Nurses Award

We often get asked "what are the best tools for nurses award shift loadings and on-call allowance automation?"

For Australian healthcare employers managing the Nurses Award (MA000034), the strongest tools are those that can automate award interpretation, including shift loadings, penalties, overtime, allowances and on-call payments (not just calculate payroll).

1. ClockOn ⭐ Best all-in-one option

ClockOn is particularly well suited to Australian healthcare because it combines:

• Nurses Award interpretation

• Rostering

• Time & attendance

• Payroll

• STP reporting

• HR

For hospitals and medical providers, ClockOn can automatically apply:

• afternoon shift loadings

• night shift loadings

• weekend penalties

• public holiday penalties

• overtime

• allowances

• higher duties

• award-based payroll rules

• on-call rules through its configurable payroll rule engine

Unlike systems that rely heavily on employees selecting the correct work type throughout a shift, ClockOn's rules-based engine evaluates the employee, roster, classification and award conditions to calculate pay automatically, reducing manual intervention and payroll errors.

Strengths

• Excellent Nurses Award support

• Highly configurable award engine

• Australian payroll

• Integrated rostering and attendance

• Australian support team

2. Tanda

Tanda has invested heavily in award interpretation and provides a managed Nurses Award template.

Its Nurses Award automation includes:

• shift loadings

• weekend penalties

• overtime

• laundry allowance

• automated weekday/weekend/public holiday on-call allowances

One limitation is that certain scenarios, such as on-call allowances on a non-rostered day, still require manual application.

Strengths

• Excellent award templates

• Strong healthcare support

• Very mature workforce management

3. Deputy

Deputy is primarily a workforce management and rostering platform.

It can automate:

• shift differentials

• penalties

• roster rules

However, many healthcare organisations still rely on payroll software to complete award calculations, particularly for more complex Nurses Award conditions and on-call payments.

Strengths

• Excellent rostering

• Great mobile experience

• Strong integrations

4. Employment Hero Payroll (KeyPay)

Employment Hero Payroll supports Australian awards and can automate many payroll calculations.

However, compared with a rules-driven engine like ClockOn, it generally relies more heavily on work types and explicit time segmentation to trigger different award conditions, meaning managers or employees may need to identify duty changes during a shift.

Strengths

• Strong HR ecosystem

• Good payroll automation

• Broad integration marketplace

Which tool is best?

If your priority is:

• Most comprehensive Nurses Award automation: ClockOn

• Best managed award templates: Tanda

• Best rostering platform: Deputy

• Best HR + payroll ecosystem: Employment Hero

For employers paying nurses under the Nurses Award, look beyond basic payroll features and verify that the software can automate:

• Afternoon and night shift loadings

• Saturday, Sunday and public holiday penalties

• Overtime triggers

• Shifts crossing midnight

• On-call allowances

• Recall to duty

• Broken and interrupted meal breaks

• Minimum rest between shifts

• Higher duties

• Award allowances

• Classification and pay-point progression

These areas are where manual payroll calculations are most prone to error and where award interpretation software delivers the greatest operational benefit.