Create an earning pay code
There are three types of earning payroll instructions. If you wish to enter a number of hours into the input sheet and have the hours calculate at the hourly or salary rate outlined in the employee's compensation policy, you will need to set up an Hourly Earning or a Salary Earning - potentially both. Instructions specific to these setups are outlined underneath the typical earning setup - scroll down for more information.
Add a new payroll instruction (earning or benefit)
1. Select Payroll from the side menu, and then click on Payroll Setup.
2. In the Payroll Instructions tab, click on Add New Earning/Benefit.
Options within the setup screen
1. The first section is titled Details. You will need to enter both the English and French name, as well as a description. If you have no French-speaking employees, these four entries could all be the same. Make sure the Instruction Type is set to Earning.
2. The next section is the Application Policy.
Enabled: You will want to make sure check box is checked to make sure the instruction is usable. If you later decide this payroll instruction should not be used anymore, you can unselect this option to disable it.
All Employees: If this option is selected, all employees will default to have this instruction available. A box will exist on the input sheet for all employees, unless specifically disabled. They will not see the instruction on their statement of earnings unless a value is entered (default or manual). If this box is left unselected, you will need to add this instruction to the employee's who require it via their employee profile.
Value/Formula override: Allowing a value/formula override means you can customize this payroll instruction at an employee level via their employee profile. We suggest you select this.
Schedule: This represents how often you would like the instruction to appear on the input sheet. Most options offer a frequency where the instruction will appear automatically, the option Occasional being the one exception - occasional instructions will never appear automatically, and must be added to the input sheet manually when required.
Generates Value In: Home Department Only means any default values will be entered only into the home department for the employee. If you select All Departments then a box will exist for every department an employee works in (and default values will pre-populate every available box, duplicating values).
3. This brings us to the Payroll Input Sheet section.
Input Value Type: This informs the system what will be entered on the input sheet.
- Hours: If you want to enter hours - please select "Hourly Earning" or "Salary Earning" as the instruction type.
- Money: Depending on the source deduction settings below, money will appear as taxable/insurable/pensionable income.
- None: These entries are used when you are tracking a value not relevant to money or hours
- Percent: Any value entered will be divided by 100, commonly used in combination with a formula calculation
- Units: Commonly used in combination with a formula calculation (2 units at $50 per unit = $100)
Allow input/modification: If this is selected, this instruction will appear on the input sheet. If deselected, you will only be able to change values within the employee profile, and although you will see those values on the register they will not appear on the input sheet. We suggest leaving this selected.
Automatically protect the value on the input sheet: If this is selected, the values will appear on the input sheet, but will be un-editable. The only way to change values is within the employee profile. We suggest leaving this unselected.
Default Value: If you want a value to auto-populate for all employee's who have this instruction (see Applies to in the Application Policy section), enter that value here. Otherwise, a 0 will pre-populate unless a default entry has been specified at an employee level.
Input warning limit: If a value is specified here, any amounts entered that go above that value will produce a warning on the "errors/warnings" report available on the results page of a processed pay run.
Input error limit: If a value is specified here, any amounts entered that go above that value will produce an error on the "errors/warnings" report available on the results page of a processed pay run. Errors must be resolved before a pay run can be approved.
Sort order: This allows you to sort your payroll instructions on the input sheet - smallest number to the left. For more information, check out our How do I organize my payroll instructions article.
4. The Instruction Value represents what formulaic calculations should happen to values entered into this payroll instruction (if any). If you simply want the input to equal the output, select A fixed value or captured by the payroll input sheet. If you want the system to do some math for you before outputting a value, the mathematical formula can be entered by selecting Determined using a formula and entering the calculation in the entry box. If you need assistance entering formulas, please contact our support team. The Formula Code is a unique identifier so this instruction could be a reference in another instructions calculations. We suggest using the instruction name again (spaces will automatically be removed).
5. Now we come to one of the most important sections, the Instruction Behaviour section.
Non-taxable or Taxable: You may want to reference the CRA Benefits and Allowances Chart, to determine if this in-cash amount is taxable.
Periodic or Non-Periodic: If the instruction is taxable, this details how it is taxed. For more information about the difference, check out our article on What are periodic and non-periodic earnings.
Canada Pension Plan (CPP): If this instruction is pensionable, check this box.
Employment Insurance: If this instruction is insurable, check this box.
On the record of employment: You can specify if this earning should map directly into a box on the ROE. If you have questions about this, please contact our support team.
6. The final section is the Regional Settings. Here is where you can specify if this instruction is vacationable and/or stat pay eligible. After saving you can also over-ride the default with region-specific settings.
7. Click Save.
Considerations for Hourly Earnings
Not much changes for an Hourly Earning. The Input value type will be locked to hours, and the On the payroll input sheet will be locked to be selected. You can choose if you want to see the hourly pay rate directly beside the entry using the option Beside the input value (Show the associated pay rate).
Considerations for Salary Earnings
Salary Earnings will also be locked to Input value type of hours.
On the payroll input sheet will now have a new tick box option - Allow adjustment of salary hours. If you wish to change the number of hours worked on the input sheet, ensure this is selected.
Adjust pay for: these checkboxes ensure that the pay the employee receives is increased/reduced if the hours are increased/reduced.
Initial value type: if Regular Salary Hours is entered, this instruction will enter the average hours per pay period for every employee who has a salary compensation policy. If Fixed (default amount) is selected, you can specify how many hours should default. In most instances, this would be 0.
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