What are Rate Codes?
Rate Codes are used to assign Additional Rates to employees for when they perform work outside of their primary position or department.
Rate Codes on their own are simply just codes set up on the company-level that represent the additional rate being assigned to the employee. They are typically set up numerically (i.e. Rate 1, Rate 2, etc.) to reflect the number of additional rates an employee has once they are assigned. It is only when the Rate Code is assigned to an employee's profile that further configuration is needed to specify the additional rate and link it to specific Cost Centers where the rate will apply when labor is performed.
Setting up Rate Codes
To view and create a Rate Code on the company level, navigate to the Payroll section within the Company tab and select the Earnings & Rates Card.
After selecting the Earnings & Rates Card, select the section for Rate Codes.
There should already be a few numerical Rate Codes set up along with the required "Base" code used for the employee's Default Rate. Most organizations don't need more then a few Rate Codes setup on a company-level, however when needed, additional Rate Codes can be added by clicking the blue "+ New Rate code" button.
When adding a Rate Code, apply a Code and Description. In most cases this should be a numeric code adding to the sequence of Rate Codes that have already been established.
There is also a Rate code is explicit setting that is toggled on by default. Having this toggled on means that when applying the Rate Code on the employee's check in the Pay Entry, the check calculation will error if the same Rate Code is not also set up on the employee's profile as an additional rate.
It is recommended to leave this setting on by default, however for any questions relating to the setup of Rate Codes, please do not hesitate to contact Empeon Customer Support. For guidance on how to apply a Rate Code as an additional rate on the Employee Profile, please refer to Empeon's article Additional Rates.