Set up custom entitlements

Note: Custom entitlements are available for customers using the Time Off Request module.

In addition to the standard entitlement, your organization may need more options for entitlements. Powerpay allows you to add custom entitlements.

Custom Entitlements define the pay codes and the reasons employees can select when requesting time off from work. They control how employees earn balances that represent their benefits, such as sick or personal days. They are made up of several components that describe:

  • When or at what frequency employees are granted their benefits. For example, you can define that employees accrue bereavement annually or are granted an unlimited balance.

  • How many units of each benefit employees are granted. Units can be days or hours. By linking a balance to an entitlement, such as sick, Powerpay automatically deducts the number of units used from the balance when the entitlement is recorded in the employee’s timesheet. For example, when the flex day balance is linked to the flex day entitlement, Powerpay automatically deducts from the balance appropriately each time an employee’s request for time off is approved and the flex day entitlement appears in the employee’s timesheet. The number of units deducted from the balance is dependent on the duration of the approved request, and the employee’s Normal Daily Hour and Working Days. If an employee takes two days off for flex day, Powerpay deducts two days from the flex day balance.

  • If employees are allowed unlimited time off for an entitlement.

  • Are employees allowed to exceed their balance or carry their balance from year to year.

Prerequisites

Request a new pay code setup if your custom entitlement is to link to a pay code that does not exist on your payroll. Service fees apply. See Set up earnings.

Tasks

  1. Go to the Time Off Request tab.Closed From the People menu, select Settings > Time Off Request.

  2. In the Custom Entitlements section, click Add Custom Entitlement.

  3. Enter a description for the entitlement in English and French. The description appears in the Reason list for employees in Self Service when they are making a time off request.

  4. Click Next.

  5. (optional) Select a pay code to link the entitlement to an existing Pay Code in Powerpay.

    Pay codes are used to pay the employee for the time off request. Approved time off requests are added to the timesheet in the applicable pay period. If no pay code is selected, the request will only be a memo item to track the time within Powerpay; no hours will be paid and it will not appear on the employee pay statement, nor the payroll register. For example, you can create an entitlement with the description “Time Off Without Pay” without linking it to a pay code to create a memo item.

    Note: Using the example above for Salaried employees requires an adjustment on the Timesheet to ensure the employee is NOT paid the full salary amount for the pay period.

    To track time for employees without a permanent rate or salary, create a custom entitlement without linking it to a pay code. E.g. Commission employees

  6. (optional) Select an Import Code (maximum of four alpha-numeric characters) if you intend to import history for this entitlement.

    Adding an import code allows you to import existing custom entitlement balance data into Powerpay without entering it for each individual employee. This saves you time and helps to eliminate data entry errors.

    Important: If an import code is not entered during the custom entitlement set up and employees are already utilizing the custom entitlement for time off requests, the import code cannot be added and entitlement balances will need to be entered manually.

    For more information see Import custom entitlement balances.

  7. Click Next.

    A message displays with a description of the pay code.

  8. Click Next.

  9. Select the options that define your custom entitlement:

    • Does the custom entitlement provide unlimited time off?

    • When during the year the annual grant is applied?

    • What balance amount is granted in the selected time frame? This is the balance granted to the employees assigned to the entitlement when the annual grant day is reached. Employees assigned to the entitlement are granted a zero balance by default. After assigning an employee to the entitlement, you can adjust the grant amount for the current year. See Enter initial balances for each Custom entitlement for each employee for more information.

    • Can employees exceed their granted balance and create a negative balance?

      If you want to allow employees to request time off in a future year, you must select Yes for this option.

    • Does the balance roll over from year to year?

  10. Click Next.

  11. Select the employees to assign to the custom entitlement.

    • Filter employees based on Status, Department, Position, Employment Type, and Province of Employment. To make multiple selections hold down the Ctrl key as you are selecting.

    • To assign future employees who meet the same filter criteria to the custom entitlement, select the Automatically select this entitlement in the New Hire Process for all future employees if these criteria are met checkbox.

  12. Click Preview to verify employees that will be assigned to the custom entitlement. All employees that fulfill the selected filter criteria display and are selected by default.

  13. Clear the checkbox for any employees that should NOT be assigned to the custom entitlement.

  14. Click Save.

Next steps