How to check if you’re underpaid

A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work has long been part of the Australian way of life. But ‘fair’ can be a hazy concept when it comes to wages, and it’s easy to wonder if you’re really getting paid enough.

4 ways to check your pay is fair

1. Look up award rates

An award is a legal document from the Fair Work Ombudsman that outlines the minimum pay and working conditions for a range of jobs across Australia.

If your pay is determined by an industry award, the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay Calculator is a handy resource. It shows base pay rates, allowances and penalty rates (including overtime) that you’re entitled to based on your situation.If you’re unsure which award applies to you, the Pay Calculator can also help you identify the award for your job or industry.

2. Check your enterprise agreement

Not all Australians have their pay determined by an award. Around 2.8 million employees have their pay shaped by an enterprise agreement. This is where the terms of employment, such as pay and work conditions, are decided by employers and employees negotiating together.

If your wage or salary is determined by an enterprise agreement, you can check how much you should be getting paid by looking up the relevant enterprise agreement on the Fair Work Commission’s Find an agreement website.

3. Visit salary search sites

If your pay isn’t determined by an award or enterprise agreement, or if you’re interested in getting an idea of how much you could earn in a particular role or with a new employer, job search sites can be an up-to-date source of information on average salaries for a variety of occupations.

Here are some websites with free salary search tools:

• Indeed is a job seeking website that lets you compare salaries advertised on its platform based on job title and location.

• Seek similarly gives you a range of average salaries for your job title based on your location. Seek also includes data on job growth and satisfaction.

• PayScale uses HR-reported data and survey results to give you an idea of the average salary by location and experience. PayScale also includes data on how different skills are correlated to pay.
  

• Glassdoor is a website for employees to report on and review their employers. This means it shows you average salaries by company rather than industry.

4. Review annual salary guides

Many of the larger recruitment firms in Australia produce online annual salary guides, often with sections devoted to typical salaries for a variety of roles. The salary details in these reports may not be as current as the databases on salary search sites, but the upside is plenty of information that goes above and beyond a dollar figure.

If you want to know where salaries are growing quickly, or what factors employers are looking for when giving out pay rises, a salary guide can be a good place to look. That said, these guides don’t cover every role or industry.

• The Robert Half Salary Guide focuses on finance and accounting, financial services, IT, business support, marketing and human resources. It also provides salary tables divided into quartiles and major cities.

• The annual Salary Guide from Robert Walters provides details of the job scene in leading markets like legal, sales and marketing within and outside of Australia.

• The Hays Salary Guide shows average salaries across industries ranging from accountancy and finance to banking, construction, architecture and IT.

Compare non-salary benefits

Your salary isn’t the only form of remuneration you should consider when comparing how much you’re paid. While it might seem like another job pays better based on salary alone, there are other employee benefits to consider, such as:

• Bonuses and commissions: Performance-based bonuses or commissions won’t be listed in the salary, but could have a big impact on what you earn.

• Allowance: For jobs that require travel or the purchase of equipment, you may be entitled to a regular allowance, which can vary between jobs.

• Overtime: Not every job offers overtime, and pay rates could vary, so it’s worth considering when comparing compensation.

• Leave: While there are minimum leave requirements, some jobs go above and beyond, which could affect your take home pay.

• Novated leases: If your employer offers salary sacrifice benefits like novated leases, you could save money, effectively increasing your pay.

How to check if my employer is making the correct super contributions?

As a general rule, employees aged over 18 are entitled to employer-paid super contributions. If you’re aged under 18, you need to work more than 30 hours in the week to receive compulsory super contributions from your boss.

From 1 July 2025, employer super contributions are set at 12% of ordinary time earnings (overtime payments don’t attract super contributions). Most employers do the right thing and pay employee super contributions, but according to the Super Members Council (SMC), around one in four Australians are missing out on some amount of super.

If you think you’ve been underpaid, the SMC recommends comparing your super contributions to your entitlement using the ATO’s Super Guarantee calculator. If it looks like there are missing contributions, talk to your employer to check they have the correct details for your super fund account. If your employer refuses to help, you can turn to your super fund or union representative for support, or report unpaid contributions to the Tax Office, using its online tool.

The bottom line on checking how much you should be paid

If you’ve run the numbers and decided your pay is legal but less than it should be considering your knowledge and experience, the next step is to discuss it with your manager or employer. This may be a stressful experience, but it can be an important conversation that gets the ball rolling towards receiving a fair pay packet.

Bear in mind, not every employer will be in a financial position to give employees a pay uptick. But you may still be able to negotiate other non-financial benefits such as flexible working hours, or remote working options that can help you save on travel costs to and from work.

Alternatively, if it turns out you’re being paid less than the legal minimum and your employer isn’t willing to resolve the issue, it may be worth seeking professional legal advice or contacting the Fair Work Ombudsman.

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