If you have a large number of pay rate templates you need to update, you can export them to a csv file, bulk update them in excel and then import them to update the rates.
Exporting pay rate templates
You can choose to export all pay rate templates that exist within the business by going to the Payroll settings > Pay rate templates page and clicking the 'Export' button:
The export page has 3 configurable fields:
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Pay rate templates - If you only want to export a selected pay rate template, you can click the drop down box in order to choose from the listed options. The 'your pay rate templates' refers to any custom pay rate templates, as opposed to those linked to an award. If you want to export all pay rate templates that exist within the business, you'll need to select 'all of the above' from the list;
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Data type - You can elect to export:
- Used pay categories only - refers to all pay categories that have been 'enabled' in the pay rate template setup;
- All available pay categories - refers to all pay categories in the business, even if they have not been 'enabled' in the pay rate template setup;
- Empty template - the template will populate the same as if 'all available pay categories' was selected BUT there are no 'pay rates' in the empty template.
- File format - XLSX or CSV
N.B. If a linked pay category is part of the pay rate template, the linked pay category will appear in the export with the parent pay category name appearing before the linked pay category name. E.g - Casual Ordinary Hours / Casual - Overtime x 125%
Importing a pay rate template
Once you have updated your rates and saved the XLSX or CSV file, you can upload the rates by clicking on the "Select file" button and selecting the file you wish to upload.
If you also want to update the rates for the employees that are linked to the updated pay rate templates, you can do so by selecting the "Update employee pay rates" option.
Not having the above can cause confusion as clients can update the template but if employees are linked to the template, the update won't apply this to linked employees.
Multiple pay categories with the same name
Where there are pay categories with the same name, the system will distinguish bewtween the pay categories in the pay rate template export accordingly using the following rules:
- If the pay category is an award pay category, the award ID will be suffixed to the end of the pay category name in square brackets. This will be in the PrimaryPayCategory field as well as the individual pay category name field (where the actual pay rate is shown);
- If the pay category is NOT an award pay category, but it DOES have an external ID, the external ID will be suffixed to the end of the pay category name in square brackets. This will be in the PrimaryPayCategory field as well as the individual pay category name field (where the actual pay rate is shown);
- If the pay category is NOT an award pay category, and does NOT have an External ID, the pay categories system ID will be prefixed to the start of the pay category name.
N.B. The pay categories will only have this extra information (award ID, External ID or system ID) in the export if there are pay categories of the same name. If there are no pay categories with the exact same name in the business, the pay category names will be sufficient to distinguish them and so there is no reason to provide the above mentioned extra info in the export.