The cost of the seat
What an employed seat really costs an agency owner, the ATO's contractor super rules, and keeping the calls going in a tough market.
What an employed seat really costs you, and why the calls have to keep going on the days you don't have it in you.
Owning a business right now is hard. Running one is even harder.
During the day you keep up appearances for your team. You run the sales meeting, back your people and keep everyone positive and taking action. Then at night, at home on your own, you run the numbers over and over in your head. Where you'll cut costs. How long the cash will last. Who isn't going to get paid this month. We all know it's you.
That goes for the commission-only agent renting a desk too. The moment you employ a PA or pay a prospector, you're carrying an employer's worries on a commission cheque. And it's no joke working under a commission-only model when sales are slow, or not coming at all.
The hard part is that sales needs the very thing this market wears down. It takes mental strength to keep picking up the phone to people who didn't ask to hear from you, and to keep your team doing it when you don't feel like doing it yourself. That strength is being tested right now in a way a lot of us haven't felt in a long time.
You're not the only one feeling it
The Rise Initiative, the industry's own mental health charity, found in its Revive research that "Australian real estate professionals over-index across nearly all mental wellness health metrics". That was 2020-21, before this market. In July its chair, Nick West, said Rise's "latest data clearly shows that real estate professionals are actively looking for tools to better manage stress and prevent burnout" (Real Estate Business, 9 July 2026).
People reaching for support is a good sign, and the support is there. Rise's Real Care app is free and built for people who work in real estate and their families, and its counselling line gives you up to three free, confidential sessions with a trained counsellor. Use it, and share it with your team.
What a seat really costs
Now, the numbers you're running at night. If you employ a prospector or a PA, the wage is only where the cost starts.
On top of it sits super at 12% of their qualifying earnings, and since 1 July, under Payday Super, it has to reach their fund within seven business days of each payday (ATO). Then there's PAYG withholding and a Single Touch Payroll report on or before every payday, workers compensation insurance, annual and personal leave (when the seat sits empty and the calls stop), and the payroll admin that holds it all together. Payroll tax only applies once your total wages pass your state's threshold, which most small offices never reach. None of that counts the time it takes to recruit someone, train them and keep them motivated on the phones in a market like this.
If your PA or prospector is on an ABN, look closely at this one. The ATO's wording is plain: "If you pay independent contractors mainly for their labour, they are employees for superannuation guarantee (SG) purposes." And: "It doesn't matter if the independent contractor has an Australian business number (ABN)." The ATO's own worked example is a freelance admin assistant who answers phones for 15 hours a week and invoices on an ABN, and super is owed on top of her pay. In May the ATO told small businesses to "Act now by reviewing your contractor arrangements and super payment processes" (ATO, 7 May 2026).
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A service works differently. When you contract a company to do the work, the ATO says you don't have to pay super for the people it employs to do it. The employer obligations for those hours (super, PAYG withholding, workers compensation, leave and payroll admin) sit with the service.
You can buy consistency
What a changing market asks for is consistency: the same calls, made well, every session, however last week went. That's the hardest thing to find in your own office right now, because your people feel the market too.
An onshore team that works as part of yours doesn't carry the day-to-day stress of what's happening inside your business. Our callers aren't in your Monday sales meeting. They don't know whose listings haven't moved or which opens didn't get a buyer. They bring the same energy to every call, and the owners and buyers they speak to hear it. They don't have to sit in the pub with Ned from 11 Smith Street and explain why his property hasn't sold yet.
That takes the pressure off you and your team to perform, at the very time the energy for it is hardest to find. And the conversations add up: in 25/26, one in five of our callers' live conversations became an opportunity for the client, 4,098 from 20,492 (GetConnects call data).
Instead of pressuring yourself or your people, we can carry the load of consistency a changing market needs, with experienced onshore callers working as part of your team on your database: getconnects.com.au
Before you change anything, talk to your accountant about what your seats really cost you and what you're carrying, because every office's numbers are different. Then ask yourself: what is it costing you to keep the calls going on your own?
Is buying consistency the answer you've been looking for?
Steph Molenaar is the Founder and CEO of GetConnects, an onshore prospecting service working across the property industry. Its professional onshore callers work as part of your team, keeping your pipeline full so your best people can focus on closing. We do the calls. You do the deals.
Support is available any time. Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au (24/7, phone and online chat). Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au (24/7, phone and webchat). Real Care Employee Assistance: 1800 808 374, free and confidential for anyone working in real estate and their families.
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