Working hostels in Australia: how they work, red flags

What is a working hostel?

A working hostel is a hostel in a farm town that also helps its guests find work. Usually that means farm work like picking, packing, pruning or planting. You pay rent like at any hostel, and the hostel uses its contacts with local growers to get you onto a roster.

They’re popular with backpackers doing their 88 days. You turn up in a town where you don’t know anyone, and someone else does the job hunting. A good one can get you working within days. A bad one can leave you paying rent for weeks with nothing to show for it.

Working hostel isn’t an official category, and there’s no special licence to be one. Any hostel can call itself a working hostel. That’s why it pays to check before you book.

How do working hostels get you farm work?

Each hostel works a bit differently, but most fit one of two set-ups. Ask which one you’re walking into, because it changes who pays you and who you complain to if something goes wrong.

• The farm employs you. The hostel passes your name to a grower, and the grower hires you and pays you directly. You get payslips from the farm.
• The hostel (or a contractor it works with) employs you. The hostel supplies workers to the farm and pays you itself. In Queensland, a hostel that supplies workers to farms like this needs a labour hire licence.
• Either way, the hostel often drives guests to the farm. Some charge for transport, so ask how much it costs and whether it comes out of your pay.
• Most keep a waiting list. New guests start at the bottom, and jobs go to people as growers ask for workers.
• Rent is usually paid weekly, often a week in advance. A normal refundable key or room bond is fine. A fee for being given a job is not.

Are working hostels a scam? The red flags

Most aren’t. Plenty of working hostels have placed backpackers on farms for years and do it well. But this is also where a lot of backpackers get ripped off, so walk away if you see any of these.

• A “job guarantee” deposit or placement fee. The Fair Work Ombudsman says asking someone to pay money in return for a job offer is likely to be unreasonable, which makes it unlawful. If you’re asked to pay for a job, treat that as the warning sign.
• More guests than roster spots. If the hostel has 60 beds and the farms it works with only need 20 people, most guests will be waiting. Ask how many guests are working right now.
• Long waits while the rent keeps coming. “Work starts next week” for three weeks running usually means there isn’t any.
• No payslips. Your employer has to give you a payslip within one working day of pay day. Without payslips it’s much harder to prove your days for your visa, or what you were paid.
• Holding your passport. No hostel or employer needs to keep it. Show it, let them copy it, and take it back.
• Cash-only pay, or pay below the minimum. Under the Horticulture Award, piece rates (per bin or per bucket) come with a minimum wage guarantee, so you can’t earn less than the minimum hourly rate for the hours you work. Check current rates on the Fair Work site.
• Pressure to pay for several weeks upfront before you’ve seen the room or met anyone.
• Promises to “sign off” your 88 days for a fee. Nobody can buy you a visa. Home Affairs looks at the work you did, where you did it and your evidence, like payslips and bank records.

Questions to ask a working hostel before you pay

Ring or message before you book. A good hostel will answer these happily. If they dodge them, that tells you something too.

• How many guests are staying, and how many are working right now?
• How long is the current wait for work, roughly?
• Which farms do you work with, and what crops are they picking this month?
• Who will employ me and pay me: the farm, the hostel or a contractor?
• Will I get payslips, and how often am I paid?
• Is the pay hourly or piece rate? If it’s piece rate, how do you make sure it meets the minimum?
• Do you charge for transport to the farm, and how much?
• What’s the weekly rent, what’s the bond, and is the bond refundable?
• If there’s no work for a week, do I still pay full rent?
• Is the farm’s postcode eligible for the second or third year visa?

Working hostels in Queensland: where to look

Queensland has lots of working hostels, mainly in the vegetable and fruit towns from Bundaberg and Childers up to Bowen, Ayr, Tully and the Atherton Tablelands.

Some councils point you to local options, and that’s a better starting point than a random ad. Burdekin Shire Council (Ayr and Home Hill, south of Townsville) runs a “Pick The Burdekin” page that links to places to stay and to work and stay options. Check the council site for what’s current.

If a Queensland hostel will be employing you and supplying you to farms, ask for its labour hire licence number and check it with Labour Hire Licensing Queensland (labourhire.qld.gov.au). A grower that hires you and pays you directly doesn’t need one.

Farm towns with working hostels

These are the farm towns we cover. Many have a hostel or caravan park that helps guests find work, but that changes from season to season. Open the town page for crops, seasons and getting there, and read recent reviews of any hostel before you book. Seasons are rough and move with the weather.

How to book a working hostel (and when not to)

Book one or two nights first, not a month. Use the time to talk to guests who are already working. They’ll tell you more about the wait and the farms than any website.

Read the most recent reviews, not the average score. Look at the last few months, and look for words like “waiting”, “no work”, “payslips” and “bond”. Things change quickly when a hostel gets new owners or loses a big grower.

Arrive a week or so before a town’s main harvest starts. That’s when hostels and farms are filling rosters, and when you’re least likely to sit around.

Finding farm work without a working hostel

You don’t need a working hostel to get farm work. Lots of growers hire directly and will be happy you found them yourself. You can then stay wherever is cheapest, like a regular hostel, a caravan park or a share house.

Browse farm jobs on our jobs board and filter for work that counts toward your 88 days. You can also add yourself to our list of backpackers looking for work, so growers who need people can find you.

• Jobs board: filter by state and for 88-day work.
• Add yourself as available, with your dates, location and experience.
• Join the local Facebook group for the town you’re heading to.
• Turn up early in the season and ask at farms and packing sheds.