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Earning Items (Payroll Tab)

This screen allows you to assign Earnings (the records that control the wages or salary for each employee) to the various employees in the payroll. Earnings that appear on this screen will have been originally created and defined in the Earnings screen (accessible via Current Payroll - Earnings command). Refer to the Earnings help page for more information on how these items are created.

View step-by-step tutorial

eNETEmployer provides two main earning types:

Hourly - This type of earning is used when you require earning units that must be multiplied by a value in order to calculate the payment amount. For example, the Hourly Rate multiplied by the number of hours worked, or Miles Driven multiplied by the rate per mile. Hourly earning types require that you enter the number of hours that the employee has worked each pay period. If you do not enter the work hours, eNETEmployer will assume that the employee did not earn any wages for the period. Note: By default, hourly earnings are set to "Clear on Close" so that the hours will be zeroed out when the pay run is closed.
Salary -Salary earning types are used when you need to enter a specific payment amount (as opposed to the number of hours worked). Unlike Hourly earnings, the default "Clear on Close" setting for salary types is set to "No". This means that the payment amounts for salary earnings will be carried over each successive pay period.
eNETEmployer allows you to work with salary earnings in two ways:
- For Fixed Amounts - When the earning amount does not change each pay period you can enter its fixed amount. This would include such types as salaries, cell phone allowances, or any recurring amounts that are paid each period.
- For Amounts that are automatically calculated - Certain types of earnings do not require you to enter an amount, but rather the program calculates it for you. An example would be a vacation earning where the payment amount is calculated by an accumulator.

Primary vs. Temporary Earnings - Each employee requires at least one primary earning type (sometimes referred to as a "Base" earning). Their primary earning is typically used to calculate their wages on a regular basis. However, you may encounter instances where the employee will be working for a different wage amount for one or more pay periods. In this case, you could leave their primary earning unchanged and instead assign a temporary earning of the same type. This temporary earning can then be used to adjust or override the amounts for the current or subsequent pay periods. View a step-by-step tutorial on this feature

Primary "Hourly" Earning - If an employee works variable hours each period, you would apply their work hours to their primary "hourly"-based earning. Other than the number of hours worked, it's assumed that the basic settings for this earning will not change from period to period.
Primary "Salary" Earning - If an employee earns a fixed amount each period, you would assign them a primary "salary"-based earning. This earning would not change from period to period and its amount will remain in force until it is explicitly changed in the Earning Items screen.

Common Buttons

Visit the Button Descriptions help page to view detailed descriptions of each button that appears on your screen (whether in the Button Bar at the top of the table, or in the table itself). Note: If a button is unavailable (i.e. its text appears in Gray), either the command is not applicable to the current screen, or its function has already been applied (e.g. you clicked the New button for an item that can only be added one time).

Context-Specific Buttons (that are unique to this screen, or that require additional instruction)

Update All Rates - Clicking this button updates all earning rates that have changed and that are based on the value of another. For example, if the rate for a Regular earning is set to $12 per hour and your Overtime rate is set to 1.5 times the Regular rate, the resulting Overtime rate will be calculated at $18 per hour. If you then change the Regular rate to $20 per hour, you will need to select the Update All Rates button so that the Overtime rate's displayed value changes to $30 accordingly. If you do not select the Update All Rates button, the Overtime rate will remain 1.5 times the original value of the edited Regular rate.

Note: This button only uses Primary earnings to update rates. If you have added a temporary earning, the Update All Rates button will only use the original "Primary" earning when updating earning rates.

Update Rates - Clicking this button updates any earning rates that have changed for the current employee and that are based on the value of another. For example, if the rate for a Regular earning is set to $12 per hour and your Overtime rate is set to 1.5 times the Regular rate, the resulting Overtime rate will be calculated at $18 per hour. If you then change the Regular rate to $20 per hour, you will need to Select the Update All Rates button that is located above the table so that the Overtime rate's displayed value changes to $30 accordingly. If you do not Select the Update All Rates button that is located above the table, the Overtime rate will remain 1.5 times the original value of the edited Regular rate.

The following section of this help page describes the various columns and cells shown in the main table on this screen. If you see a description on this help page for a column that does not appear on your screen, you can add the additional column to your view by using the Customize option under the Views button (located at the left side of the screen just above the table). Refer to the Customize View help page for more help on this feature.

Hidden Rows - The columns on the right side of the table contain sub-rows that may be hidden from view initially (to provide more screen space). If required, these additional rows can be revealed by selecting the Expand Row icon (the right-facing triangle at the left side of each employee's top row). Expanding the rows provides access to the individual settings for each sub-row.

Rows and sub-rows are color-coded as follows:

Bold Green - Indicates the top (Primary) row of a group of expanded sub-rows. Green rows are always visible even when the row is collapsed. Green rows cannot be deleted if there is another item of the same type (e.g. you cannot delete a Green Earning or Deduction row if a second instance of the same item exists in the list). In such a case, the second earning or deduction must be removed first).
Bold Blue - Indicates rows that have been expanded under the Primary row.
Non-Bold Black Italic - Indicates that "Temporary" items that can be added to, or override its corresponding Primary item. For example, if an employee will be working for a different pay rate for a given period(s), you could assign a Temporary earning with the adjusted rate so that their Primary earning amount would not need to be edited.

Add Earning

Add Earning - This button allows you to apply an earning to the current employee. Clicking the button displays a list of earnings that have been defined in the Earnings screen (accessible via the Current Payroll - Earnings menu command). When you choose an option from this list, a new row appears to the right of the button and contains the earning's settings.

Amount

Depending on the current earning type (Salary and Non-Salary), this cell can be used to enter or view the total amount earned for the current pay period.

For Salary earnings - Enter the full salary amount for which the employee is entitled for this pay period. For example, if the employee earns $48,000 annually and your pay period is set to Semi-Monthly (24 pay periods), you would enter $2000 in this cell.
For Hourly Earnings - This cell displays the calculated amount for Hourly-based earnings the employee has worked (the value entered in Rate cell multiplied by value shown in the Hours cell).

Audit

This button allows you to view a list of changes that have been made to the current item. Choosing the button opens the Audit History window where item changes are shown in colored text. Note: Audit History is a developing feature and subject to updates as new functionality is added.

Code

This cell displays the earning's Code (also referred to as the Name of the earning), as defined in the Earnings screen.

Distribution

Use this cell to specify the default distribution code (sometimes referred to as the "home department") to which this employee's work time will be charged/expensed. The items in the drop-down list can be viewed or edited from the Distributions page.

View the Distributions help page to learn more about this feature
View a step-by-step tutorial on this feature

Distribution Name

This cell shows the distribution code to which this payroll item's time will be charged/expensed).

Refer to the Distributions help page for more details on this feature.

Division

This cell displays the company division to which this employee is assigned. The content for this cell can be viewed or edited on the Divisions page.

Refer to the Divisions help page for more details on this feature.

Employee No.

This cell displays the unique number that identifies the employee in this payroll. Alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers) may be used. e.g. 001, or MGM001.

Note: The content for this cell can be viewed or edited on the Employee Setup page.

End

Used for administrative purposes only, use this cell to specify the effective ending date for the earning. This can be useful when you wish to have a detailed record of when a particular earning ceased to be in effect. For example, if an employee stopped earning a special allowance on December 31st, 2019, you could enter that date in this cell. This would create a permanent record of the end date that could later be reviewed using the Transactions screen.

Given Name

Use this cell to enter the employee's first name (also referred to "given name" or "personal name"). For example, John Smith's given name is "John". The cell supports special characters - e.g. María-Jose or Günther.

Note: The content for this cell can be viewed or edited on the Employee Setup page.

Hours

Available for Hourly earning types only, use this cell to enter the number of hours that this employee worked for each applicable earning. For example if the employee worked 80 regular hours for the current pay period, you would enter 80 into this cell for the corresponding earning that you have assigned to regular wages. Many companies will use an earning code entitled "Regular" for this purpose.

Quicker Data Entry - Many users prefer to use the Speedy Update screen when entering work hours for Hourly-paid employees (i.e. hours that change each pay period). Speedy Update makes data entry more efficient by removing salary columns that do not need updating each pay (because they are fixed amounts). Instead, Speedy Update includes only those earning types that need adjusting each period (i.e. any earning type that is set to "Clear on Close" when the pay run is closed).

Message

Use this cell to enter a message that you would like the individual employee to see on his/her pay stub. For example you can type "Please remember to submit the receipts from your recent business trip".

If you enter a properly-formed URL in this cell, the resulting PDF report will create a clickable hyperlink that can direct the employee to a website page, image, video, or any web-based item of your choosing. For example, if you type "https://www.canpay.com" into this cell, the employee can click the link to be directed to the CanPay website.
This message is reset (cleared) after you close the pay sequence.

Note: The Message column on this screen is delivered to a single employee only. If you wish to deliver a group message to all employees in the payroll, you must use the Calculations screen's Message option.

Overriding

Selecting this checkbox allows you to apply the current earning for a subsequent pay run (or runs) while simultaneously disabling all other earning items of the same Code. For example, if you have a Salary earning of $2000 per period and wish to increase it by $500 for the next pay run only, you would add a second Salary earning type and enter $2500 as its amount and then check the Overriding checkbox. The Temporary checkbox will have been activated automatically when you created the second Salary earning, therefore this earning would now clear itself after the next pay run.

Using the above example, if you wanted to change the earning amount for a series of pay runs, you would simply leave the Overriding checkbox active for as many pay runs as needed and remove the check from the Temporary column. This would leave the second earning in force for all subsequent pay runs until you remove it.

This checkbox cannot be activated for more than one earning of the same type (i.e. you cannot create three Salary earnings and have two overridden).

Rate

Available for Hourly earning types only, use this cell to enter the employee's hourly rate of pay for each earning. For example if the employee earns $10.50 per hour, you would enter 10.50 in this field.

S/H

This field indicates if the earning is a Salary or Hourly type of earning (as defined in the Earnings screen). It is uneditable and used for reference only.

Start

Used for administrative purposes only, use this cell to specify the effective starting date for the earning. This can be useful when you wish to have a detailed record of when a particular earning began. For example, if an employee began earning a special allowance on January 1st, 2018, you could enter that date in this cell. This would create a permanent record of the start date that could later be reviewed using the Transactions screen.

Surname

Use this cell to enter the employee's surname (also referred to "family name or "last name"). For example, John Smith's surname would be entered as Smith. You can also enter surname prefixes for employee names that require one. For example, John Van Houton's surname would be entered as Van Houten. The cell also supports special characters - e.g. O'Leary or Elkjærd.

Note: The content for this cell cannot be edited directly. If you wish to modify the cell's text or value, you must open the appropriate screen that is used to manage its content.

Temporary

Available only for temporary earnings only, place a check in this box if the temporary earning should be used for the current pay period only, and then deleted after the payroll is closed. There are two common reasons to use the Temporary option:

Overriding an ongoing/regular earning - For example, if an employee is working a different role with higher pay for the current pay period only, you can add a temporary earning so that their ongoing regular earning does not need to be modified. In this case, you would place a check in both the "Temporary" box and the "Overriding" box. The Temporary check mark means that the earning will be deleted after the pay run is closed. The Overriding check mark means that only the temporary earning will be used to pay the employee (i.e. their normal earning will be unused).
Adding a temporary earning in addition to their normal/regular earning - For example, if an employee is working some extra hours at a higher rate (in addition to their normal earning), you can add a temporary earning to account for these non-standard hours. In this case, you would place a check in the "Temporary" box so that the earning would be deleted after the pay run is closed.

In either case above, if you remove the check from the Temporary box, the earning will continue to be processed for each subsequent pay until either the check is added again, or until you delete the temporary earning.

Total Amount

This cell displays the total amount of all the employee's earning types.

For Hourly Earnings - The amount is calculated automatically by multiplying the defined rate by the number of hours entered for the row.
For Salary Earnings - This cell displays the salary amount for which the employee is entitled for this pay period (as entered in the Amount cell on the same row). For example, if the employee earns $48,000 annually and your pay period is set to Semi-Monthly (24 pay periods), you would enter $2000 in this cell.

Note: The content for this cell cannot be edited directly. If you wish to modify the cell's text or value, you must open the appropriate screen that is used to manage its content.

Total Hours

This cell displays the sum of the hours for all of the earning codes to the right of this cell. This represents the total hours that the employee has worked during the current pay period. For example if the employee worked 80 Regular hours and 10 Overtime hours, this cell would read 90 hours in total.

Note: The content for this cell cannot be edited directly. If you wish to modify the cell's text or value, you must open the appropriate screen that is used to manage its content.

Update Rates

Update Rates - Choose this button to update any earning rates that have changed for the current employee and that are based on the value of another. For example, if the rate for a Regular earning is set to $12 per hour and your Overtime rate is set to 1.5 times the Regular rate, the resulting Overtime rate will be calculated at $18 per hour. If you then change the Regular rate to $20 per hour, you will need to Select the Update All Rates button that is located above the table so that the Overtime rate's displayed value changes to $30 accordingly. If you do not Select the Update All Rates button that is located above the table, the Overtime rate will remain 1.5 times the original value of the edited Regular rate.

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