Best Practices for Preparing Pay Runs in TrackTik

Overview

An efficient payroll is critical for smooth operations in managing physical security workforces. Leveraging TrackTik's advanced capabilities will help ensure compliance, improve accuracy, and reduce manual payroll management effort.

Payroll in TrackTik

This guide provides best practices for payroll configuration, approval processes, and break management in TrackTik to streamline your processes and minimize errors.

Setting Up Payroll Schedules

A robust payroll schedule configuration is the foundation for all subsequent payroll activities. TrackTik allows you to create custom payroll schedules tailored to your organization's needs.

• Configure Payroll Cycles by Region: Set up payroll cycles specific to regions and employee groups. For instance, security guards in one region may have different payroll requirements than in another. Use multiple pay cycles for particular needs.
• Include Relevant Payroll Frequencies: Whether weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly, ensure each pay schedule aligns with the company's payroll processing periods.
• Shift Allocation Across Pay Periods: For shifts across two payroll periods, decide whether to split the hours between the two periods or allocate all hours to the initial period.
• Holiday and Overtime Settings: Determine how holidays and overtime are calculated, including if overtime hours should count toward holiday pay, ensuring accurate and compliant payroll.

Best Practice: Regularly review payroll schedules as regulations and company policies evolve, adjusting them as necessary.

The following article will guide you through setting up Payroll Schedules.

Overtime and Holiday Pay Configuration

Managing overtime correctly is crucial, particularly when state regulations may vary.

Best Practices:

• Set Default Overtime Rules at the Region Level: Configure overtime rules according to state or federal law, such as after eight hours per day in California or 40 hours per week in other states.
• Use Custom Overtime Rules Where Necessary: Ensure custom overtime rules are set up correctly for more complex situations (e.g., alternative work schedules).
• Ensure Correct Holiday Pay: Use holiday groups to configure which days count as holidays. Then, adjust holiday pay rules to either pay the holiday premium for the hours worked on the holiday or apply specific rates for employees working those shifts.

Tip: Regularly review the overtime rules and holiday schedules to ensure compliance with any updates in labor laws or company policies.

The Time Approval Processes

Ensuring that all shifts are accurately approved before running payroll is critical to prevent errors.

Best Practices:

• Approve Shifts Daily: Regularly approve shifts to ensure all hours worked are logged correctly. Doing this daily or at least every few days prevents a backlog before payroll processing.
• Clocked vs. Scheduled Time: When approving shifts, always prioritize clocked time over scheduled time to ensure that employees are paid for the actual time worked, especially in states that require payment by the minute.
• Handle Missed Breaks with Exceptions: If a break or meal period is missed, look for red flags highlighting break exceptions in the system. These flags will help identify where a penalty or adjustment needs to be made.

Tip: If enabled, use TrackTik's Batch Approval feature to streamline the approval process, especially when managing many shifts.

Handling Missed Meal Periods and Violations

Certain states, like California, require that missed meal breaks result in penalties or adjustments to employee pay.

Best Practices:

• Monitor Missed Break Alerts: Use the red flag notifications on the time approval page to quickly identify missed breaks or meal periods. These flags provide crucial visibility into potential violations.
• Add Meal Penalties Where Required: Create a custom pay code (e.g., "Meal Penalty") in TrackTik to apply to employees who miss their meal breaks. This ensures they are compensated correctly without manual intervention.
• Pay Code Configuration: Ensure the meal penalty pay code is ad hoc and payable so you can easily apply it when violations occur.

Tip: Create effective-dated rules for pay penalties to automate changes in the penalty rate should labor laws change or the company policy adjust.

Rounding and Auto Approval Settings

TrackTik allows you to use rounding and auto-approval for specific shifts to minimize manual intervention and improve efficiency.

Best Practices:

• Set Rounding Rules with Caution: If rounding is allowed in your state, set rounding rules to minimize over- or under-paying. You can round based on clock-in or clock-out times, but ensure you comply with local regulations on rounding.
• Auto Approve Based on Clocked Time: Always configure auto approval to use clocked time rather than scheduled time to ensure compliance with pay-by-the-minute rules. Scheduled time may result in inaccurate payments.

Tip: Configure auto-approve for sites or positions where manual approval may be cumbersome. However, auto-approved shifts should be regularly monitored for any discrepancies.

Payroll Preprocessing and Finalization

Before running the final payroll, use the preprocess pay run function to catch potential errors.

Best Practices:

• Preprocess Payroll Twice Weekly: To avoid last-minute errors, preprocess payroll twice during each pay cycle. This lets you spot issues early, such as unapproved shifts, missed breaks, or overtime errors.
• Resolve Blocking Errors: Any blocking errors (e.g., unapproved shifts) must be resolved before the payroll run can proceed. Address these errors by returning to the time approval section and manually approving the relevant shifts.

Tip: Address any system warnings during preprocessing, even if they aren't blocking errors. Warnings may indicate potential issues that could affect payroll accuracy.

Managing Pay Rates and Adjustments

TrackTik provides flexibility in managing employee, position, or site-specific pay rates.

Best Practices:

• Use Employee Pay Rates for Consistency: Set default pay rates at the employee level to ensure they are paid consistently across different sites and positions.
• Override for Specific Positions or Sites: For positions or sites with different pay structures (e.g., armed versus unarmed guards), configure site-specific or position-based pay rates to automatically apply the correct rate.
• Effective Dates for Pay Increases: Use effective dates for pay rate changes to automate pay increases. This helps avoid administrative burdens when implementing pay adjustments for promotions or policy changes.

Tip: Always review the hierarchy of pay rates (employee, position, or site) to ensure no conflicts occur when employees work at multiple locations or shift roles.

By following these best practices, you can maximize the use of TrackTik's payroll and break management features. Regularly reviewing and updating your settings will ensure you stay compliant and efficient in your payroll operations.