Automated Calculations with Enhanced Timesheets Using WFM

When automating regular and overtime hour calculations, the Enhanced Timesheets Using Workforce Management (WFM) Wage Rules feature aligns with existing WFM conditions and payroll preferences.

Wage Setup

The feature applies WFM wage agreements or region-based conditions set up in the account. It considers conditions, rules, and parameters that apply to each time entry.

These include default conditions, such as regular hours, standard overtime, extended overtime, and more. As an administrator, you can review existing conditions for employee accounts. For more information, see Managing Conditions and Rules.

WFM Mapping

To ensure proper linking with WFM fields and records, you will need to complete the prerequisites, which includes mapping time bill fields. For more information, see Prerequisites of Enhanced Timesheets Using WFM

Payroll Items

The feature calculates overtime for timesheet entries that use the Wage or Salary payroll item types. It excludes overtime calculation for entries that use overtime payroll items.

Before entering time as an employee, to ensure that you’re using the correct payroll item, check with your manager, payroll manager, or administrator.

Important:

For administrators or roles setting up the feature, the payroll items eligible for automatic overtime calculations include:

Earning: Wage
Earning: Salary

The feature automatically calculates regular and overtime hours and will exclude entries that use payroll items associated with overtime. When providing payroll items for employees, don’t use ones with overtime pay codes. These may include Overtime Premium or Overtime Straight.

While employees shouldn’t use payroll items associated with overtime codes when entering time, you should still link the appropriate overtime payroll items that an employee is eligible for.

For more information about verifying payroll settings, see Prerequisites of Enhanced Timesheets Using WFM.

Paid Time Processing

Note the following guidelines on how the feature processes time entries that are considered paid.

Entries for the Current Week or Next Payroll Batch

If an employee is included in the next payroll batch, the feature automatically calculates overtime for their approved time entries. The feature ensures that entries with overtime information are compatible and ready for payroll processing.

To allow for accurate calculations, the feature considers these time entries included in the next payroll batch as paid. The following guidelines apply:

Employees
- Can continue to enter time on the same payroll batch only if they don’t overlap with paid time
- Can’t enter time that changes overtime calculations for the batch’s paid time
Administrators
- Can only edit paid time entries if they don’t affect the batch‘s paid time
- Can’t delete the paid time entries
- Can only approve and edit unpaid time entries for the same payroll batch if they don’t overlap with paid time
- Can’t update or delete unpaid time entries if doing so can change overtime calculations for the batch’s paid time

After time entries are included in a payroll batch, neither employees nor administrators can make changes that would affect overtime calculations for those entries. Only new, nonoverlapping, and nonimpactful entries can be added or updated.

See the following example:

An office employee has the following approved hours for the week.

Sun, 19	Mon, 20	Tue, 21	Wed, 22	Thu, 23	Fri, 24	Sat, 25
—	8:00	8:00	8:00	—	9:00	—

Sun, 19

Mon, 20

Tue, 21

Wed, 22

Thu, 23

Fri, 24

Sat, 25

—

8:00

—

9:00

—

The company set up the following WFM conditions when overtime applies:

Every day when, during the day, time worked exceeds 8 hours
Every day, when, during the week, time worked exceeds 40 hours

The employee is eligible for one hour of overtime on Friday. The payroll manager then runs a payroll batch, and the overtime pay is included in the calculations. The payroll manager notifies employees that the payroll is processed for the week.

The employee, however, remembers the following:

On Thursday, they worked for 4 hours and was unable to record
On Friday, they were requested to work for 2 more hours

At this point, the employee can add an entry for Thursday for 4 hours. This entry doesn’t overlap with paid time and is saved.

When the employee tries to update the entry for Friday for 11 hours, however, the entry does not save. Adding more hours on that day will affect paid overtime calculations for the week. The employee should discuss how to handle the case with their manager or payroll department.

Entries for Previous Weeks

Any new or updated entries for the previous week are only allowed if they don’t overlap with already paid time and won’t affect the overtime calculations for the current week’s paid time. This condition ensures payroll accuracy and prevents retroactive changes that could impact overtime already processed for the current week.

If an employee included in the next weekly payroll batch has approved time entries for current and previous weeks, the following guidelines apply:

Employees
- Can continue to enter time for the previous week only if they don’t overlap with paid time
- Can’t enter time for the previous week if doing so can change overtime calculations for the current week’s paid time
Administrators
- Can approve and update unpaid time entries for the previous week only if they don’t overlap with paid time
- Can’t delete unpaid time entries for the previous week if doing so can change overtime calculations for the current week’s paid time

After an employee’s time entries for the current week are approved and included in the next payroll batch, both employees and administrators have limited ability to add or change time entries for the previous week.

As a best practice, employees should always ensure that entries from the previous week are approved before entering time for the current week. To effectively manage employee time entries, see Best Practices and Limitations of Enhanced Timesheets Using WFM.