Pay looks wrong on a timesheet
A timesheet shows $0, the wrong hours, the wrong rate or unexpected overtime? Work out why and fix it before you approve and pay.
Shiftly works out each timesheet's pay from the hours worked, the breaks taken, the employee's rate and your pay rules. When the number looks off, one of those inputs is usually the reason. Open the timesheet from Time → Timesheets and check the symptom below that matches.
Who this is for
Owners and managers using the Shiftly web platform.
Before you start
- Open the timesheet and look at the Overview tab. Total hours includes breaks, Paid hours leaves out unpaid breaks, and the pay breakdown lists each rate the hours were paid at.
- Seeing pay needs the Pay & labour cost permission. See Change or remove a manager's access.
- Fix pay before you approve and send it to payroll. Once a timesheet is posted to payroll, it's locked in Shiftly.
Pay shows $0.00
| Why | Fix |
|---|---|
| The employee has no pay rate yet. A new employee's rate stays at $0 until you classify them or set a rate. | Classify them against their award, or set a rate by hand. See Classify staff and set their pay rate. |
| The shift was set up as a Volunteer shift. Volunteer hours are recorded but never paid or sent to payroll. | If the hours should be paid, reject and delete that time entry, then add the hours again with Add manual time entry. See Review and approve timesheets. |
| Every timesheet shows $0.00, not just one. | Your access doesn't include Pay & labour cost, so pay is hidden from you. Ask your owner to add it. |
The hours don't match what they clocked
Unpaid breaks were taken off. Paid hours leave out unpaid breaks. When staff clock off in Shiftly Me, the rostered breaks that were due are filled in for them to check, and any they leave in are deducted. If they remove them, nothing is deducted. On a timesheet with no breaks recorded at all, such as a shift you ended from the Timesheets page, the shift's rostered unpaid breaks are deducted. To change it, open the Timesheet tab and edit, add or remove breaks. See Fix times, breaks and pay on a timesheet.
The times were set to the roster. Approve as scheduled sets the start, finish and breaks to the rostered shift. Straight afterwards, the message that confirms it offers Undo. If your location sets times to the roster automatically at clock-out, the Timesheet tab says so, and Use clocked times puts back what the employee actually clocked.
Seconds are dropped. Clock times are counted to the minute, so a shift clocked from 5:00:56 PM to 8:15:29 PM is paid from 5:00 PM to 8:15 PM.
The rate is wrong
| Why | Fix |
|---|---|
| The employee's classification or level is wrong. | Classify them again. See Classify staff and set their pay rate. |
| A junior employee has no date of birth, so they're classified as an adult. | Add their date of birth on their Personal tab, then classify them again. Shiftly checks junior pay brackets every night and moves someone onto their new rate after a birthday. |
| The award has no rate for someone that young. | You'll see "This award has no rate for this employee's age" when you classify them. Check the date of birth, or classify them under a stream that covers under-16s. |
| The employee has a rate override, or the position adds a Rate increase. | Check their rates on their profile, and the position's rate increase. See Adjust an employee's pay rate. |
| Someone edited the rates on this timesheet by hand. | The Overview tab shows Rates manually adjusted. Select Recalculate rates to rebuild them from the award. Manual changes are lost when you do. |
An allowance isn't part of the hourly rate. It's added to the timesheet as its own line. If one is missing or shouldn't be there, check the employee's allowances. See Rate overrides & allowances.
Overtime is missing, or there's overtime you didn't expect
- Weekly overtime counts the pay week, not the roster week. Each location's roster can start on its own day, but weekly overtime always counts hours across your business's pay week. Check Pay week starts on under Pay rules → Overtime. See Customise your pay rules.
- Your thresholds or weekend setting. The daily and weekly thresholds, and Weekend work is overtime, are on the same Overtime tab. Changes you save there apply to future shifts only, so timesheets that already exist keep the pay they were worked out with.
- Other shifts in the same week changed. Weekly overtime depends on everything else the employee worked that pay week. If you change one of those timesheets, check the others in the same week too. Shiftly also re-checks each timesheet's overtime when you post it to payroll.
There's a timesheet for a public holiday they didn't work
For full-time and part-time staff, Shiftly adds a pending timesheet when they were rostered on a public holiday but didn't clock on, so they're paid for the day. Review it like any other timesheet. If the day shouldn't count as a public holiday at that location, check the location's public holidays. See Set a location's public holidays.
Your award isn't one Shiftly fully supports
If your business uses an award Shiftly doesn't calculate automatically, Shiftly tracks the hours but doesn't work out penalties, allowances or award rates. You set and maintain the rates yourself. See Set up your business.
Related
Troubleshooting
Fixes for the problems owners and managers run into most, such as pay that looks wrong, a staff member who can't sign in, and timesheets that won't reach Xero.
Staff member can't sign in
Help a staff member back into Shiftly Me or the venue kiosk by checking their email, sending or creating a sign-in code, resetting their password, or setting a new kiosk PIN.