Droppah can load your Modern Award for you. Pick your award and we’ll add every pay level, rate and pay rule, ready to use. No building pay grades or working out weekend rates yourself.
Choose from:
Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020
Restaurant Industry Award 2020
Fast Food Industry Award 2020
Don’t see your award? Message us through Support and tell us which one you’re after. We’ll look into adding it.
You’ll need to be an admin, and you’ll need a computer rather than your phone.
Award import is available for accounts created after 3 November 2026. On an older account? Contact Support and we’ll switch it on for you.
Before You Start
Droppah applies every pay rule and penalty in the award by default. Want to check if that matches your venue? Message us through Support.
Importing Your Award
When you sign up
Droppah asks which award covers your staff the first time you log in. Choose yours and it’s set up straight away. Not on any of these awards, or not sure? Choose Something else and we’ll help you sort out your pay rules.
Any time from Pay Grades
Go to Manage, then Pay Grades.
Click the ... menu top right and choose Import Award.
Pick your award.
Check the summary, then click Import Award.
Your new pay grades land on the Pay Grades page, grouped under your award’s name.
Importing doesn’t change anyone’s pay. Nobody moves onto the new grades until you put them there.
What the Import Adds
Pay grades - matching the levels in your award, plus a junior grade for each age (under 17, 17, 18, 19 and 20). The number of grades varies by award. Casual and permanent staff share the same grades, with the casual loading and any other variances applied by the pay rules, not the grade itself.
Pay rules - one set named after your award, for example Restaurant, under Manage, then Pay Rules. Each rule knows who it applies to, so casual, part-time and permanent staff are each paid correctly off the same grade.
Rates - every grade carries its own rates, like Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, late night and overtime.
Click any grade to see which jobs it covers and how it pays, including casual loading, minimum hours and junior percentage.
Tip: want to hide grades nobody’s on? Click the ... menu on Pay Grades and turn on Hide Unused Award Grades.
Assigning Staff to a Pay Grade
Each person needs an employment type and a pay grade. If your staff were synced in from Xero, their employment type came across with them, just double check it’s right. Anyone added another way will need it set manually. Pay grade is never set automatically, you’ll need to choose this for everyone.
Go to People and open the person.
Scroll to Employment Details.
Set their Employment Type: Full-time, Part-time or Casual.
Click Pay Grade and search for their level, for example Restaurant Level 1.
Click Save.
Paying someone above award? Enter their own rate in Pay Rate. Leave it blank and Droppah uses the award rate, shown in grey. Droppah always pays whichever is higher.
Make sure each person also has a work group and a team, so you can roster them and approve their time.
Paying Junior Staff
Junior pay depends on age, so Droppah needs a date of birth.
Open the person from People.
Under Contact, add their Date of Birth.
Choose their pay grade. You’ll only see the grades for their age, plus the adult ones.
Droppah won’t move anyone up on their birthday automatically. You’ll see a reminder on their profile and on the roster when it’s time to change their grade.
What You Can and Can’t Change
Award pay grades and their pay rules are locked, so they always match the award. You can still choose who’s on each grade.
Moving someone to a different grade? Choose the new grade on their profile. You can’t remove someone from an award grade without giving them a new one.
Staff on an agreed flat rate? Put them on one of your own pay grades instead.
FAQ
Using Xero Payroll?
There are a few more steps so Xero pays your award correctly. See Connect Your Award to Xero Payroll.
My venue doesn’t follow every rule in this award, what do I do?
You can duplicate the award’s pay rules and edit your own copy instead. Go to Manage, then Pay Rules, open the award’s ruleset, click the ... menu and choose Duplicate Ruleset. This creates an unofficial version, so it’s on you to keep it accurate. We’d recommend sticking with the official award rules where you can. Not sure if this applies to you? Message us through Support.