deployed
- Handles payroll, PAYG withholding and leave entitlements that apply to the engagement
- Holds the labour-hire licence required to supply workers in Victoria
- Invoices the host for the hours actually worked
What the host business does
- Directs and supervises the work — what gets done, in what order, to what standard
- Provides the site induction, the safe system of work and, in practice, most of the day-to-day OHS duty
- Signs off the hours worked
- Holds the electrical contractor registration (REC) the work is done under, and issues the Certificate of Electrical Safety
- Warrants the design and the compliance of the installation
The last point is the one people miss. A labour-hire electrician works under the host's electrical contractor registration. The provider supplies a licensed person; the host remains the electrical contractor for the job.
Why businesses use it
- Crew size follows the program. Put four on for the fit-out surge and two on the week after, without renegotiating a contract.
- No recruitment cycle. The vetting, licence checks and paperwork are already done.
- You pay for hours worked. There's no wage bill sitting idle between jobs.
- The compliance load — employment, insurance, payroll — sits with the provider.
- You keep control of the work. Unlike subcontracting a package, you direct the electrician the same way you'd direct your own.
What it isn't
Labour hire is not subcontracting. A subcontractor takes a scope of work, prices it, brings their own registration and issues their own Certificate of Electrical Safety for what they install. A labour-hire electrician brings their licence and their hands, and works to you. If you want someone else to own the outcome, you want a subcontractor. If you want more hands on your outcome, you want labour hire.
It's also not a sham contracting arrangement. The electrician is a genuine employee of the provider, with an employment agreement, superannuation and WorkCover — not an ABN holder invoicing you for time.
Grid Force supplies labour hire only. We are not a subcontractor and not the Registered Electrical Contractor for your work — you direct it, you certify it, and the Certificate of Electrical Safety is yours.
How the money works
The host pays a single hourly charge rate per electrician for the hours worked. That one number is meant to cover everything the provider carries: the electrician's pay, superannuation, WorkCover, portable long service where it applies, insurances, payroll and management. The electrician never sees the charge rate, and the host never sees the pay rate — that's normal across the industry.
Overtime, weekend and night rates should be negotiated and written into the quote before the work starts, not worked out after a big weekend.
Who has to be licensed
In Victoria, a business that supplies workers to another business generally needs a licence from the Labour Hire Authority, and it's an offence for a host to engage an unlicensed provider. That duty sits on both sides — checking the register is a two-minute job that protects you.