How Do Pay Codes and Pay Rates Work Together?

Every time entry answers two separate questions:

What kind of time is this? The pay code classifies the entry as regular work, PTO, sick time, holiday pay, drive time, piece work, or another category.
What rate applies? The pay rate supplies the dollar amount or multiplier used to value the entry.

A pay code can use the employee's normal rate, point to a company-wide rate, or apply a multiplier. That connection is why changing a pay code can also change the rate that Clean Smarts applies.

Applies to: Account administrators and payroll staff. Configuring company pay codes and Standard Pay Rates requires Manage Account. Viewing employee rates and rate or cost values on time entries and reports requires the Costs module on the Expert plan. Changing an employee's rate also requires Users (Edit).

How These Terms Map to Payroll Language

Payroll systems do not all use the same names. These are the closest common equivalents:

A Clean Smarts pay code is often called an earnings code, earning code, pay type, or payroll item. It identifies why the time or earnings exist, such as regular, overtime, PTO, or holiday.
A Clean Smarts employee pay rate is often called an hourly rate, wage rate, or employee base rate.
A Clean Smarts Standard Pay Rate is a reusable rate rule. Other systems may call a similar concept a rate code, rate-table entry, or wage-rate rule.
A Clean Smarts pay-rate override is similar to a shift rate, job rate, or temporary rate that replaces the normally resolved rate for that entry.

These terms are useful when mapping Clean Smarts to an outside payroll provider, but they are not always one-to-one. Confirm how your provider wants each pay code and rate exported.

Do not use regular rate of pay as a casual synonym for the rate entered in an employee's profile. In United States wage law, “regular rate of pay” is a specific overtime calculation that can include bonuses, differentials, and other compensation. The Pay rate in Clean Smarts is the configured rate used by the application.

How Clean Smarts Chooses a Pay Rate

Clean Smarts uses the first applicable rate in this order:

Time-entry override — A rate entered directly on an individual time entry takes priority over every other rate.
Shift or work-order override — An enabled budgeted labor-rate override applies when the time entry does not have its own override.
Driving time rate — If the entry is drive time and the employee has a Driving time standard pay rate, that rate applies.
Pay-code Standard Pay Rate — If the selected pay code points to a Standard Pay Rate, Clean Smarts uses its fixed amount or multiplier.
Employee pay rate — Otherwise, Clean Smarts uses the employee's rate that is active on the entry's date.
No configured rate — If none of the above supplies a rate, the entry resolves to zero.

The pay code does not automatically replace the employee's rate. A code set to Use employee rate only classifies the time; the employee's active rate still supplies the amount.

If the pay code uses a multiplier, Clean Smarts multiplies the employee's active rate by that value. For example, an employee rate of $20.00 with a 1.5 multiplier resolves to $30.00. The employee needs an active rate for the entry date so the multiplier has a base.

Examples

One code, different employee rates: A Regular code uses Use employee rate. An employee at $16.00 and an employee at $18.00 can use the same code while keeping their individual rates.
One fixed rate for everyone: A Training code points to a $15.00 Standard Pay Rate. Time using that code resolves to $15.00, even when an employee's normal rate is different.
A premium based on each employee's rate: A Premium Work code points to a 1.25 multiplier. An employee's $16.00 rate resolves to $20.00, while another employee's $20.00 rate resolves to $25.00.
A shift-specific rate: A shift has a Budgeted labor rate of $22.00 and Pay users the budgeted labor rate turned on. That override takes priority over the pay code and employee rate.

Create Standard Pay Rates

Create reusable rates before linking them to pay codes or employees.

In the web portal, click your profile in the bottom-left corner and choose Company Settings.
Select Timekeeping.
In Standard Pay Rates, click Add/edit pay rates.
Click Add Pay Rate.
Enter a Pay Rate Description.
Choose one rate method:
- Leave Use Rate Multiplier off, then enter a fixed Pay Rate and Currency.
- Turn on Use Rate Multiplier, then enter a multiplier greater than zero and no more than 2.
Click Create.

The Standard Pay Rate is saved immediately. You can now select it on a pay code, on an employee's Time & Pay profile, or as that employee's driving rate.

Use clear descriptions that explain the rule, such as Training — $15, Holiday — $25, or Premium — 1.5x.

Create Pay Codes and Connect Their Rates

Stay on Company Settings → Timekeeping.
In Default Pay Code, click Add/edit pay codes.
Click Add New Pay Code.
Enter the Pay Code Name that should appear on schedules, time entries, reports, and exports.
Choose the Type, such as Hourly, Overtime, Paid Holiday, PTO, Sick, or Piece.
Set Standard Pay Rate:
- Choose Use employee rate when the code should keep each employee's active rate.
- Choose a fixed Standard Pay Rate when everyone using the code should receive the same rate.
- Choose a multiplier Standard Pay Rate when the code should apply a premium to each employee's active rate.
Set Count as working time correctly. Working-time codes contribute hours toward overtime calculations; non-working time does not.
Click Create.

Clean Smarts requires Hourly, Salaried, Overtime, Double Overtime, Piece, and Rest and Recovery codes to count as working time. PTO, Sick, and Paid Holiday codes cannot count as working time.

Creating or editing a pay code saves it immediately. The Save Changes button at the bottom of the Timekeeping page is for page-level settings such as account defaults.

Set Each Employee's Pay Rate

Use dated employee rates for normal wages and raises.

Open Manage Users and select the employee.
Open Time & Pay.
Under Pay Rates, click Add New Pay Rate.
Enter the Date of Change.
Enter the Pay Rate and Currency, or choose a fixed Standard Pay Rate.
Click Create.

Clean Smarts applies the new rate starting on the Date of Change and closes the prior active rate on the previous day. Historical entries continue to resolve according to the rate active on their dates unless a higher-priority rate applies.

If an employee should normally receive their own rate, make sure the pay codes they use are set to Use employee rate.

Set Account and Driving Defaults

On Company Settings → Timekeeping:

Choose the Default Pay Code used when a more specific code is not supplied.
Under Drive Time, choose the Default driving time pay code if drive time should be classified separately.
Click Save Changes.

To give one employee a special driving rate:

Open the employee under Manage Users.
Open Time & Pay.
Choose a Driving time standard pay rate.
Click Save.

The employee's driving rate takes priority over the rate linked to the drive-time pay code. Leave the driving rate set to No Pay Rate when drive time should follow the normal pay-code and employee-rate rules.

Set a Pay Code or Rate on a Shift or Work Order

In the web portal:

Open or create the shift or work order.
Expand Budget.
Choose a Default pay code.
Enter the Budgeted labor rate and currency when you want to track the expected labor cost.
Turn on Pay users the budgeted labor rate only when that amount should replace the employee's normal resolved pay rate.
Save the shift or work order.

The Budgeted labor rate is a planning value unless Pay users the budgeted labor rate is turned on. Entering a budget by itself does not change employee pay.

In the mobile app, users who can create shifts or work orders see the corresponding Paycode ID, Enable payrate override, and Pay rate fields. Company Standard Pay Rates, pay-code definitions, and employee rate history are configured in the web portal.

Where Pay Codes and Rates Appear

In the web portal

Shift and work-order Budget sections show the default pay code, budgeted labor rate, and optional pay-rate override.
Web time-entry forms show Pay Code. Users with Costs can also see the resolved Pay Rate and an explanation of its source.
A user with the required access can turn on Override pay rate for a specific time entry.
Time Detail, Approve Timesheets, and Budget to Actual use pay codes for grouping or filtering.
Cost and rate values in time reports are available only to roles with Costs.
Payroll exports use the entry's pay code and applicable rate according to the selected payroll format.

In the mobile app

A time-entry detail shows its Pay code.
Clocking in does not ask employees to choose a pay code. Clean Smarts uses the linked shift or work-order default, or the account's Default Pay Code when no activity supplies one.
Managers with Timetracking (Edit) can create or update another employee's time entry and choose its pay code.
Regular employees can review their time and notes, but they do not edit their own pay code or see the resolved pay rate on the time-entry screen.
Users with permission to create shifts or work orders can set a default pay code and a pay-rate override while creating that activity.
Company-wide rates and an employee's dated pay-rate history remain web-portal settings.

Troubleshooting

I gave employees different rates, but they all resolve to the same amount.

Open Company Settings → Timekeeping → Add/edit pay codes and inspect the code used by those entries. A fixed Standard Pay Rate on the code takes priority over employee rates. Change it to Use employee rate if each person's dated rate should apply.

A raise is not appearing on an entry.

Check the entry date against the employee's rate history under Manage Users → Time & Pay. Then check for a time-entry, shift, work-order, driving, or pay-code rate higher in the priority order.

A multiplier code resolves to zero.

Confirm the employee has an active pay rate on the entry date. A multiplier needs that employee rate as its base.

The Budgeted labor rate is not changing employee pay.

Open the shift or work order and turn on Pay users the budgeted labor rate. Without that setting, the amount is used for budgeting rather than as a pay-rate override.

I cannot see employee or report pay rates.

Employee pay rates and rate or cost values on time entries and reports require the Costs module on the Expert plan. Editing employee rates also requires Users (Edit). Company pay codes and Standard Pay Rates require Manage Account.

Overtime totals look wrong after adding a pay code.

Review both Type and Count as working time on the code. Only working time contributes to overtime-hour totals. Also verify your payroll provider's earning-code setup before processing payroll.