Setup task
Set up payroll and wage rates
Set the pay cadence, currency, and overtime rule, then give each member a wage rate so completed hours turn into a payroll run automatically.
Audience: Owner, admin, or finance
Lesson 14 of 15
Payroll runs
Hours, overtime, and approved leave roll up into one pay run.
What to do
Follow these steps in order. Keep it simple — refine after the first real workflow works.
- 1Open Settings → General → Payroll defaults and set the pay cadence — monthly, semi-monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly. Each payroll run covers one cycle.
- 2Set the overtime multiplier (1.5 = time-and-a-half) and the currency used for payroll, wage rates, and invoices, then save.
- 3Open Dashboard → Payroll → Wage rates and give each active member a wage type: hourly, monthly salary, or monthly + hourly incentive.
- 4Enter the hourly rate or monthly salary — a monthly salary is prorated by the number of days in each payroll period.
- 5Leave overtime on the project default, or tick “Custom OT multiplier” to override it for a specific member.
- 6Open Payroll → Deductions and add any recurring deductions — tax, insurance, or pension — as a fixed amount per cycle or a percentage of gross (with an optional cap).
- 7Scope each deduction to all members or a single member, and set an optional start/end date so it only applies to the runs it should.
- 8Complete one test job so hours flow into Timesheets, then generate a payroll run and confirm hours, overtime, and deductions look right before exporting CSV.
You're done when…
Use this quick check before moving to the next setup task.
- Pay cadence, overtime multiplier, and currency match how the business actually pays.
- Every active member who gets paid has a wage type and rate — none show “Not set”.
- Salaried members use Monthly (or Monthly + Hourly); people paid per hour use Hourly.
- Members with a different overtime rule have a custom OT multiplier; everyone else uses the project default.
- Recurring tax, insurance, or pension deductions exist and are scoped to the right members and dates.
- A test payroll run shows the expected hours, overtime, deductions, and net pay before export.
Why this matters
How this task connects to the rest of the product.
- Timesheets
- Payroll runs pull hours from completed jobs via timesheets — no re-keying. Wage rates convert those hours into pay.
- Members
- Wage rates and deductions attach to team members, so staff must be invited before their pay can be configured.
- Pay cadence
- The cadence (monthly, semi-monthly, bi-weekly, weekly) sets each run's period boundaries and prorates monthly salaries by days in the period.
- Overtime
- The project default overtime multiplier applies unless a member has a custom one. Overtime hours are paid at multiplier × the normal rate.
- Deductions
- Recurring deductions auto-apply to every run that overlaps their date range — fixed amounts once per cycle, percentages against gross with an optional cap.
- Leave
- Approved leave and coverage give managers the context to explain attendance before a run is finalized.
- Exports
- A finalized run exports to CSV (defaulting to the current month-to-date) for accounting hand-off.
- Breaks if skipped
- Runs come out with missing or wrong pay: members with no rate contribute nothing, overtime is miscalculated, and tax or insurance deductions never apply.
Expected outcome
What you'll have
Completed jobs turn into an accurate, exportable payroll run — right hours, overtime, and deductions — without re-keying.