Hays Salary Guide 2025: Award Coverage vs Award-Free Rates in Australia

Hays Salary Guide 2025: Understanding the Pay Floor vs Survey Averages

The Hays Salary Guide 2025 is a widely cited survey of salaries across Australia and New Zealand, drawing on over 12,000 respondents. It provides useful benchmarks for typical pay in many professions, but it is not a legal document. The guide reports that 58% of respondents earn between $100,000 and $150,000, and 19% earn between $150,000 and $200,000. These figures are well above the legal minimum wage floor. To understand your actual entitlement, you must separate the legal minimum from a survey average, an award rate, and a negotiated salary.

The Legal Minimum: Award-Free Employees

For employees not covered by any modern award or enterprise agreement, the national minimum wage applies. From the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, the Fair Work Commission set this at $26.44 per hour, or $1,004.90 per week for a 38-hour week. Casual employees receive a 25% loading, bringing the casual rate to $33.05 per hour. Note that juniors, apprentices, trainees, and some supported employees can be paid less. The Fair Work Ombudsman explains and enforces these rates, but the Commission sets them.

Award Coverage: Higher Minimums

Most Australian employees are covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement. Awards set minimum pay rates for specific industries and occupations, and these are almost always higher than the national minimum. For example, the General Retail Industry Award 2020 has rates for retail employees that start above $26.44 per hour depending on classification. If you are covered by an award, your employer must pay at least the award rate, not the national minimum. The Hays Salary Guide 2025 does not replace your award; it reflects what some employers choose to pay above the minimum.

The Role of Superannuation

All pay rates discussed here are exclusive of superannuation. The super guarantee requires employers to contribute 12% on top of ordinary time earnings. So if your base salary is $100,000, your employer must also pay $12,000 into your super fund. This is not part of your take-home pay but is a compulsory benefit.

Survey Averages vs Legal Floors

The Hays Salary Guide 2025 is a survey of professionals and managers, not a representative sample of all workers. The ABS May 2026 figure for full-time adult ordinary-time earnings is $2,083.70 per week, which is about double the national minimum. That average includes many award-covered and award-free workers. The Hays guide focuses on higher-skilled roles, so its figures are even higher. Neither the Hays guide nor the ABS average sets a legal minimum; they are benchmarks for negotiation.

How to Determine Your Minimum

Start by checking if you are covered by a modern award using the Fair Work Ombudsman's tools. If no award applies, the national minimum is your floor. If you are under an enterprise agreement, that agreement sets the rate, but it cannot be less than the relevant award or the national minimum. For award-free juniors, the percentages from the Miscellaneous Award apply (e.g., 18-year-olds get 68.3% of the adult rate, or $18.06 per hour). Always confirm your classification.

Key Takeaways

• The Hays Salary Guide 2025 is a market survey, not a legal document.
• The national minimum wage for award-free adults from 1 July 2026 is $26.44 per hour.
• Most employees are covered by an award or agreement that sets a higher minimum.
• Superannuation is paid on top of your base rate.
• Use our Rate tables to compare common award rates, or see How the figures work for methodology.

Understanding the difference between award coverage and award-free status is essential to ensure you are paid correctly. The Hays guide can help you negotiate, but your legal entitlement comes from the Fair Work system.