Automating Allowances with Pay Rate Builder

An allowance is an additional payment to an employee for specific job-related conditions or expenses, separate from their regular wages.It covers certain costs or compensates for specific situations. This guides you through the creation of some of the most common varieties. 

Adding an allowance:

For all allowances, you need to go to the Pay Rate Builder, accessible through Business Settings. From here, go to the Pay Rules setting, click Add, then select the relevant type of rule as specified in the examples below. 

Examples

1. A team member is required a particular payment of a certain amount per shift they work.
Common examples of these are laundry or special clothing allowances where a team member is paid per shift or day they work. 

This can be configured using the Shift Allowance calculation type. 

In the above example, this will pay $1.25 every shift the team member works.

If the team member works multiple shifts in a day, use the Advanced Setting Pay Once Per Day to limit the payment to once per day. 

2. A team member is required to be paid a particular payment per period.
Common examples of these are Laundry allowances, liquor license, first aid allowances, tool allowances where a team member is paid a particular amount per week or pay period. 

You can use the Shift Allowance type for this.

In the above example, this team member will be paid a $32 allowance on their first work day of the week. Because it is limited, it will only pay once per week. This period can be configured to meet your businesses requirements.

3. The team member is paid a set amount per an amount of something done
Some team members are paid a particular amount per unit of distance they drive, or for number of sales they have made or similar. 

To do this, we will use the Timesheet Field Payment calculation type. 

Note for this to work, you need a Custom Timesheet Field configured with a field type of Number. This needs to be set up to ask the employee how many kilometres they've driven in a shift, or number of sales,for example. For more help with this step, see here.

Once that is complete, you can configure the rule as below. 

 

In this example, this will pay the user .98c per unit of distance driven (entered in the timesheet), up to a maximum of 100 units. If you do not want an upper limit, set the loading limit to No Limit.

Note that while the team member will be asked to fill this out, it can always be overridden by the timesheet approver in the timesheet.

4. The allowance is contingent on working in a particular area/location

Some allowances are dependent on where a team member works, or in what role. For example, some team members get an additional payment if working in a different role, as compensation for filling in at a higher duty.

Note if the expectation for this is that their entire ordinary rate should rise, it is recommended to use our Pay by Area functionality.

To configure this, use the Shift Allowance similar to example 1. Below this setup is a section on 'Which areas does this pay rule apply'. 

From here you can select particular areas, or enter in the name of the area to do this with any area that matches.

5. The allowance is contingent on completing a particular task / fulfilling a certain role

Some allowances are contingent on the employee fulfilling a particular task or doing a certain thing that doesn't happen every shift. Examples could be in the case of extreme weather, or if the employee is designated to hold a key to close a store or be a designated first aid responder. 

In these cases, it is recommended to make a custom shift field or a custom timesheet field with a Boolean/Checkbox type to determine if they have filled the role. If you wish a scheduling manager to do this ahead of time, use a Custom Shift Field, or if the team member should fill this in use the Custom Timesheet Fields.

Once this is done, you can use the Shift Allowance type as in example 1. From here, in advanced settings you can select required answers in the timesheet and shift custom field answers. 

For example, in the above example, the allowance will only be paid if the team member responds that the day was particularly hot. This can be overriden by the manager in the timesheet.

6. The allowance is contingent on the team member having a particular training record

Some allowances depend on the employee having fulfilled certain training requirements - for example a Responsible Service of Alcohol, certain teaching degrees, first aid qualifications, or many more. 

In these cases, its recommended to add a qualifier to your shift allowance or loading rule based on the training tag in their profile. 

This will only apply to team members that have this training record in their employee profile.

Note this currently does not check the expiration of the training tag.

For more on managing training, click here.

Capping Allowances

All shift loadings can be limited using the Pay Rate Builder. This is normally done to set a maximum limit of how many allowances can be accrued in a shift or a period. Options available are as follows.

Loadings Limit

Determines what sort of limits are applied. No limit will not impose a limit. Limit amount paid per shift will cap the amount paid per timesheet, while Limit amount paid per period restricts the amount over a defined period of time, for example a week. Note for this to work correctly, ensure the first day of the period is before the timesheets you are trying to approve.

Hourly Limit
This determines what sort of limit is applied. Maximum puts an upper range on how much can be paid out, while Minimum puts a lower amount (note - the rule must still trigger, then will pay the minimum value. ) By selecting range, you can set a minimum and a maximum value.

Amount sets how much the limit is.