Manage employee pay

Use Add employee pay to record an employee’s hourly rate or full-time annual salary. All assignments use this pay unless an assignment has its own exception. This feature is part of Workforce Budgeting.

A pay entry records the protected compensation amount that applies to an employee or one of the employee’s assignments for a dated period.

Use Add assignment pay exception only when an agreement gives one assignment a different rate, salary, or contracted annual total. For example, an employee may work in two roles with different hourly rates. Splitting the same salary across departments does not require an exception; assignment FTE already divides the cost.

Before you begin

Compensation is protected information. Confirm the employee and assignment before opening or changing a record. Do not copy values into position conversations, request reasons, or other areas with a broader audience.

Understand the employee timeline

Open Compensation > Employee pay and select an employee. The list identifies employees and their current positions using today’s date in the organization’s time zone. Your personal time-zone preference does not change that date. Open the employee timeline to review pay for another effective date.

Use Search to find an employee by name or identifier, position, or department.

The employee page presents dated pay history. Each row identifies:

• what the pay entry applies to;
• effective date;
• amount and pay type;
• Added through; and
• whether the record is scheduled, active, ended, or removed.

The effective date is the first day the value applies. Pay values have no end date. The latest effective date on or before the selected day applies; when dates match, the most recently saved entry applies.

Select a pay amount to open that pay entry’s details. Use the Activity history clock immediately to the right of the page actions to see who recorded a correction, when it was recorded, the earlier values, and the stated reason. The employee page focuses on what pay applied and when.

Choose which assignments use this pay

Employee-level pay can supply the person’s assignments; an assignment pay exception applies only to the selected assignment and takes priority there.

Choose Add employee pay for the normal employee rate. This form has no assignment selector. Choose Add assignment pay exception for pay that belongs to one assignment, then select the assignment. When you open the exception form from assignment details, the assignment is already fixed and its details appear above the pay fields.

The two actions open separate pages. From a missing-pay issue, choose Add assignment pay exception when the agreement belongs to the affected assignment only.

For each active assignment, an assignment-specific record takes priority over the employee-level record on the same date. The two are alternatives for that assignment, not amounts to add together.

See Pay types and worked examples for two half-time assignments sharing one salary and an assignment with its own agreement.

Choose the pay type

Choose the option that describes the agreement: pay for each hour, a full-time yearly salary, or a fixed yearly total for this assignment. The table shows how each choice affects a part-time calculation:

Contracted annual pay (not scaled by FTE) is available only for an assignment pay exception. Employee pay offers hourly rate and annual salary scaled by FTE.

For a half-time assignment, a $60,000 full-time salary costs $30,000. A contracted annual amount of $30,000 remains $30,000. See the worked examples for hourly pay and multiple assignments.

1. Choose the payCheck the employee, dates, amount, and pay type against the agreement.
2. Save the entryUse employee pay or the appropriate assignment pay exception.
3. Check the resultReview the pay timeline, affected assignments, and calculated compensation.

Add a compensation change

Before adding a record, check the approved pay agreement. Confirm the employee, assignment, starting date, amount, and pay type.

If you are working from Employee pay missing in Issues, select Fix issue near the problem summary or in the Issues list. Confirm the employee, position, and affected dates, then choose Add employee pay or Add assignment pay exception. Each action opens its own pay page with the employee and affected date fixed; the exception page also fixes the assignment.

Review related assignments and dated pay entries on the issue’s Details tab before making a change. Saving returns to Details, where the status updates as the correction is checked. Select Issues above the heading to return to your filtered list. When a connected HR system maintains the pay, follow the instructions for correcting pay in that system.

Then:

1. Open Compensation > Employee pay.
2. Select the employee.
3. Select Add employee pay.
4. Enter the effective date.
5. Choose the pay type and enter the amount.
6. Review any existing or scheduled assignment exceptions shown on the form. They keep their own rates when employee pay changes.
7. Review the fields and save.
8. Wait for the actual compensation results to update.
9. Open the employee’s pay timeline, then open an affected assignment and check the calculated amount for the new date.

To add an exception, choose Add assignment pay exception from the employee timeline, Employee pay page, or assignment details. Select the employee and assignment when they are not already fixed. Enter the effective date, pay type, and amount, then save. The assignment selector supports search and shows the position and assignment dates on separate lines.

Annual salary and contracted annual pay allow up to two decimal places. Hourly rates allow up to four. Extra trailing zeros are accepted; additional meaningful digits must be corrected before saving. Changing the pay type never rounds or changes the amount you entered.

Each pay page includes a link to the other page. Save your work first, or leave without saving if you chose the wrong task. Unsaved amounts and notes are not transferred between pages. If a value needs correcting, the current page keeps your entries and shows the error beside the field.

The Pay section on assignment details shows the pay source, amount, pay type, and the date that pay began for the selected date. Employee pay means the assignment follows the employee’s general pay. Assignment pay exception means it uses its own pay entry. Pay not set means neither is available for that date.

Choose View pay entry to inspect the entry. When an exception already applies, choose Change assignment pay to add a new dated amount or Return to employee pay to end the exception from a chosen date. Pay details and actions depend on your compensation access.

Use a new dated change when a valid amount changes later. Do not correct the earlier record merely because a later approved amount begins.

Example: scheduled increase

A $70,000 annual salary is valid through March 31. An approved $73,500 amount begins April 1.

Add the $73,500 entry with April 1 as its Effective date. The new amount applies from April 1. The earlier $70,000 entry remains unchanged in history.

Example: temporary amount

An assignment-specific amount should apply from May 15 through August 31. Add that amount effective May 15. Add the agreed return amount effective September 1, or choose Return to employee pay effective September 1 if the assignment should return to employee-level pay. Review both dated entries.

Understand which entry applies

For one employee, FTE Tree selects the most recent effective date on or before the selected day. It uses the newest saved entry when effective dates match. The same rule applies within each assignment’s pay history. Assignment-specific pay takes priority over employee-level pay for that assignment.

For example, save $73,500 effective April 1, then save $74,000 effective April 1. The result uses $74,000 from April 1. Both entries remain in history. Adding a February value afterward changes February and March, while the April value still applies from April 1.

Understand Added through

Added through identifies how the record entered FTE Tree, such as:

• Manual
• Batch import

If an action is unavailable, check the pay dates, whether FTE Tree or a connected system manages that period, and which departments you are allowed to manage. Those details will help your administrator explain the missing action.

Correct or stop existing pay

Use Correct or stop an employee pay entry when an earlier entry was wrong, an assignment should return to employee pay, or employee pay becomes unknown. Add a new dated entry when a valid agreement changes later. Removing an entry is only for a mistake that should never have applied.

Check the calculated result

After the current result is ready:

1. Open the employee timeline and confirm the entry that covers the date.
2. Confirm the employee, assignment, and assignment FTE in position control.
3. Confirm whether the source is employee-level or assignment-specific.
4. Confirm the amount, pay type, and annual hours when required.
5. Calculate the expected base annual cost independently.
6. Review the rules and who receives them as listed under Applied adjustments.
7. Run an Actual Compensation Snapshot for the same date.
8. Check the position’s assigned FTE, compensation status, and final yearly cost using the pay that applies on the selected date.

The snapshot is position-level. If several employees are assigned to the same position, its amount is the combined available assignment result. Check each employee’s pay and adjustments to understand their share of the total. A report row may include more than one employee.

Example: complete check

Use a separate half-time assignment at $30 an hour, with 2,080 annual hours and a 5% pay-rate adjustment. No other adjustments apply.

If the starting cost differs, check pay type, rate, hours, and FTE. If only the final amount differs, inspect the applied adjustments.

Maintain pay through a batch import

Use the employee compensation import to enter several pay records together. Imported pay follows the same rules as pay entered on screen. Check the employee, assignment, amount, and dates. Confirm whether the amount is hourly, a full-time salary, or a contracted total, and whether FTE Tree or your connected HR system maintains it.

For a Create import, each row identifies the employee, optional assignment, effective date, amount, basis, and amount meaning. For an Update import, use the current pay-entry ID and choose correct, default, or remove with a reason. Include each current pay-entry ID only once in an update file.

The import template represents basis and amount meaning separately. Confirm that their combination means hourly rate, annual salary scaled by FTE, or contracted annual pay before applying the file. Do not guess from the numeric amount alone.

Compensation imports require Manage actual compensation and Import workforce data covering each employee’s department, each position’s department, and every affected date in the file. Validate the file, review every issue and preview, apply it once, and then inspect representative employee timelines and a new dated snapshot. See Prepare a file for import for the complete review sequence.

Form choices

Use this reference to choose form values. Available choices depend on the task, selected date, and your access.

Pay type

Choose the agreement that describes this pay. Employee defaults and assignment exceptions can offer different pay types.

For a half-time assignment, a $60,000 annual salary produces $30,000 before adjustments. A contracted annual amount of $30,000 stays $30,000. Contracted annual pay is available only for an assignment pay exception. An assignment exception takes priority over employee-default pay for that assignment; it does not add a second salary.

Assignment

Employee-default pay applies to the employee’s assignments. Select one assignment when recording a pay exception for that assignment.

Keep a shared agreement at employee level when several assignments use it. Use an assignment pay exception only for a different agreement on that assignment. Returning an assignment to default pay lets it use employee pay again from the selected date.

Optional practice: enter Avery’s $60,000 yearly salary

For exercises that change records, use a separate practice organization and complete the preparation below.

Practice steps and checks

1. Open Avery Reed’s 1.0 assignment to Patient Services Coordinator.
2. Choose Add assignment pay exception.
3. Choose Annual salary (scaled by FTE) and enter $60,000.
4. Start it on January 1, 2027, then save.
5. Open the compensation result after it updates.

Before benefits, it should show $60,000 per year, because Avery is assigned at 1.0 FTE. Next, apply the 20% benefits estimate.

Choose the pay type that describes the agreement. Hourly pay and a contracted annual total use different calculations; the reference examples above explain those when you need them. Keep the introductory salary example unchanged while trying other pay types.