Pay rules
Set an employee's hourly rate, commission, per-post pay or weekly salary, and record raises.
What it's for
An employee's pay comes from pay rules on their profile: an hourly rate, a commission percentage, pay per post, or a weekly salary. Each rule has a start date and, if it ends, an end date. Payroll uses the rule that covers each date, so past weeks keep the rate they had at the time.
Before you start
- You're signed in as an Administrator.
- The employee's profile exists. Open it from People → Employees.
- For real staff linked to Hubstaff, the hourly rate is set in Hubstaff, not here (see below).
Steps
Find the pay cards
On the profile, at the top right, two cards show Current hourly rate and Current commission: the rate (for example $12.50/h or 10%) or Not set, then "Since" a date (and "until" a date if it ends), or No rule covers today.
Set or change the hourly rate or commission
Click Set rate (no rate yet) or Change on a card. A window Set hourly rate or Set commission opens: "Starts today or later. A higher rate is recorded as a raise; the current rule closes the day before."
Fill in Rate (USD) or Rate (%), Effective from (today or a later date) and, if you like, Note (optional). Click Save rate. The message Rate saved. appears at the bottom right. If the rate is the same as today's, it says That is already the rate. Nothing changed.
Add another kind of pay rule
Click Add pay rule in the Pay rules card ("For per-post, weekly salary, creator-specific commission or past periods."). Choose the Pay type: Commission, Hourly, Per post (picked first) or Weekly salary. Fill in the rate, From and, if the rule should end, To (optional). For a commission you can pick one creator under Creator (optional); leave All creators for the usual case. Click Add rule. The message is Pay rule added.
Record a raise
Click Record raise in the Raise history card ("Raises close the current rule and open a higher one."). A window Record raise opens: "The new rate must be higher than the current one." Pick the Pay type (it shows today's rate, for example "Hourly (now $12.50/h)"), type the new Rate, the Effective date and a note. Click Record raise. The message is Raise recorded.
The button is greyed out when the person has no current hourly rate or commission you can change.
End or cancel a rule
In the Pay rules table, a current rule has an End button and a rule that starts later has a Cancel button.
- End asks End this rule? "It stops applying from today (it ends yesterday). Past payroll is not changed." Click End rule; the message is Rule ended as of yesterday.
- Cancel asks Cancel this scheduled rule? "It will never apply. If it was a raise or rate change, the previous rate continues." Click Cancel rule; the message is Scheduled rule cancelled.
Keep it closes the question without changing anything. A rule that started today can't be ended (it would end before it began): End cancels it instead, with the message Scheduled rule cancelled.
To fix a rate on the day it starts, use Change with the same start date: the app corrects that rule instead of adding a new one.
What you should see
The Pay rules table ("Effective-dated history. Payroll uses the rule that covers each date.") has the columns Type, Rate, Period, Source and Status.
- Period: the start date → the end date, or open when it has no end.
- Status: Current (covers today), Scheduled (starts later), Ended or Cancelled (shown faded, at the bottom).
- Source: Manual (added with Add pay rule), Raise, Rate change (set with Set rate or Change), Imported (brought over from the old system) or Hubstaff.
- Under the type, Only followed by a creator's name marks a creator-specific commission, and Review imported rate marks an old imported rate to check.
- Empty: No pay rules yet. Set an hourly rate or commission above.
The Raise history lists each raise as "Hourly: $12.50/h → $13.50/h" with the date, who recorded it and the note, and a badge: the increase (for example +$1.00/h), Scheduled for a future raise, or Cancelled. Empty: No raises recorded.
When Hubstaff sets the hourly rate
For a real employee who isn't Terminated and is linked to an active Hubstaff member with a pay rate in US dollars, Hubstaff owns the hourly rate:
- The Current hourly rate card has no button and says From Hubstaff, synced every 15 minutes. Change it in Hubstaff.
- No hourly rule has an End or Cancel button (not even rules added by hand or imported), the card has no Set rate or Change button, and Record raise doesn't offer Hourly.
- Trying to add an hourly rule that reaches today is refused: This hourly rate comes from Hubstaff. Change it in Hubstaff; the app follows within 15 minutes. You can still add an hourly rule for a past period (one whose To date is before today).
- The hourly rules follow Hubstaff's rate history: each rule starts on the day that rate started in Hubstaff, and the first one reaches back to the hire date. A higher rate also shows in Raise history, on Hubstaff's date. These rules show Hubstaff as their source. If Hubstaff's history can't be read, a change starts on the day the app sees it instead.
- An hourly rule you add for a past period stays, unless it starts on a day Hubstaff's rate changed: Hubstaff's rate wins on those days.
Commission, per-post pay and weekly salary are always set here, for everyone.
Test checklist
Good to know
- How the rules turn into a payment: How pay is calculated.
- A creator-specific commission is saved and listed, but payroll doesn't use it yet. The window says so: "Creator-specific commission is stored but not yet used by payroll."
- On shared data, change pay only on your made-up test employee. Real staff's pay feeds the real payroll.