Configuring Employee Cost

To accurately calculate the estimated payroll cost each week, it is important that all your active employees within the system have a set employee cost.

In this article, we will cover:

• Setting Up Cost Type of an Employee
• Setting Up a Benefits Plan
• Adding Benefits Cost of an Employee

Setting Up Cost Type of an Employee

To configure the cost of an employee, navigate to the Employees page:

1. Click on the gear icon to open the Settings menu and select Employees within Company Settings.
   
2. Select the Update button next to the employee whose cost you wish to set.
   
3. From the settings panel, click on the Costs tab.
   The Costs tab displays the Employee Cost details.
   
4. To modify to the costs, select Edit.
5. Enter the following information:
   • Type – Select the type of cost for the employee, whether Hourly, Annual, or Hourly Position Based.
     • Hourly – Employees are paid a fixed hourly wage.
     • Annual/Salaried – Employees have a yearly wage set for them.
       For example, an employee with a salary that breaks down to $1000 a week is scheduled to spend 60% of their hours at Store A, and 40% of their hours at Store B. $600 gets added to the estimated payroll at Store A, and $400 to the estimated payroll at Store B.
     • Hourly Position Based – Employees are paid hourly depending on the position they hold within the store.
       For example, an employee having multiple positions assigned to him may be paid a different hourly rate if he works as a Cashier and a different rate if he works as a Sales Associate.
   • Cost – Enter the amount of the employee’s cost. For ‘Annual’ (salaried) employees, make sure you enter the yearly amount/cost for the employee.
   • Benefits Cost (hourly) – (If enabled by the company) It calculates the cost of the employee’s assigned benefits on an hourly basis.
   • Total Effective Cost (hourly) – Displays the total amount of the salary cost.
6. After you are finished making your changes, select the Save button.

Setting Up a Benefits Plan

To set up an employee benefits plan:

1. Select the gear icon to expand the Settings menu.
2. From Company Settings, select Benefits.
    
3. Select Create Benefit.
   
   A pop-up prompts you to enter the Name, Scope, and add Notes.
   • Name – Enter the type of benefit you want to assign. For example, health, dental, vision, life insurance.
   • Select Scope – By default, the scope is set to All (company-wide). However, you can assign it to specific stores using the drop-down menu.
   • Notes – Add a note to describe the type of benefit plan.
4. Select Save.
   You are redirected to the employee(s) you want to assign to the benefit plan.
5. Click on the checkbox to select the employee(s).
6. Close the pop-up window. This saves your changes.
   If you wish to go back to the benefit type pop-up screen to modify any details, select the Previous button.

Upon closing the window, the newly added benefit plan is visible on the Benefits page.

Adding Benefits Cost of an Employee

If your store offers employee benefits, it is important to factor these in while running the Payroll Estimates for the month. The first step is to ensure that the benefit is enabled for the employee. The Benefits tab contains a list of available benefits.

To navigate to the Benefits tab, visit the Update page of an employee.

1. Select the Benefits tab.
   Here, you can enable any benefits that you have added to your company profile.
   If there are no benefits available on the page, you need to add them. Follow the instructions mentioned in the Setting Up a Benefits Plan section.
   
   
2. Select the checkbox to confirm the benefits you wish to apply.
3. Go back to the Costs tab.
   A new entry for the Benefits Cost is added.
   
4. Select Edit to enter the yearly cost of the benefit.
5. Select Save to save your changes.
   

The Employee Cost now has an updated Effective Rate (hourly). This is the value the system uses when calculating the payroll estimates within the system.