Outsourcing HR in Australia costs $2,500-$6,000/mo — or $499 with AI

Based on published 2026 pricing from Australian HR consultancies and HR-tech platforms:

• Hourly HR consultant: $150-$350/hour. A typical small-business engagement (one policy, one performance issue, one investigation) bills 8-15 hours. So $1,200-$5,250 for a discrete project.
• Fractional HR retainer: $2,500-$6,000/month for a small business (10-60 employees). Lower end ($2,500-3,000) is light operational support — Employment Hero admin, basic leave management, limited recruitment coordination. Higher end ($4,000-6,000) is closer to a fractional HR Business Partner relationship.
• Project-based engagement: $5,000-$20,000 for things like a policy overhaul, restructure, or significant compliance audit.
• Full-time HR generalist: $90,000-$150,000 base salary, so $100,000-$170,000 once you load on super, payroll tax, leave accruals, workspace, software.

For most businesses with 5-50 staff and no acute HR drama, a fractional retainer at $3,750/month (=$45,000/year) is the realistic alternative to hiring. FairWork Mate AI for Business is $499/month — about 13% of fractional cost.

Don't kid yourself. AI doesn't replace 100% of what an experienced HR consultant does. Specifically, AI is bad at:

• Sitting in meetings as a witness. If you're running a performance management process or a misconduct investigation, AI can't be the third person in the room. You need a human.
• Reading the politics of your team. AI doesn't know that Sarah and Mike haven't spoken in three months. A human consultant who's been in your office a few times does.
• Negotiating settlements. If a dispute is heading for the FWC, you want a human in the loop on the strategy and tone.
• Running an investigation under privilege. Solicitor-client privilege doesn't extend to AI conversations. For high-stakes matters, lawyer first.
• Knowing your industry's unwritten norms. Hospitality margins, manufacturing rosters, healthcare classifications — AI knows the law, not the lived practice.

For 80% of what most small businesses pay HR consultants for, AI does the job:

• Award and classification questions. "Which award covers a part-time bookkeeper at our retail business?" — AI grounded on 240+ FWC decisions answers this in seconds with citations.
• Pay rate calculations. Penalty rates, casual loading, junior rates, superannuation maximums, redundancy pay scales — calculator-backed, never hallucinated.
• Letter drafting. Warning letters, redundancy notices, casual conversion offers, contract reviews — AI drafts a defensible first version.
• Compliance interpretation. "Does the new right-to-disconnect provision apply to our salaried managers?" — AI cites the exact section and the post-2024 case law.
• Quick research. "Has the FWC been treating COVID-19 vaccination mandates as reasonable in unfair dismissal cases?" — AI pulls the relevant decisions in under 10 seconds.

Most small-business HR retainer time goes into these five things. AI does them at 1/8 the cost.

For 5-50-staff businesses, the configuration we see working is:

1. FairWork Mate AI for Business at $499/mo as the always-on first-line research and drafting tool. Anyone in your team can ask it; the answers are cited.
2. An hourly HR consultant on call at $200-$300/hr for the high-stakes moments — investigations, terminations, dispute resolution. Budget $5,000-$10,000/year.
3. A workplace lawyer on call for FWC matters and contract drafting. Pay-as-you-go, $300-$500/hr, but you only call them when something's about to go to a tribunal.

Total annual cost: roughly $15,000-$20,000/year — vs $45,000+ for a fractional HR retainer. You get faster answers most of the time, and the human depth when it matters.

FairWork Mate AI is free to try at /advisor — 2 questions per day, no signup. Ask it any compliance question your business has open right now. The answer cites the specific FWC decision or section of the Fair Work Act it's relying on.

If you're convinced after a few queries, the Business tier ($499/mo) bumps you to 300 questions per month, document upload (review your own contracts and warning letters), employer-framed answers, and bulk pay-rate audits.

If you're still on the "do I really not need a human?" question, that's exactly the question to ask FairWork Mate AI. It'll tell you when you need a human — and when you don't.