Work Pattern Hours and the Default Standard Week Timesheet Row

Work patterns form the basis for leave calculations and other useful features in Thankyou Payroll. Read on to learn more.

Updated: October 2024

Let's start with the basics. 

• What is a work pattern - for payroll system purposes?
  • The work pattern entered into Thankyou Payroll should reflect the agreed hours each day your employee works as agreed in their employment agreement. 
• Are there employees who will not have a work pattern to input?
  • Yes, Casual Employees will not have a set work pattern. If they start working regular hours, they are no longer casual and could be eligible for leave entitlements.
  • The only other setup that doesn't use Work Pattern input is a Contractor (WT) -  but THEY ARE NOT EMPLOYEES!
• Why should I enter and update employee work patterns in Thankyou Payroll?
  Thankyou Payroll uses the employee work pattern to calculate payment and to keep leave balances correct. That is one of the reasons why our system is so very useful and saves you time and having to calculate the math!
  • Standard Pay Calculations
    • The Holiday's Act requires week-based calculations for annual leave. So the work pattern tells our system what the employee's work week looks like.
    • The Holiday's Act also uses day-size-based calculations for other forms of leave such as sick leave. So the work pattern tells our system what a specific day looks like for this employee.
    • The Holiday's Act uses Otherwise Working Days for leave entitlements. The work pattern you enter shows our system if your employee normally works this day.
  • Day size for leave calculations
    • The system needs to know what a specific day looks like, to calculate if a full day or part day is taken as leave. This keeps leave balances accurate.
  • Additional features, like Pay Automation
    • Pay Automation is only possible if an employee's work pattern is entered into Thankyou Payroll.
    • Payroll Portal If you are using the Payroll Portal, the employee's work pattern must be set up in Thankyou Payroll if you want to use the Leave Request feature in our Payroll Portal.

Where do I enter a Work Pattern?

Now that you know why your employees should have work patterns in Thankyou Payroll, let's show you how easy it is to enter and keep updated.

Work Patterns are entered in the Employee Profile - Standard Pay Tab.

This is an example of a variable work pattern, meaning that this employee doesn't work the same number of hours each working day, but they always work the same hours (i.e. 3 on a Tuesday) on a specific day. 

Let's take a look:

1. This is the employee's standard Work Pattern, meaning the size of this employee's Otherwise Working Days.
   1. This employee's work week is 4 days long.
   2. This setup will pre-populate timesheets as the Standard Pay row (see below)
2. These are the sizes that the system sees as a full day for this employee.
   
3. These days the system sees as non-working days, so no entitlement of paid leave will be made on these days. These are not Otherwise Working Days.
   
   
   Follow this link if you want to find out more about $0 amounts paid.
   *It is good practice to check the leave calculations of a timesheet to make sure the pay is correct and to check that the correct number of days are deducted from the leave balance.

Here is an example of the Timesheet that will generated for this employee:
*Note: the Standard Pay row is pre-populated based on the Work Pattern you entered.

Work Pattern input connects with different parts of the Thankyou Payroll system

The main places to keep an eye on when you input or update a work pattern are:

• the Leave Settings Tab in the Employee's Profile

1. This setting refers back to the Work Pattern entered in the default week. Any changes to the work pattern need to be saved here as well, to update in our system.

• the Standard Pay row and calculations in a timesheet
• Automation and Payroll Portal features.