Are you ready for the upcoming public holidays? In this article we'll explain how to run payroll early.
Check Your Public Holidays Are Entered
Go to Payroll & leave > Public holidays, and check your public holiday dates are are all entered for this year. It’s always a good idea to check.
If you have missed creating any, you can create the public holiday record now, but take note of the displayed warning, as costs of any existing shifts scheduled for these days will not be re-calculated. If you create a public holiday when shifts already exist on that date and you need to be recosted, contact Ento Support to ensure your staff receive the right rate!
Running payroll early
If your pay cycle ends on a Sunday and a public holiday falls on a Monday when you would usually run payroll, you may want to run payroll the Thursday or Friday before the end of the pay cycle. The simplest way to do this is to export payroll before the end of the pay cycle but for the full period, and pay staff a mixture of what has been worked and authorised already, and what is rostered for the last few days of the pay cycle.
We don’t recommend authorising timesheets before shifts have been worked, as this will stop staff from clocking in and out of their shifts, and you will have no record of actual hours worked.
For those last few days of the pay cycle, there is a way to later compare what you paid (what was rostered) with what was actually worked (and what was authorised). Using Ento’s comparison tool will help you identify what needs to be manually adjusted (Did someone work more than what was rostered? Or less?) once all shifts have actually been worked in that pay period e.g. after Labour Day, or after Easter.
Start by running all the reports you use to check payroll – the Daily Loading Breakdown by Staff export is a comprehensive loadings report (it has each loading rate split out by staff and date), or the Loadings Summary by Staff template. Now, export payroll as normal, and pay staff as per their rostered times for the days that haven’t yet occurred.
Preparing to use the Comparison tool
If you plan to use Ento’s built-in Comparison tool, make sure the loadings export template/s you want to compare include the data required for comparison. If the loadings template is flattened by date, you need to include the ‘date’ column etc. To perform the required Comparison tool calculations, and advise which staff have a reportable variance, all loadings reports must include:
- Staff ID
- Extra field ‘Cost’
- Extra field ‘Earning rate units’
It’s a good idea to do a test of comparing the exports you want to use, to ensure you have all the required fields included before you need to use it!
If you’re unsure about the above but you plan to use the comparison tool, contact
Ento Support before you run payroll.
How to reconcile differences after the holiday
Since the shifts at the end of the pay cycle have now been worked and authorised, run the report/s used above again – usually the Daily Loading Breakdown by Staff, or the Loadings Summary by Staff.
Now you have reports covering what was paid, and newer reports detailing what should have been paid. Use the Comparison tool to get a list of manual adjustments to make by Staff ID. The Comparison tool article covers this in more detail.
Processing pay cycles
Pay cycles should be exported without being processed. Best practice is to ensure all queries about the payroll are investigated and resolved before processing. Clicking the Process button locks down the pay cycle, preventing changes, and updates the leave accruals for the period.
When running payroll early, it’s recommended to only Process the pay cycle after the usual pay run date, to ensure you have time to adjust any variations. Once confirmed no further changes are required, click Process. If you have any questions about preparing for the public holidays, read up on them here, or contact Ento Support. Wishing the best of health and holidays to all!