The site allowance feature enables you to assign specific payroll allowances to employees working on particular sites or projects.
For example, Susan works on a high-risk construction site that requires significant responsibility, so she can receive an hourly allowance assigned to that project in Traffio. Meanwhile, James is working on a smaller site, which has a lower hourly allowance assigned.
To be able to use the site allowance functionality, you need to have the payroll access permission - to find out more about access levels and permissions, click here.
Note: Site allowances are currently only available for the following accounting packages: Spreadsheet, MYOB AccountRight, Attache, Xero and Employment Hero Payroll.
How to Create a Site Allowance
Navigate to Payroll on the sidebar
Select the Site Allowances tab
Click +New
Enter site allowance Name and Abbreviation
Enter Description (optional)
Click Create
Select the Projects tab
Click +New
Select desired Client or Project (this will link the site allowance to them)
Click Create
You can also set the site allowance from the 'Overview' screen of any project.
How to Configure Site Allowance
The site allowance functionality requires some basic configuration within each of your Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (EBA) before it can be activated.
Navigate to Payroll on the sidebar
Select EBA tab
Select the desired EBA
Scroll to Payable Hours & Allowances Display Columns
Toggle on Site Allowance and Site Allowance Overtime
Click Save
Site allowance can be paid at two different rates: one for ordinary hours and one for overtime hours.
The 'Is Ordinary Hours' column indicates which rates are applied to ordinary hours (toggled on) and which are applied to overtime hours (toggled off).
You cannot change these toggles directly, but certain EBA settings will automatically adjust them for you.
How to Set Rates of Pay
The rate at which each site allowance is paid can vary for each payroll cost centre. As a result, you can manage the site allowance rates within the payroll cost centre screen.
Navigate to Payroll on the sidebar
Select Payroll Cost Centres Tab
Select the desired Payroll Cost Centre
Select the Site Allowance Rates tab (if you don't see the 'Site Allowance Rates' tab, it means the accounting package linked to your payroll cost centre doesn't support the site allowance functionality)
For each site allowance in the list, choose an Ordinary Rate and Overtime Rate (if the site allowance is paid at the same rate for both ordinary and overtime hours, select the same rate from both drop-down fields)
Click Save
How does Site Allowance display in a Pay Run?
With the setup complete, you're now ready to create a pay run.
The site allowance for each employee, based on the project where their shift was worked, will be automatically calculated and displayed in the 'Overrides' screen of the pay run.
You can also override each employee's applicable site allowance by clicking the blue button in the site allowance column and selecting from the list that appears.
The ordinary and overtime hours calculated for the site allowance can be viewed on the 'Allowances' screen.
When merging shifts with different site allowances, a window will appear allowing you to choose which site allowance should be applied to the merged shift.