03.
OUR SOLUTION

Setup Entity & Crucial Financial Processes

In order to help Lombardi build a team and provide their consulting services locally, we assisted them with the registration of their Australian branch with the Australian Securities and Investments commission (ASIC) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

To ensure Lombardi’s smooth expansion & ongoing operations, we have also been providing them with our full suite of corporate services from the get-go, including Accounting & Reporting, Tax Compliance, Public Officer, ASIC local Agent and Registered Office services. 

Having also discussed Lombardi’s accounting reporting requirements with their HQ, we made a point of tailoring their local Australian accounts to smoothen reporting to the Group for consolidation purposes. 

We also continue to assist the company with its GST obligations, and on an annual basis, take care of the preparation and lodgement of their annual corporate income tax return and the lodgement of their financial statements with ASIC.

Finally, when required, we also provide ad-hoc language solution services for the translation of relevant documentation from overseas.

Acquired & Mobilised Top Talent

As Lombardi was starting from scratch in a new market, they needed to mobilise some of their key personnel from their headquarters in Switzerland to ease training and knowledge sharing during the setup process.

We enabled them to do so by taking on their full immigration & visa processing management, helping them secure 400 & 482 visas for both long-term & short-term project staff.

It was also crucial for Lombardi to acquire niche talent to build their local expertise. Since the talent pool for Hydro specialists remains limited in Australia, our team had to source profiles through targeted headhunting. 

This saw our Sydney team working closely with Lombardi’s team in Switzerland to successfully recruit their lead Civil and Geotechnical Engineers to work on site. The team was able to recruit the right talent within a short deadline thanks to proactive market mapping and ongoing relationship building with potential passive candidates.

Setup Strong HR Foundations & Ensured Compliance

In line with building a new team, we have also assisted Lombardi with both their ad hoc & ongoing HR & Payroll needs.

On the Payroll side, we have helped Lombardi deal with its expatriate employees’ payroll-related matters, as well as manage its benefits and the tax implications of maintaining an on-going, compliant payroll. We also take care of any local lodgements and payments such as single touch payroll & PAYG withholding, superannuation, payroll tax and workers compensation, all on their behalf.

On the HR front, as with most other construction / engineering projects, Lombardi’s employees are classified under several different Fair Work Awards, which mandates different pay schedules for salary and superannuation, amongst other things. 

Consequently, to ensure all of Lombardi’s staff were paid correctly and compliantly from the get-go, we completed Modern Award determinations for all employee categories. In that same vein, we also organised salary surveys to ensure Lombardi was offering competitive packages to attract top talent for all of their projects moving forward.

To set Lombardi up for success, our team of experts also put in place all necessary crucial documents and processes needed to run the business locally. This included drafting individual employment contracts, as well as creating contract templates for them to use moving forward. As their work is project based, we also drafted and organised fixed-term contracts to facilitate staff transitions upon project completion. 

Finally, to protect Lombardi and provide employees with clear guidance, we also drafted all of their crucial policies covering a range of topics including but not limited to Anti-Discrimination, Performance & Misconduct, Complaints & Grievances, etc. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also drafted working from home policies in record time, enabling Lombardi to be responsive and best support their staff at a time of crisis.