Automatic overtime works with the Timesheet function in the Payrun screen.
When the Timesheet is saved, SmoothPay assesses the entered hours against the employee’s settings and separates qualifying time into ordinary and overtime transactions.
Automatic overtime requires:
a company-wide overtime Work code to receive the converted hours
an applicable Basis and Ordinary time cutoff for the employee
Important: Automatic overtime and automatic TOIL/RDO cannot operate together for the same employee. Only one automatic method can be used at a time.
Configure automatic overtime
The Options tab in the Settings screen contains the automatic overtime defaults and the Work code used for conversion.
For more information about the Options tab, refer to:
The settings have different roles:
Basis and Ordinary time cutoff provide defaults for new employees. These can be changed for individual employees.
Balance goes to selects the overtime Work code used company-wide. This cannot be changed for an individual employee.
The company-wide Balance goes to selection is required even when you intend to configure each employee’s settings individually.
Set the company configuration
First, open the company settings:
Go to the Settings screen.
Select the Options tab.
Click the Edit button.
Under Automatic overtime options, complete the fields as follows:
Select the required Basis.
Enter the Ordinary time cutoff.
Select the overtime Work code in Balance goes to.
Click Save.
Basis
The Basis determines the period over which ordinary time is assessed against the threshold.
The available options are:
None
Daily above threshold
Weekly above threshold
Pay cycle above threshold
Ordinary time cutoff
The Ordinary time cutoff records the number of ordinary hours permitted before additional qualifying time is converted to overtime.
The value should correspond to the selected Basis.
For example, a daily basis with a cutoff of 8 allows eight ordinary hours per day before additional qualifying hours are converted to overtime.
Balance goes to
Balance goes to selects the Work code used for the converted overtime hours.
The available options are Work codes classified as Overtime in the Codes screen.
The selected Work code’s Multiplier determines how the employee’s rate is multiplied when those hours are paid.
If the required overtime Work code does not already exist, create it before completing this selection.
For more information about creating and configuring Work codes, refer to:
Apply settings to existing employees
Changing the default Basis and Ordinary time cutoff in Settings does not automatically update those values for existing employees.
You can apply the configured settings to all existing staff or configure employees individually.
Apply settings to all staff
This action is available to the company Owner.
After saving the company configuration:
Click the spanner button beside the automatic overtime Basis.
Select Apply Auto-Overtime settings to all staff.
SmoothPay applies the configured automatic overtime settings to existing employees.
Use this action when the same settings should apply across all staff or the majority. Employees who require different settings can then be configured individually.
Configure an individual employee
To open the employee’s settings:
Go to the Staff screen.
Select the employee.
Select the Contract tab.
Select the nested Overtime/RDO tab.
Click the Edit button.
Under Automatic overtime options:
Select the required Basis.
Enter the employee’s Ordinary time cutoff.
Click Save.
The employee’s settings determine the assessment period and threshold used for their automatic overtime.
Balance goes to is displayed for reference only. It continues to use the Work code selected in the Options tab in Settings.
Depending on the payroll jurisdiction, the nested tab may be named Overtime/TOIL.
The automatic overtime functionality is the same.
For more information about the Overtime/RDO tab, refer to:
Use automatic overtime
Once the configuration is complete, enter the employee’s hours through the Timesheet.
To open the Timesheet:
Go to the Payrun screen.
Select the employee.
Click Timesheet on the Payrun control bar.
To record the employee’s time:
Enter the total hours worked against each applicable date using decimal time.
Review the entered hours.
Click Save.
SmoothPay creates the corresponding transactions in the Payrun, separating qualifying hours above the employee’s threshold into overtime.
For more information about entering hours and using the Timesheet, refer to:
Example: Daily overtime
An employee has a daily ordinary-time cutoff of 8 hours.
The employee works:
9 hours on Tuesday
9.5 hours on Thursday
When the Timesheet is saved, SmoothPay creates:
Day | Ordinary time | Overtime |
Tuesday | 8 hours | 1 hour |
Thursday | 8 hours | 1.5 hours |
The 2.5 overtime hours use the Work code selected in Balance goes to.