Pay Elements

Pay elements are the units of measurement used to record and calculate how much a staff member should be paid. This information can then be exported and then used for payroll. Pay Elements record the pay rate for different jobs. This pay rate is then multiplied by the number of hours/time entries/units in the system to calculate how much each staff member needs to be paid (not taking into account taxes).

Pay elements can be used to configure holiday pay percentages, schedule rate changes, or add corrections for pay. They allow you to use pay items for unit-based pay, track pay rate history for auditing and restrict manual changes via permissions.

Having pay elements helps you to build flexible and automated payroll system that can be tailored to your requirements. 

Creating a Pay Element

You can create pay elements for various staff types under Pay > Pay Settings > Pay Elements. Then, you can select Create Pay Element from the Actions Menu to set up the pay elements and details.

It is important to note that you are able to restrict who can change or manually set the pay element via Permissions. The permission to manage this is called Manually choose or change pay elements per time and allows those with this permission to choose or change pay elements manually per time entry.

Pay Element Details

• Pay Element Title - Give the pay element a recognisable title.
• Hidden? - Checking the box will hide these pay element details from most screens. This is perfect for hiding holiday pay rates.
• Pay Type - This is either Hourly Rate (e.g. staff are paid by the minute) or pay item (staff are paid the rate for each item they have sold/completed). For more detail on pay types, see below.
• Hourly Amount - Determine the hourly amount for this pay element.
• Account Optional: Select the appropriate Account (see Pay Element Accounts for more information).

Holiday Pay

The following settings can be used to help configure Holiday Pay Elements. To see how best to utilise them, visit our article on Holiday Pay Elements.

• Holiday Pay Element: Select whether the Holiday Pay Element is disabled or which pay element is appropriate for the pay element from the existing pay element list.
• Holiday Pay %: If you have selected a Holiday Pay Element, you can choose the percentage of that pay element that will be given to the staff member when they take a holiday. This is entered as a percentage.

You can edit or delete existing Pay Elements from the main list.

Event Triggers

These settings dictate  

Here, you can enable automatic changes to payroll for employees who meet a certain age or have worked for the company for a certain amount of time.

Age-Based Rate Changes

This allows you to automatically change a staff member’s hourly rate once they turn specific ages.

The first step is to ensure we have a date of birth for each staff member. This means that any age-related rules, such as increases in pay, are applied as soon as the DOB is provided in the system.  A DOB is required for the age trigger to work on a staff account. 

To set up a change based on age, simply edit the pay element rates and set an age trigger. Choose the next pay element that the site should change the staff member’s pay to.

On the day the staff member changes to the set age, the site will automatically select all skills for which they are paid the normal rate and will set a bespoke rate to the selected pay element.

Length of Service

Pay Elements can now have Length of Service adjustments within them, allowing the system to automatically change staff between pay elements depending on their length of service.

This can be changed via Pay > Pay Settings. In the actions menu, go to Create a New Pay Element. Under rate of pay, Pay Type should be set to ‘Paid Per Item’. This allows for Length of Service Adjustments.

This is where you set what will trigger an automatic change to pay when a length of service has been met. This can be set to days, weeks, months or years.

Pay Types

Now that we have discussed the basic settings, we will go through in more detail the differences between pay types and when to use each type.

Using Hourly Pay Rates

Hourly pay rates are associated with time entries; a period of time that a staff member was working for you. During this time, they are paid the associated hourly rate.

By default, the hourly rate used is the one set on the skill/role that the staff member is working at. You can also override this on each staff member's account (See Staff Skills).

To add time entries, you can use the clock-in screens or manually add the entries via pages such as the Weekly Timesheet and Unprocessed Pay.

Using Pay Items

Pay Items allow you to pay staff for a unit rather than an hour of work. You can specify each of your pay items and how much each item is worth in currency. You can then assign the pay items to skills/roles that can be rewarded via that pay item so that you are able to quickly pay staff their commission (or bonuses).

This option is often used in situations where a bulk sum is agreed upon for a service as opposed to being paid for hours worked. It is useful for freelancers where an agreed-upon amount has been given for a job or finished product. This can either be added by Skill or added via unprocessed pay.

It is also useful for salaried staff who are doing these shifts additionally and will be paid a lump sum for doing a night shift rather than an hourly rate. 

Remember, before you can assign a Pay Item, you must have first created the Pay Element and set the Pay Type as Pay Item.

Assigning Pay Items via Unprocessed Pay

Once created, you can either manually add the pay items via Unprocessed Pay or by assigning the pay item rates to skills and using the quick Add Pay Items page. For the Unprocessed Pay method, click Actions > Add Unlisted Pay Item. Choose who to assign the item to and the total number of items to add. 

Add Pay Items via Skills

For the Add Pay Items via Skill method, you need to assign the pay items to skills so the system knows which ones apply to different staff in your business. To do this, go to Staff > Staff Settings > Manage Skills and click Edit next to the skill you want to change.

Then, under the Pay tab, you will see the default hourly rate plus the option to add Pay Per Item Rates. Select all of the pay item rates you wish to offer to those staff. Once saved, you can now add pay items to the skill. Go to Pay > Add Pay Items.

You will be asked to select a skill to use.

You’ll then see a grid with all of your staff listed on the left and all of the pay items across the top. Simply use the boxes to enter how many pay items you want each staff member to receive.

The system will calculate the total value for you and inform you of any previously assigned pay items that have not yet been paid. This will help to prevent duplication.

Once added, pay items will be included in wage sheets as per hourly rates and exported to your payroll system as simple units per rate.

You are also able to exclude certain pay elements from wage sheets.
This is perfect for salaried or volunteer hours. Simply enable it under the Pay Element’s details page.

Mileage/Expense Claims

Pay Elements can also be used for expense claims. Expense claims will cover anything that can be covered under company expenses, such as food and drink, hotels and flights for business trips, and necessary equipment for workers. You can have multiple pay elements for different types of claims or for different cost centres that you wish to report on. When a staff member logs an expense claim, they will be required to submit a receipt.

Another form of Pay Element is a mileage claim. This will apply to staff driving as part of their role. This is simple to make, and often companies only need to make one mileage pay element. All you need to do here is set up how much you want to pay staff per mile, i.e. 45p per mile. You might need to create different mileage claims for different types of vehicles, such as motorcycles or vans.

For more information on setting these up, go to our section on setting up expenses.

Adjusting Pay Rates

Once you have created your Pay Element, if you go back to adjust the hourly pay rate, the system will ask if it is a correction or a scheduled change. A correction will change the current hourly rate and any unprocessed hourly rates to match the new rate.

The New Rate option creates a new hourly rate, which you can apply instantly or at a set date or time.

The system will also record all changes to the hourly rates and correctly select the right hourly rate historically for any time entry added in the past or the future.

Pay Rate History

Pay elements now have a history of rates so that you can see history and remove any incorrect entries
Useful for checking (or correcting) changes in pay amounts and keeping track of what has been changed. This option will only appear once changes have been made to the hourly rate.

This can be found under the Rate History button to view the history of that pay element.