Understanding pay items and allowances

When building a new Award or Agreement, or even when adding a new Allowance, you have the option to set Allowances that will automatically apply when specific conditions are met. These conditions include:

• Automatically applying when shifts are approved
• Applying when an employee works a specific amount of overtime
• Adding an Allowance when employees work multiple shifts

Once triggered, these Allowances will be applied directly to the employee's payslip; as such, they skip the Approve Shifts process. This means you will not see them attached to shifts in Approve shifts. If you need to update or remove an Allowance, you’ll need to edit the employee's payslip.

Automating your Allowances from the Award means they can be applied to all employees or just those in specific positions; however, this does depend on the type of automation. This allows you to apply wide-scale changes and saves you from having to assign Allowances to each employee individually.  

Best practice for this method is to use Allowances, with Hourly, Daily, Shift or Weekly intervals. Common use cases of this method include:

• Role-specific Allowances - Such as Supervisor, Site Manager, or Laundry Allowances
• Qualification Allowances - Such as Tool or First Aid Allowances
• Multiple Shift Allowances - Such as Split Shift, or Broken Shift Allowances
• Overtime Allowances - Meal Allowance

  Hot tip: When Allowances and Pay Items are used in this method, they will correspond to the cost code or purchase order associated with the shift they are linked to. 
 

Mandatory allowances

When creating or editing Allowance, you have a choice to mark an Allowance as mandatory for specific (or all) positions. This can be beneficial for Hourly, Daily, Shift or Weekly Allowances, as they will be applied automatically when shifts are approved.

• For example, if an employee has 5 shifts on different days approved, then 5 Daily Allowances will be added directly to their payslip. 

This setting automatically applies the Allowance to every shift that meets the interval's criteria. If the Allowance should only apply to some shifts and not others, it's best to set the Allowance as optional.

• For example, if an Allowance only applies for afternoon shifts or weekends, then it is best to make it optional. The Allowance can be rostered for these shifts instead. Please see the section below for further details. 

  Please note: Allowances aren't capped by dollar amount or number of shifts. So, if an employee works 6 days in a week, they'll get 6 Daily Allowances. Ensure your payroll team verifies this information before generating payslips. 

  For further reading about setting up your Allowances and marking them as mandatory, please refer to our article on Editing Allowances. 

Split shift allowances

It can be common in some Awards for your employees to receive an Allowance when they work multiple shifts in a day. This Allowance can also be referred to as a Split Shift or Broken Shift Allowance.

Once set up in your Award, this type of Allowance can be automatically applied when a second shift begins within a specified timeframe of the first one ending. This includes any shifts worked across different rosters and operations.

• For example, if an employee has a shift ending at 11 am and starts another shift at 1 pm. 
  
  In this case, a Split Shift Allowance will be automatically applied to the employee's payslip as the second shift started within 3 hours of the first shift ending. 

  For more information about Split Shift Allowances and how they can be applied in your platform, please refer to our article on Award Settings. 

Overtime meal allowances

Depending on your Award or Agreement, your employees may be entitled to a specific Meal Allowance based on the amount of overtime worked. 

You can set up these Allowances in the pay rules of your Award for each position. This allows you to specify the amount of overtime an employee must work before an Allowance is applied, which includes multiple Allowances. 

• For example, an employee has worked a 13-hour day, with 8 hours at ordinary time and the remaining 5 hours as overtime. 
  
  In this case, as more than 4 hours of overtime were worked, a Meal Allowance was directly applied to the employee's payslip.

  Please note: When the Pay Type is set to Overtime, this Allowance will apply to any overtime triggered, not just when the employee exceeds their daily maximum ordinary hours. 

  For more information about how to set up and manage Meal Allowances in positions, please refer to our article Build or Update an Award or Agreement. 

If an Allowance is intended for a single employee or a specific group, you can set it up directly from their profile. This is typically seen with senior management or employees with special negotiated terms.

The benefit of using this method is that it allows you to use the same position for multiple employees while applying the Allowance only to those you choose. Also, you can customise the pay rate for each employee. 

These Allowances will be applied directly to the payslip; as such, they will not be available in Approve Shifts. They'll be accessible as soon as the payslip is ready, whether that's after approving shifts or once a week for salaried employees.

Best practice for this method is to use Allowances, with Hourly, Daily, Shift or Weekly intervals. Common use cases of this method include:

• Qualification Allowances - Such as a Tool or First Aid Allowances
• Expense Allowances - Such as Phone, Internet or First Aid Allowances 
• Pay Items - Directors' Fees

 Hot tip: When Allowances and Pay Items are used in this manner, they will correspond to the cost code or purchase order associated with the position to which they are linked.

There are 2 ways in which Allowances can be added to employee profiles, these are:

• Individually per employee
• In bulk, using an import

We'll look at both of these methods below. 
 

Add Allowances Individually per Employee

Adding Allowances directly from an employee's profile is really simple!

This method is beneficial if you're only dealing with a small number of employees, need to adjust an allowance, or want to update an employee's position.

To add an Allowance to an Employee's Profile: 

1. Navigate to People > Approved People or search for an employee to open their Employee Profile. Then select the Employee Card icon > Allowances tab.
2. In the Award field, select the relevant Award that relates to the employee.
   
    Warning: The Award you select must match the Award set in the employee's position. If it does not match, the Allowance will not trigger. 
3. Next, in the Allowance field, select the relevant Allowance. 
   
     Hot tip: If the relevant Allowance does not appear, it may not have been set up or may not have been set up correctly. You can read more about how to set up the Allowance in Pay Items and Allowances here. If you don't have the required permissions to do so, you'll need to contact a Super User administrator.
4. Once an Allowance has been selected, the rate field will populate automatically with the rate set in the Award. Optionally, you can edit these fields or move to the next step. 
   • Rate - Specify a pay rate per Allowance to be paid. 
   • Label (optional) - Custom label for the Allowance that appears on payslips. If left blank, the Allowance will display as the name listed.
   • Quantity (optional)- This allows you to specify how many Allowances are to be applied.  Updating this field will affect how the Allowance triggers. Please review the options below:
     • Specifying a quantity - Sets a fixed amount for the Allowance to be applied to the payslips; it does not specify a cap. 
       
       For example, if 5 is entered in the Quantity field for a Tool Allowance, then 5 Tool Allowances will be applied to the employee's payslip each pay period. This applies regardless of the number of days or shifts worked. 
        
     • Leaving it blank - The amount of the Allowance will depend on the interval of the Allowance and approved shift details, or the work pattern for salaried employees. 
       
       For example, if a Daily Allowance has been added to an employee's profile. It will be applied for each day that shifts are approved. This means, if an employee works 6 days, they will receive 6 Allowances.
5. To save, select Save Allowances. The Allowance will now appear automatically in the employee's payslip, moving forward. For any current draft payslips, reprocess them to apply the changes. 

Import Allowances for Multiple Employees

If your company uses profile Allowances for a large portion of your staff, it's a good idea to utilise the Employee Profile Allowances import. This tool can update, edit, and remove profile Allowances all at once.

Here are some reasons you might consider using this import:

• Moving between payroll software
• Forgot to update Allowances as part of your rate rise
• Assign positions in bulk when conducting mass recruitment
• Remove Allowances from multiple employee profiles at once

  For the full instructions on how to import and update employee profile Allowances, please refer to our guide Import Employee Profile Allowances.

Rostering your Allowances is an effective way to manage Allowances that are only applicable for specific shifts, such as when an employee performs particular tasks, takes on higher duties, or does a sleepover shift. 

By using Allowances this way, you can roster your employees with the same position but only apply the Allowance when necessary.

Key benefits of rostering with Allowances are that:

• Planning ahead makes things easier—if you know a shift requires an Allowance, you can assign it from the start.
• Allowances on rostered shifts will automatically carry over to Approve Shifts when published, reducing the risk of human error.
• Roster Templates let you save your rostered Allowances for quick loading when creating new rosters.

  Hot tip: When Allowances and Pay Items are used in conjunction with this method, they will apply the cost code or purchase order associated with the shift. 

Best practice for this method is to use allowances, with Daily, Shift or Hourly intervals. Common use cases of this method include:

• Shift-specific Allowances - Such as a Sleepover Allowance or On-Call Allowance
• Task-based Allowances - Such as Tool, Nauseous Work, Dangerous Goods Allowances
• Role-specific Allowances - Such as Site Manager, First Aid, and Supervisor Allowances 

  Hot tip: Any shifts on your roster with an Allowance attached will be denoted by the Allowance (hand) icon shown below. 

  For further reading on how to add Allowances when rostering, please refer to our article on Roster Building & Publishing. 

The next way Allowances can be added to a shift is when employees submit their own Allowances. This is done through the Submit Shifts feature, where they can either add Allowances to a shift they are submitting (for non-salaried employees only) or add a separate Weekly Allowance.

This allows employees to handle their Allowances directly, which is especially useful for Allowances that cannot be added in advance when rostering. 

Key benefits of having your employees submit Allowances include:

• Empowers your employees to manage their Allowances responsibly
• Allowances submitted by employees automatically carry over to Approve Shifts, allowing for a quick review
• For your salaried employees, it allows them to submit Weekly Allowances for approval 

Best practice for this method is used for Allowances with the following intervals:

• km (value by candidate) - Used for Allowances such as Car or Travel Allowances.
• hour (value by candidate) -  This interval allows employees to specify the quantity of the Allowance to be added. It can be used for Allowances such as Sleep Disturbance or Accommodation.
• Weekly Allowances - This can be used for a Phone or Internet Allowance.

  Hot tip: When Allowances and Pay Items are used in conjunction with this method, they will apply the cost code or purchase order associated with the shift. 

  For further reading on how you can set up and how your employee can use the Submit Shifts feature, please refer to our article on Submit Shifts. 

Once Allowances are published on the roster or submitted by employees through the Submit Shifts feature, they will automatically appear in the Approve Shifts page.

From there, managers will need to review the Allowances to ensure they are accurate. To do this, your managers can:

• Approve Weekly Allowances
• Approve any other Allowances by approving the shift to which they are added
• Edit existing Allowances or add new ones to shifts as needed
• Add any Weekly Allowances by selecting '+ Weekly Item' button

  Hot tip: You can also filter for shifts with Allowances by selecting the 'Only shifts with allowances' checkbox.

In addition to editing existing Allowances, you might need to add new ones when approving shifts. This is especially important if you don't use the Submit Shifts feature, because employees won't be able to add their own Allowances when necessary.

Common Allowances added in Approve Shifts include:

• km (value by candidate) Allowances - Used for Allowances such as Car or Travel Allowances
• hour (value by candidate) Allowances -  This interval allows you to specify the quantity of the Allowance to be added. It can be used for Allowances such as Sleep Disturbance or Accommodation
• Pay Items - Tips, Commissions, and Bonuses

  Hot tip: When Allowances and Pay Items are used in conjunction with this method, they will apply the cost code or purchase order associated with the shift. 

For further reading about adding and editing Allowances in Approve Shifts, please refer to our article here. 

Having Allowances on an employee's payslip is always the goal to make sure they're paid correctly. If needed, you can add and edit Allowances directly to payslips. This way of applying Allowances is convenient for one-time situations or when you want to add Allowances that can't be automated from other parts of your platform.

Most Allowances can be automatically included in your employees' payslips, but it depends on how you handle them in your platform. It's always a good idea to double-check before making any changes to the payslips.

Some of the automated processes, covered in the section above, that add allowances to draft payslips include:

• When shifts or Weekly Allowances are approved in Approve Shifts
• Automatically from the Award's Pay Rules
• Applied directly to the payslip from the Employee's Profile setup

  Hot tip: When Allowances and Pay Items are used with these methods, you must select the required cost code or purchase order. If no code is added, then this will be reflected in your financial reporting. 

There are 2 ways in which Allowances can be added to draft payslips:

• Individually, by editing the required payslip
• In bulk, using an import

We'll look at both of these methods below. 
 

Add Allowances to payslips

Adding Allowances directly to your payslips provides a quick way to include one-off Allowances. This approach is commonly used when you need to add or update Allowances on a per-payslip basis during your pre-payroll checks.

Here are some common reasons why you would use this method:

• To add backpay from a previous pay period
• To add a bonus or commission to select employees
• To edit any Allowances that have a set cap

  Please note: This method can be used to manage Allowances for both draft and generated payslips. However, we recommend making this change last in your payroll process, as it can be overwritten when you reprocess any payslips. 

  For further reading about adding and editing Allowances on payslips, please refer to our article here. 

Import Allowances to draft payslips

The Allowance Import feature is an invaluable tool for managing Allowances on your draft payslips. It simplifies the process of adding new Allowances, making edits to existing ones, and removing Allowances that are no longer needed.

Here are some reasons why you may consider using this import:

• To add or remove Allowances on a large scale 
• Applying Allowances that are unable to be automated using any other process

Common Allowances or Pay Items you might add this way include:

• Tips
• Piece rate Allowances
• Commissions or annual bonuses for a large portion of employees

  Please note: This method can only add, edit, or delete Allowances from draft payslips. If you require an update to a generated payslip, this must be done via an edit or adjustment. 

 For further reading about adding Allowances to payslips using the import, please refer to our article here. 

The Allowances Paid Report is a handy tool that lets you easily see which Allowances have been paid out after you've processed your payroll.

Common use cases for this report include viewing:

• Which Allowances have been paid to employees
• The total value of each Allowance that has been paid in a specific period
• How many of each Allowance have been paid during a particular period
• The frequency (interval) of the Allowance being paid

  Permission Reminder: 'View Employee Pay Rates' and 'View Financial Report Centre'

To Run a Paid Allowance Report:

1. From the quick menu, navigate to Reports > Financial, and in the Payroll Reports subsection, select Allowances Paid.
   
   
2. Apply any filters required for this report. These filters include: 
   • Filter From Date - Select a date range to filter the earliest results. 
   • Filter To Date - Select a date range to filter the latest results. 
   • Specific Allowances - Filter for specific Allowances, e.g. Laundry Allowance. 
   • Filter by Office Codes - Filter for employees under a specific paying entity. 
   • Specific Employees - Filter to see Allowances paid to particular employees. 
   • Cash Basis - By default, this report shows Allowances based on the pay period in which they were applied. If you select Cash Basis, it'll filter the report to only show Allowances paid during your specified time frame.
     
       To learn about whether Cash or Accrual Basis suits your business needs, please read more about it here. 
3. To generate the report, select Search. 
4. This report can be exported to CSV, Excel or Print by selecting the corresponding button.

For your reporting needs, there are a few additional options available to you that you can refer to to see your Allowances. These options are:

  Permission Reminder: 'View Employee Pay Rates' and 'View Financial Report Centre' permissions are required for the following reports. 

• Labour Management Report (LMR)
  • This report is useful as a pre-payroll report, as it will allow you to check which Allowances have been applied either from the Roster, to Approve Shifts, or triggered from the Pay Rules (e.g Meal Allowances). 
  • This report will not display Profile Allowances or Payslip edits. Additionally, Salaried Employees will only show after their payslip has been created. 
  • You can locate this report from Reports > Financial> Labour Management. 
• Payslip Export
  • The payslip export is another method of checking your Allowances before generating payslips. 
  • From the payslip export, you can see a complete breakdown of the amount and quantity of each Allowance being paid for a specific pay period. 
  • You can locate this export from Payroll > Pay > Select relevant payslips > Download > CSV. Just remember to select the appropriate options from the Line Item section. 
• Advanced Payroll Activity Report (APAR)
  • This report is a post-payroll report, as it reports on all Allowances that have been paid, in addition to all other line items included on employees' payslips. 
  • The Advanced Payroll Activity Report includes additional filter options (e.g., Cost Codes/Purchase Orders), allowing for more customisation. 
  • You can locate this report from Reports > Financial> Advanced. When running this report, please ensure that to select Group by: Line Item. 
• Pay Item and Allowance Schedule
  • This report compiles a list of all Allowances and Pay Items set up in your platform.
  • Also, from this report, you can see a breakdown of which variables have been applied to each Allowance (e.g Superannuation, Payroll Tax, WorkCover, etc.).
  • You can locate this report from Reports > Financial> Pay Item and Allowance Schedule.

I have added an Allowance on the employee's profile. Why isn't it showing up on their payslip?

Adding an Allowance on the employee's profile is a great way to ensure that it is automatically applied to the employee's payslip. This automation is triggered when shifts are approved or when a payslip is created for salaried employees.

However, if the automation hasn't triggered and the Allowance hasn't been applied to a payslip, there are a few things to check these include:

• Confirming that the Allowance added is from the same Award as the employee's position.
  
    Please note: If the Allowance was added to the employee's profile after the payslip was created, it will not be automatically applied to that payslip. 
   
• For a non-salaried employee, confirm that they have shifts approved for the pay period.
• Review if any leave applications cover the pay period, as the Allowance may not be applicable when leave is taken.
• Review the Allowance set up and ensure that it is set per Candidate and not per Operation.

Once you have confirmed these details, reprocess the draft payslip to trigger the automation and apply the update.

Can a salaried employee submit Allowances?

If your platform uses the Submit Shifts feature, when enabled for a salaried employee, they will be able to submit both Weekly Allowances and Reimbursements. 

Unfortunately, they will be unable to submit Allowances with any other interval type when using this method. Additionally, this method is not suitable for monthly paid employees. 

Is there a way to automate Split Shift/ Broken Shift Allowances?

Yes!

You can automate a Split Shift Allowance within your Award Settings. This automation will apply an Allowance whenever the time gap between shifts reaches a set duration. When activated, it will automatically add the Allowance to the employee's payslip.

  For further information about setting up this automation, please refer to our article here. 

Is there a way to automatically apply for shifts, so I don't have to add them each time manually?

Yes, there are 3 methods of speeding up the application of Allowances to your shifts, however, these will depend on what types of shifts use and which employees require the Allowance. 

These methods are:

• Automating from your Award - This method is preferable if the Allowance applies to a specific position in an Award. Once enabled it will apply the Allowance automatically for all shifts and all employees with a position with this automation. 
• Profile Allowances - Adding an Allowance to the employee's profile will automatically apply the Allowance for all shits worked for specific employees. 
• Roster Templates - Saving Allowances using Roster Templates allows you to have greater control, as you can specify the specific shifts and specific emplyoees that will require the Allowance. Once set up you can just load your template each time you need it.