In this guide (7 parts)
You open on Sunday because the centre does. Two technicians are on, the morning is slow, and you wonder whether the day pays for itself. It's a fair question. Under the Award, that Sunday hour costs you twice a Tuesday hour.
Weekday A$31.86, Saturday A$42.38, Sunday A$63.73 an hour for a permanent Level 2 technician, with super. At A$70 of manicure work an hour, Sunday only breaks even when the chair is never empty.
This guide covers the national Fair Work system. In WA, sole traders and partnerships are in the WA state system instead. Rates change every 1 July. Check the current Fair Work pay guide for MA000005 and the Award itself, or ask Fair Work or an adviser about your own team.
Part 1The rates, turned into a cost per hour
The pay guide lists hourly rates. What a rostered hour actually costs you is the rate plus 12% super. We use Level 2 throughout, so check which level fits each person's qualifications and duties.
| When | Permanent rate | Permanent + super | Casual rate | Casual + super |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon to Fri, 7am to 9pm | A$28.45 | A$31.86 | A$35.56 | A$39.83 |
| Saturday | A$37.84 | A$42.38 | A$44.95 | A$50.34 |
| Sunday | A$56.90 | A$63.73 | A$64.01 | A$71.69 |
Two details matter more to a nail salon than the headline rates.
The ordinary span. Ordinary hours run 7am to 9pm Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm Saturday and 10am to 5pm Sunday. Closing at 9pm on Thursday costs nothing extra. The 15 minutes of clean-up after 9pm, though, falls outside the span.
Casual loading. Casuals get 25% on top in place of leave. Flexible, yes. Free, no: the 3-hour minimum still applies to them.
Part 2One technician, one week of centre hours
Shopping centre salons trade centre hours, and those hours move around. Westfield Southland in Cheltenham, Victoria, opens 9:00 to 5:30 Monday to Wednesday, 9:00 to 9:00 on Thursday and Friday, 9:00 to 5:00 on Saturday and 10:00 to 5:00 on Sunday. That's 64.5 hours. We use Southland Natural Nails & Beauty on Level 1 as the example because it trades all of them. It isn't our client, and these figures are ours.
Sunday: 11% of the hours, 19% of the cost
One permanent Level 2 technician covering every trading hour costs about A$2,362 a week with super.
Weekdays, late nights included, are 77% of the hours and 67% of that cost, while Saturday and Sunday together are only 23% of the hours and take a full third of the money.
Now multiply by the number of people you roster each day. For most salons it's the biggest number in the week.
| Days | Hours | Cost with super | Share of cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon to Fri, incl. late nights | 49.5 | A$1,577 | 67% |
| Saturday | 8 | A$339 | 14% |
| Sunday | 7 | A$446 | 19% |
| Week | 64.5 | A$2,362 | 100% |
Part 3How much of each shift has to be booked
A wage only means something next to what the hour brings in. Take A$70 of manicure work per booked hour, which is A$63.64 after GST, and A$80 of pedicure work, A$72.73 after GST. Divide the hourly cost by those and you get the share of a shift that must be booked just to pay that one person.
| When | Permanent, manicure | Permanent, pedicure | Casual, manicure | Casual, pedicure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday, incl. until 9pm | 50% | 44% | 63% | 55% |
| Saturday | 67% | 58% | 79% | 69% |
| Sunday | 100% | 88% | 113% | 99% |
a casual on Sunday: more than the whole shiftA casual technician doing manicures on Sunday can't cover their own wage even if every minute is booked. Pedicure work just about gets there, at 99%.
Zenoti's 2026 benchmark puts the median nail studio at 59% of technician hours spent on services. That's North American salons on Zenoti's platform, so treat it as a rough guide. At 59%, the weekday clears the wage. Saturday doesn't. Sunday is nowhere near.
Part 4What owners do with this table
Three moves, cheapest first
- Staff Thursday and Friday evenings first. Ordinary rates, and the clients who work office hours can actually come.
- Keep Sunday lean. Save it for longer, higher-value services, or work the floor yourself if you're on the tools.
- Make the weekend hour earn more through add-ons and service mix before chasing volume. See nail salon pricing by the chair-hour.
Part 5Rostering rules that catch owners out
The 3-hour minimum
Casual and part-time staff must be engaged for at least 3 hours in a row. So a two-hour Saturday rush still costs three hours of pay. Staggering start times usually covers a short peak more cheaply than adding a short shift.
Changing a part-timer's roster
A part-time employee's regular pattern is agreed in writing. Changing it needs 7 days' written notice, or 48 hours in an emergency. So you can't redraw it every Monday to follow the bookings. If demand swings a lot from week to week, build the base roster around your normal weeks and cover the peaks with casuals, staggered starts or your own hours on the floor.
Commission is allowed. But employees must still get at least the Award minimum, weekend rates included, for the hours they work. In 2018 the Fair Work Ombudsman took action against an Adelaide nail salon operator after two nail technicians were paid as little as A$12 an hour, an underpayment of A$53,021.
The second trap looks like a way around the first.
If they work like employees, on your roster, with your clients and your products, the law may treat them as employees, and calling them contractors can be sham contracting. The Fair Work Ombudsman pursues it with heavy penalties, and the ATO can come after unpaid super. Unsure how your team is engaged? Get advice before changing anything.
Permanent part-time
Lower hourly cost, fixed pattern
A$31.86 with super
CheaperA$63.73 with super
Double7 days' written notice
Slow to changeCasual
25% loading, more flexible
A$39.83 with super
HigherA$71.69 with super
HighestStill 3 hours
Short peaks still cost 3 hoursPart 6Why this changes how you market a salon
An empty Sunday hour with someone rostered costs twice an empty Tuesday hour. That makes filling the hours you already pay for worth more in Australia than in places where technicians are paid per service, and it means an ad that brings people in on a Saturday afternoon, when every chair is already taken and walk-ins are being turned away, does nothing for you at all.
Marketing should push clients towards hours you've staffed and haven't sold. How, step by step: how to fill quiet hours in a nail salon. The bigger picture of seats, roster and profit is in how much does a nail salon make.
Self-check6 questions before next week's roster
Can't tick 3 or 6? Those two cost salons the most money and the most trouble.
Sources and method. Rates: Fair Work pay guide MA000005 from 1 July 2026, Level 2, plus 12% super. Hours: Westfield Southland. Prices: the example salon's Fresha menu, 18 October 2026. Benchmark: Zenoti 2026 benchmark (technician utilisation, 2025 data, North America). All other figures are our arithmetic from these inputs. This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice.
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