Set up pay adjustment rules

A pay adjustment rule describes how to calculate a premium, allowance, or reduction. Give the rule a name, choose what it changes, and enter the amount or percentage. Then apply it separately in labor budget or compensation to choose who receives it and when.

For example, a reusable benefits rule can add 20% of salary. Applying that rule to a position with a $70,000 budget rate adds $14,000 to its planned annual cost. Applying it separately to an employee’s $60,000 salary adds $12,000 to calculated annual compensation. The rule defines the calculation; each applied adjustment defines the affected records and dates.

Before you begin

Pay adjustment rules can contain financial values. Use them only for authorized work, and choose names that describe the business policy without exposing an employee’s compensation.

Create a pay adjustment rule

1. Open Settings and select Pay adjustment rules.
2. Select Create pay adjustment rule.
3. Enter a name that identifies the business policy.
4. Choose the effective date on which this rule begins.
5. Choose what should change and how it should change.
6. Enter the value and any required pay-rate basis.
7. Choose an account code if you need to report this adjustment under a particular account.
8. Review Order within type against other rules with the same target and method.
9. Choose whether the rule can be used on positions or job classifications and whether duplicate uses are allowed.
10. Save and review the rule’s Details and Availability.

Use a name such as “Evening shift premium” or “Temporary vacancy savings.” Avoid an employee name, unexplained abbreviation, or a name that does not distinguish this policy from another rule.

Check the setup

Before applying the rule widely, try it on one appropriate practice position or assignment. Check:

• the intended target and method;
• the entered value and pay-rate basis;
• the effective date and availability;
• whether duplicate uses contribute once or more than once;
• the account-code classification; and
• the adjustment line and final result shown in the calculation details.

See Apply labor budget adjustments or Apply actual compensation adjustments for guidance about using the rule in each area.

If you use the rule in both budget and compensation, open an example result in each area and work out the amount. The formula and calculation order are shared, but you still apply the rule separately with the appropriate dates and people or positions in each area.

1. Define the ruleChoose what changes and how its amount or percentage is calculated.
2. Apply itChoose the relevant budget or compensation records and dates.
3. Check the amountReview eligibility, other adjustments, and the complete result.

Understand rules and applied adjustments

Changing a rule can affect every matching use of that rule beginning on the change date. Changing one applied labor budget or compensation adjustment affects only that dated use.

Calculation order belongs to the reusable rule. Labor budget has a separate Overlap priority that selects between matching uses of the same rule; it does not move that rule in the calculation sequence. Actual compensation has no applied-adjustment priority.

Choose what the adjustment changes

Select Projected FTE, Pay rate, or Annual cost only to match the policy. The target changes the calculated result; it does not edit the position, assignment, budget rate, or employee pay you entered.

Use the target comparison and examples if you are deciding whether a policy should change staffing capacity, a rate, or only the final cost.

Choose how the value is calculated

Choose the method on the rule form: a fixed amount included before percentages, a percentage of the starting value, a percentage of the running value, or a fixed amount after percentages. Compare their effects in Calculation methods.

Use Order within type to place this rule among rules with the same target and method. It cannot move a rule to another stage. Before changing the order of compounding percentages, see how the order changes the amount.

On rule forms, enter 5 for 5%; an individual percentage cannot be below -100%. CSV import templates use decimal rates such as 0.05 for 5%.

Configure fixed pay-rate amounts

A fixed pay-rate rule requires a Pay rate basis:

Percentage pay-rate adjustments do not require a separate basis because the percentage uses the applicable starting or running pay rate.

Configure the remaining options

Leave Allow duplicates off when the business policy should contribute only once, even if more than one matching source selects it. Turn it on only when each matching use represents a separate cost or FTE effect.

For actual compensation, overlapping applied adjustments of the same rule cannot use a separate priority. When duplicates are not allowed, explicitly narrow, end, remove, replace, or suppress the overlap. When duplicates are allowed, every eligible use can contribute in the rule’s shared calculation order.

The position and job-classification choices control direct use of the rule. They do not apply the policy to labor budget or actual compensation. Apply the rule separately in the relevant financial area.

Manage availability

The Availability tab controls the dates on which the rule can be selected for new direct position or job-classification uses. Making it unavailable preserves existing uses, calculations, reports, and activity history. Add a later available date when the same rule should be offered again.

Use on positions and Use on job classifications are separate dated settings. Turning one off prevents new selections in that location without removing the earlier history.

Make a later change or correction

Each rule setting has its own dated history. Add a later value when the business rule changes. For example, record a new percentage on July 1 when the policy rate changes on July 1.

Use Correct entry or the available correction action when the recorded value or effective date itself was wrong. Use Void entry only when that dated entry should never have existed. Activity history continues to show the correction.

After changing a rule, wait for the affected results to update. Open one affected position or assignment on the new start date and check the amount. Run a new report when you need the changed result; a completed older report stays as it was.

Form choices

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

What should change?

Choose the financial measure this reusable rule changes.

A 10% projected FTE rule on 1 FTE produces 1.1 projected FTEs. A 10% pay-rate rule on $60,000 produces a $66,000 adjusted annual rate. A $6,000 annual-cost-only rule adds cost without changing those staffing or rate measures. Choose the target from what the result should represent, not from the name of the benefit.

How should it change?

Choose how the rule participates in calculation order. Starting value and running value produce different results when rules combine.

Two non-compounding 10% rules on $100 add $10 each, producing $120. Two compounding 10% rules produce $110 and then $121. Including a fixed $10 before a 10% calculation produces $121; adding that $10 after the percentage produces $120. Review the rule order as well as the method.

Cross-basis behavior

For a fixed pay-rate adjustment, decide what happens when its hourly or annual basis differs from the base rate.

For example, adding an hourly premium to an annual base rate requires a conversion if the calculation is to combine them. Confirm annual hours per FTE before allowing that conversion. Choosing Convert does not supply a missing annual-hours value or change the meaning of the entered amount.

Allow duplicates

Choose whether the same reusable rule may contribute more than once when multiple uses match.

Allow duplicates only when repeated contributions represent the intended policy. This setting is separate from the add, replace, or suppress choice on an applied adjustment. Check a record matching both a broad policy and a local use before enabling repeated contributions.

Rule availability

Choose where this reusable rule is available for selection. Making it available does not apply it to every record.

Availability for positions and availability for job classifications are separate setup choices. Applying a rule still requires its financial scope and dates. Existing applied adjustments keep their recorded rule and dates when selection availability changes.

Adjustment rule

Choose the reusable calculation rule to apply. Check its target, method, and amount before choosing the entry’s scope and dates.

The rule defines the calculation. Each entry determines where and when it applies. Reusing the same rule on several entries does not make those entries interchangeable: review coverage and overlapping dates to avoid an unintended duplicate adjustment.

Fixed pay-rate adjustment basis

Choose whether the fixed premium is an hourly or annual rate. The cross-basis setting determines what happens when it differs from the base rate.

For example, a 2 hourly premium adds 2 per hour to an eligible hourly base rate. Applying that premium to an annual base rate requires the rule’s cross-basis behavior and any required hours information. This choice describes the premium; it does not change the base rate’s own basis.

Optional practice: create a simple benefits estimate

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

Practice steps and checks

1. Open Settings > Pay adjustment rules and create a rule named Course benefits estimate.
2. Choose Annual cost only for what it changes.
3. Choose Percentage of starting value (non-compounding).
4. Enter 20, meaning 20%, and start the rule on January 1, 2027.
5. Leave Allow duplicates off and save.

This rule adds 20% of the starting annual cost. It does not change FTE or the rate you originally entered.

Next, apply it to the $70,000 budget, where it adds $14,000, and to Avery’s $60,000 salary, where it adds $12,000. Creating the rule alone does neither.