A sleepover shift is a booking of 12 hours, made up of 8 hours of sleep and 4 hours of additional support before and/or after sleeping.
8 hours of sleep
During the 8 hours of sleep, there is no expectation of being woken, except for (up to) one hour of assistance where required during the night. The rate charged for the sleep component of the booking is for the whole 8 hour block (not per hour).
There is an option to add a 2nd hour of assistance during sleep if this occurs, you can add this retrospectively into the platform). The optional 2nd hour of assistance during sleep is paid at the overtime rate
Additional 4 hours of support
The 4 hours of support booked either side of the 8 hour sleepover is charged at the relevant daily/hourly rate.
It’s not mandatory to book a worker for the full additional 4 hours of support, i.e. you can book less than that on our platform. However, you’ll still be charged for 4 hours of support, as this is a minimum payment requirement outlined by the SCHADS industry award (the award covering our support workers). These hours are called sleepover compliance hours (i.e. hours that aren’t technically worked but are paid to meet the 12 hour requirement).
For flexibility around when the additional 4 hours of support can take place, your worker can sign an Individual Flexibility Agreement (IFA). An IFA is an agreement between an employee and employer that provides flexibility to clauses in an industry award (SCHADS). By signing the IFA, you and your worker will be able to split the 4 hours and book them before and/or after the sleepover e.g. 2 hours before, 2 hours after (instead of 4 hours consecutively). Support workers aren’t obligated to sign an IFA, however, all support workers who wish to continue working sleepovers will have to sign an IFA in order to work those hours flexibly.
Before requesting a sleepover booking, the Hireup platform will calculate the correct rate for your sleepover shift.
Check out our sleepover rates on our pricing page.
If you have any questions about how sleepover bookings work, please don’t hesitate to contact our community support team on (02) 9113 5933 or at: hello@hireup.com.au.
Please note: if the support worker is woken for more than 2 hours and is providing active support (and not getting a full night's sleep), this shift is an active overnight shift rather than a sleepover shift.
When this occurs, the worker will need to cancel the shift (after the shift takes place). The person seeking support will need to rebook this as a normal shift.