The Short Answer
An employee works in another business. An independent contractor generally operates her own business and supplies services to someone else.
The words in the offer do not settle the question by themselves. An ABN, an invoice or a contract that says contractor is not enough to decide the relationship.
The applicable legal test can depend on the type and location of the business, when the work occurred and the circumstances of the relationship. This guide can help you identify the questions, but it cannot determine your status or interpret your contract.
The Evolved employs coaches and has a commercial interest in this topic. We still think a genuine contractor business can be the better model for someone who wants the control and responsibility that come with operating it.
You Are Comparing Two Different Questions
First ask: what is the working relationship?
Then ask: is the commercial offer any good?
Those are not the same question. A genuine employee role can be poorly designed, and a genuine contractor arrangement can be commercially attractive.
Gym rent, a percentage split, rent-free access and per-session payment describe how money or facility access works. They do not decide by themselves whether the trainer is an employee or a contractor.
For the wider map of employment, contracting, gym rent, mobile coaching, online delivery and ownership, read Ways to Make Money as a Personal Trainer in Australia. This article stays with the working relationship.
Employee and Contractor Offers: What to Compare
This table describes common differences in the commercial offer. It does not determine anyone's legal status.
| Factor | An employee role may provide | A genuine contractor business may involve |
|---|---|---|
| Clients and pricing | The business attracts clients, sets prices and allocates work. | The trainer attracts clients, sets or negotiates prices and manages the client relationship. |
| Hours and methods | The business may roster hours and set service standards. | The trainer may negotiate when and how an agreed service is supplied. |
| Commercial risk | The business carries facility, acquisition and quiet-period risk. | The trainer carries business costs and the risk that revenue does not cover them. |
| Systems and equipment | The business may supply the facility, systems and tools required for the role. | The trainer supplies or pays for what her business needs to deliver the service. |
| Pay and entitlements | Pay and entitlements depend on the applicable law, award, agreement and employment type. | The service fee must cover tax, insurance, administration, unpaid time and other business costs. |
| Work around sessions | Required preparation, meetings, records and follow-up form part of the employment arrangement. | The contracted price and terms need to account for the work required to supply the service. |
Real offers can combine these features in different ways. Use the table to expose what needs clarification, then assess the complete written and practical arrangement.
What Factors Can Matter?
Current Fair Work guidance says different tests can apply. Depending on the applicable test, relevant factors can include control, financial risk, tools and equipment, delegation, hours and whether the work is expected to continue.
There is usually no single deciding factor. Use the following questions to understand the offer, not to score your own legal result.
Who controls the work?
Who sets the hours, location, prices, service standards and way the work is performed?
A contractor may agree to limits with a client or facility. The question is whether she is genuinely operating her own business within the arrangement, not whether she has complete freedom.
Who carries financial risk?
Who loses money when demand is quiet, a client cancels, a payment fails or extra work is required?
Is the trainer paid for time or an agreed service, or does she pay fixed costs before she has earned revenue?
Who supplies what is needed?
Who supplies the facility, equipment, booking system, programming system, insurance and client-management tools?
Supplying one item does not decide the relationship. Look at the arrangement as a whole.
Can the work be delegated?
Can the trainer engage someone else to supply the service, or is the offer specifically for her personal labour and skill?
In personal training, member trust and qualification requirements may place legitimate limits around substitution. The written and practical arrangement still needs to make clear whose business is delivering the service.
Who finds and owns the client relationship?
Who attracts the enquiry, makes the sale, sets the price, collects the payment and handles refunds or cancellations?
Who may contact the client after the arrangement ends? Client access is not the same thing as owning the client relationship.
Are the hours set or negotiated?
Does the business roster the trainer for continuing shifts, or does the trainer negotiate when and how she supplies an agreed service?
Variable or casual hours do not automatically make someone a contractor. Short-term work does not decide the relationship either.
What Do Gym Rent and Percentage Splits Actually Tell You?
A trainer may pay fixed rent for access to a gym, share a percentage of client revenue, supply contracted sessions to a business or work as an employee. These layers can overlap.
Imagine two offers both called contractor.
In one, the trainer sets her prices, builds her own client base, chooses her schedule, carries quiet-period risk and pays the gym for access. In the other, the business sets the price and roster, supplies every client, directs the service and pays the trainer a session amount.
That comparison does not decide either person's legal status. It shows why the same label can hide very different allocations of control, risk and business responsibility.
Count the Coaching Work Around the Session
A personal-training appointment is not the whole coaching job.
At The Evolved, useful coaching includes understanding the member's starting point, reviewing the programme, preparing the session, coaching and adjusting it, recording what happened, reviewing the result and improving what happens next.
That chain matters when you compare an offer.
- Who supplies the assessment and programming system?
- Who reviews the member information before the appointment?
- Who records what was actually completed?
- Who reviews progress and decides what should happen next?
- Who communicates with the member between sessions?
- Who provides feedback that improves the coach?
In an employee role, required work needs to be identified and paid according to the applicable employment rules. In a genuine contractor arrangement, the price and terms need to account for the business work required to supply the service.
Do not compare an employee's hourly wage with a contractor's session fee while ignoring preparation, records, administration, client acquisition, direct costs and quiet periods.
What Changes Around Pay, Leave, Tax, Insurance and Super?
Employees and contractors do not receive the same rights and carry the same responsibilities.
Employees may receive minimum pay and conditions, leave or casual-loading arrangements and super through their employment, depending on the applicable law, award, agreement, classification and employment type.
Contractors generally negotiate their service fee and manage business responsibilities such as tax, invoicing and applicable insurance. They do not simply receive the employee entitlements that attach to an employment relationship.
Super needs its own check. The Australian Taxation Office explains that some people described as contractors may still be employees for super-guarantee purposes when they are paid mainly for their personal labour and skills.
An ABN does not settle that question either.
What About Meetings, Training and Other Required Work?
Ask what happens outside paid appointments before you accept the headline rate.
If a person is an employee, Fair Work says training done as part of the job must be paid, and compulsory meetings can count as time worked. Its unpaid-work guidance explains the general boundary.
For a contractor, ask whether meetings, training, lead follow-up, cleaning, administration or member communication are required to supply the contracted service and whether the agreed price accounts for that work.
The answer may affect the commercial value of the offer.
What If the Label and Relationship Do Not Seem to Match?
Sham contracting can occur when a worker is represented as a contractor but is legally an employee, and the business does not reasonably believe she is one. It is unlawful.
That is a legal conclusion, not a label to apply to an offer after reading one checklist. Fair Work says it cannot decide a person's status and recommends legal help when the position is unclear.
Some independent contractors may also be able to ask the Fair Work Commission about unfair terms in eligible services contracts. The route depends on matters including the contract date, earnings and constitutional connection.
If you are concerned about your arrangement, keep the complete agreement, later variations, rosters, invoices, messages and records of what actually happens. Take them to Fair Work, a union, an industry association or an appropriately qualified workplace adviser rather than relying on a general article.
Questions to Ask Before You Say Yes
You do not need to conduct a courtroom analysis before accepting a role. You do need clear answers about the work.
- Who is the legal entity offering the arrangement?
- Is it described as employment, contracting, rent, licence or a combination?
- Who sets prices, hours, methods and service standards?
- Who finds the clients, collects payment and manages cancellations?
- Which preparation, coaching, recording, meetings and follow-up are required?
- How is that work paid or included in the contractor price?
- Who carries the facility, insurance, tax, equipment and quiet-period costs?
- What can each party change, and how can each party end the arrangement?
Clear answers do not prove that an arrangement is legally correct. They make the commercial offer easier to understand and show where qualified advice may be useful.
The Evolved's Position
The Evolved is a Brisbane women's strength gym and coaching business. We employ coaches rather than engaging them as subcontractors.
The business takes primary responsibility for marketing, sales, onboarding, the facility and the operating systems. Coaches remain responsible for preparation, learning, communication, member care, coaching quality, retention contribution and team standards.
That is our chosen model, not proof that employment is right for every trainer. A genuine contractor business may suit someone who wants greater control over positioning, prices, clients and business assets and is ready to carry the acquisition, administration and financial responsibility.
This article is not a job advertisement and does not promise a vacancy, hours, clients, income or future ownership.
If you are comparing a real first role, continue to How to Choose Your First Personal Trainer Job in Brisbane. It helps you assess development, clients, pay, member standards and what the workplace expects from you.
If you first need to decide whether employment belongs in your career at all, read Can You Build a Personal Training Career Without Running a Business?.
Sources and Review
The legal and commercial information was checked on 14 August 2026 against current Fair Work independent-contractor guidance, the whole-of-relationship factors, business.gov.au employee-or-contractor guidance, ATO contractor-super guidance, Fair Work unpaid-work guidance and the Fair Work Commission unfair-contract-terms jurisdiction.
This is general educational information, not legal, tax, financial or employment advice. It cannot determine whether you are an employee or contractor or interpret a particular contract.
If you spot a factual error or a statement that needs clarification, email [email protected].
