What's covered in this guide?:
How salaried staff costs are calculated
Salary allocation controls how a salaried employee’s pay is distributed across shifts for costing and reporting.
These settings affect:
Rosters
Labour cost views
Reports
They do not affect payroll. Salaried employees are still paid according to their pay group (for example, monthly).
Where to find salary allocation settings
To selefct a salary allocation method:
Go to: Settings > General > Salaried staff > Salary allocation
Here, you can choose how salaried costs are allocated across shifts.
What is salary allocation?
Salary allocation determines how a salaried employee’s total salary is broken down into per-shift costs so managers can understand labour costs while scheduling and reporting.
It is used for:
Forecasting labour spend
Reviewing weekly and period costs
Comparing labour to revenue
It is not used to calculate payslips or payments.
How pay periods affect salaried costing
By default, salaried costing in Workforce is calculated based on the employee’s pay period (for example, weekly or monthly).
The selected salary allocation method then determines how the salary for that pay period is distributed across rostered shifts.
This means:
Employees on weekly pay groups have costs calculated weekly
Employees on monthly pay groups have costs calculated across the full month
Weekly salaried costing is available as an opt-in feature. Read more here.
Salary allocation methods
Within each pay period (or week, if weekly salaried costing is enabled), you can choose one of the following allocation methods:
Split using an hourly rate
Split evenly by rostered days
Split salary evenly by days in a year
Split using an hourly rate
How it works
The employee’s weekly salary is divided by their contracted weekly hours
If contracted hours are not set, rostered hours are used instead
This produces an effective hourly rate
What to expect
Costs are distributed based on hours worked
Hourly rates may vary if employees work more or fewer hours than expected
Split evenly by rostered days
How it works
The employee’s weekly salary is divided by the number of rostered days
Each shift receives the same cost, regardless of hours worked
What to expect
Stable, predictable per-shift costs
No cost variances caused by hours worked
Works well with all timesheet types
Split salary evenly by days in year
How it works
The employee’s annual salary is divided by the number of days in the year (365)
A fixed daily cost is applied across the year
What to expect
Stable daily costs
Costs are not tied to rostered days or hours
Best for
Organisations that want evenly distributed annual costs
Legacy or specialised reporting needs
Important notes
Salary allocation affects costing only, not payroll
Changing the allocation method will change how costs appear in:
Rosters
Reports
Labour cost views
Weekly pay groups are unaffected
Salaried costs on a weekly basis
For organisations that pay staff monthly but operate weekly, Workforce offers an opt-in weekly costing mode for salaried employees.
This feature improves cost consistency by calculating salaried costs per week, instead of redistributing a full monthly salary as rosters are built.
Weekly salaried costing ensures:
Each week has a fixed, predictable salary cost
Costs do not change when future shifts are added
Weekly labour reports reflect true operational costs
How weekly salaried costing works
When weekly salaried costing is enabled:
Salaried costs are calculated by week, not by pay period
A “week” is defined by your organisation’s roster start day
Weekly salary is calculated as: Annual Salary ÷ 52
That weekly amount is then distributed only across the shifts in that week.
Payroll remains unchanged, monthly employees are still paid monthly.
Allocation methods under weekly costing
Weekly costing works with existing salary allocation methods.
Split evenly by rostered days
Weekly salary ÷ number of scheduled shifts in the week
Weekly total always remains the same
Example
£32,000/year = £615.38/week
5 shifts = £123.08 per shift
4 shifts = £153.85 per shift
Edge cases to be aware of
No shifts in a week = £0 cost
Mid-month start or end = first week is pro-rated
Weeks spanning months = costs are calculated once, at the weekly level
Split using an hourly rate
Weekly salary is capped to the weekly amount
If more hours are worked, the effective hourly rate decreases
Weekly totals remain stable
Enable weekly salaried costing
To enable weekly salaried costing:
Go to: Settings > General > Salaried staff > Salary allocation > Enable 'Allocate Salary On a Weekly Basis'
Pro-rated salary auto-payments
If you use Pro-Rated Salary Auto-Payments (for employees starting or ending mid-pay cycle):
Salary allocation must be set to “Split evenly by rostered days”
Other allocation methods are not yet supported for this feature
This requirement applies only to pro-rated payroll behaviour, not standard costing.
Learn more Here.
Choose the right option
If you want… | Recommended setting |
Stable per-shift costs | Split evenly by rostered days |
Costs based on hours worked | Split using an hourly rate |
Even annual cost distribution | Split salary evenly by days in year |
FAQs
Does this affect payroll?
Does this affect payroll?
No.
Salary allocation:
Does not change pay amounts
Does not change payslips
Does not change pay cycles
For payroll-specific behaviour, see Pro-Rated Salary Auto-Payments.
Why weekly costs can look high for monthly-paid employees
Why weekly costs can look high for monthly-paid employees
When an employee is paid monthly, their full monthly salary is used as the starting point for costing, even if you are viewing a single week.
Early in the pay period, or when a roster is only partially complete:
The monthly salary may be distributed across only the shifts that currently exist
Weekly views can therefore appear inflated
As more shifts are added later in the pay period, costs are recalculated and redistributed.
This behaviour is expected under the current model and explains why:
Weekly labour costs can appear higher than expected
Costs may change as the roster fills out