About Australian Workforce

Early 90s

The beginning of our company is, in fact, a love story.
A boy meets a girl. They fall in love. The girl was working for a big telco in Australia, and the boy was a young businessman running a nightclub. Things were going well, but over time the girl didn’t want the boy to remain a “nightclub man.” Her reasons were simple: “Whenever I’m awake you’re asleep. Whenever you’re awake I’m asleep.” A fair point. “Also, there are too many girls in your nightclub!” Another argument—reasonable or not.

The boy decided to let go of the nightclub and start a recruitment and labour hire business so he could work similar hours to her. That was the birth of Australian Workforce—a home-based business in Ivanhoe, Victoria, with just one and a half people: the owner and a part-timer, working out of the second bedroom of a two-bedroom unit.

Initially, we supplied staff to just one company, Mail Management, a direct marketing business owned by an associate. I had previously worked in this industry as a part-time worker while studying at RMIT University in Melbourne. The direct marketing industry is very deadline-driven. Sometimes day shifts, which usually finished at 3 pm, could not complete the jobs on time. The arrangement was that I would go in with my team and finish everything that wasn’t done, no matter how long it took. Sometimes we finished by 11 pm, sometimes 8 am the next morning. Whatever it took—the outcome was that Mail Management never missed a deadline. Every single job was delivered on time and to a high standard.

Within a short period, Mail Management grew from a small business into a $10 million operation. I was around 23 years old with about 20 casual workers under me. I worked closely with the owner and senior staff—we became not only business associates but lifelong friends.


Mid 90s

Our first non-home-based office opened in Moorabbin, Victoria. Before that, I was looking for office space because the two-bedroom unit could no longer fit additional staff.

I still remember the day I inspected the premises. It was a good office—boardroom and partitions already in place. The rent was about $1,000 a month, which at the time was a lot of money. The agent asked how many staff I had. I said, “Just myself and one part-timer.” He asked why I needed such a big office for so few people. I didn’t answer. I just said, “I’ll take it.”

Within two years, we had 12 staff in that office.

Our main customer was still Mail Management in Cheltenham, Victoria. A few years later, that company was sold to one of the wealthiest families in Australia, owners of multiple businesses including the well-known cosmetics brand Australis.

That sale opened huge opportunities for Australian Workforce. Suddenly, we were supplying staff not only to Mail Management but to half a dozen other companies owned by that family. By then, Mail Management was itself a $10 million+ operation.

These exclusive agreements with multimillion-dollar companies pushed Australian Workforce well past the million-dollar mark. By around 28 years of age, I was managing a multimillion-dollar operation with over 300 casual staff in a 12-month period.

At that time, group certificates had to be written manually on triplicate forms supplied by the Tax Office. Most small businesses collected a handful of forms from the post office. We had to order boxes of them directly from the Tax Office because we had so many workers. Later, one of our clients even won the contract from the Tax Office to post these forms nationwide—and it was Australian Workforce staff who organised the mailout to all 800,000 employers across the country.

Mid 2000s

By now, we were well established and servicing clients across Victoria and interstate. We opened a small office in Lakemba, Sydney, while running multiple offices in Victoria. I often travelled interstate to meet clients and staff.

Late 2000s

We started our own direct marketing and contract packing business in Dandenong, Victoria. On a busy day, more than 60 people worked there. Our clients included some of the biggest brands at the time—Cadbury, Schweppes, Nylex, The Body Shop, Mars, Decore, Tecnica, Kärcher, and more.

It was a massive daily operation with trucks, pallets, forklifts, and machines running non-stop. Eventually, in the late 2000s, we decided to sell this part of the business to focus fully on recruitment.

2020s and Onwards

In 2021 we started our Sri Lankan support office, providing 24/7 backup services. In 2023 we expanded further, supplying services in New Zealand. Today, we service all of Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka.

In addition to recruitment, we now provide offshore remote staff, payroll management, HR consulting, bookkeeping, and more.

At Australian Workforce, we aim to be the best in everything we do.