Once the employee is set up, you can start entering their time. How you record timesheets is important:
- The province where work is performed informs how income tax is calculated and which provincial tax calculation is used. The tax calculation is based on the pay period and the province the work is done in.
- Union calculations depend on the employee’s union assignment. The timesheet will be posted to the employee’s default union initially. Sometimes an employee will be moving around to different job sites in different cities. If this is the case, they may be working under a different union local, or even a different union altogether. You can change the union to reflect this situation.
- If an employee is working the night shift, they may be entitled to a shift premium.
- Different types of pay, such as living out allowances and mileage, can be recorded on the timesheet. These will be recorded as such on the employee’s cheque, and ultimately on their T4.
Abio has a few ways to record employee timesheets.
Desktop – Single Entry
To enter a single timesheet on the desktop, navigate to [c] Payroll, then [d] Timesheet Entry.
The List tab displays all the current timesheets.
Click on the Details tab to add or modify a timesheet.
Before the advent of web and mobile tools, this screen was used exclusively to enter large volumes of timesheets. It’s optimized to initially populate a new record with the most likely values, to move you from field to field using either <tab> or <enter>, to skip past fields that are unlikely to change, and to move you quickly on to the next timesheet to add.
As well as being optimized for data entry, it also:
- Verifies that shift workers aren’t working when they’re not scheduled;
- Checks that labour standards aren’t being violated. Employees must receive adequate days off when they’ve worked sequential days in a row;
- Informs when statutory holidays have occurred between intervening work days;
Timesheet Actions
Click on the action field to see the actions that are available.
Inquire
This action allows you to view, but not change, a timesheet.
Add
Add a new timesheet.
Change
Change a timesheet that hasn’t been used to create a cheque.
Delete
Delete a timesheet that hasn’t been used to create a cheque.
History
Move a transacted timesheet to history.
Import
Record timesheet hours on a spreadsheet and import into Abio.
There are a few steps involved in using the import action. First, you’ll need to assign employees to crews. Next, you’ll generate a Shared Time Entry Sheet. Finally, you’ll export the time entry sheet to excel. The excel spreadsheet will have each of the crew members listed. Fill in their hours and return the spreadsheet to the payroll office. They’ll import the spreadsheet back into Abio.
Recalc
If you’ve changed an employee’s occupation, or changed the rates on their current occupation, the recalc action will recalculate the amounts owing on a timesheet. You can only do this for timesheets that haven’t been used to create a cheque.
Search
Search for an employee by name.
If there is more than one employee with that name, you can select the one you want from a list.
Print, email, or export a timesheet to an excel spreadsheet.
Unaudited Change
This action allows you to change fields without validation. Only system administrators should use this action, as it has the potential to put the G/L out of balance.
Timesheet Fields
Employee, Date, Item
This uniquely identifies the timesheet. If an employee worked on more than one job or G/L posting, use sequential item numbers to differentiate the timesheets.
Job, Area, Centre
Specify the job and cost centre for craft workers.
Crew
For reporting purposes
Equipment
If this represents work on an equipment unit post it to that unit. It will be recorded on the financials tab for that equipment.
G/L Account
If the work is posted to a job, this field will set to the job cost labour control account. If you’re posting administrative or management hours, you can post to a G/L account specifically for that purpose.
Division
If your company has divisions defined, you may be required to enter one here.
WCB
WCB (Worker’s Compensation Board) class work covers.
Ticket #
For reporting purposes only. If you are getting the client to sign off labour hours on the Shared Time Entry Sheet report, this field gives a mechanism to identify which time entry sheet each timesheet came off of.
You can enter it manually, or it is updated when you import the time entry sheets. It’s included in the export file for the Shared Centre Labour Dispersion report.
Union, Occupation
This controls union dues, pension, RRSP, etc, plus wages. See Collective Agreements for more information.
Shift
Employees working the night shift may earn shift premiums.
Status
You can set up a number of statuses to code timesheets to indicate if the employee actually worked, or is being paid for another reason. Some examples include:
- Medical,
- Personal reasons
- Quit
- Sick Leave,
- Turnaround,
- Unpaid leave,
- Vacation,
- Worked,
- Administrative Use
When you create cheques, you can choose to create cheques for a specific timesheet status. You may want to process all the vacation timesheets together, so that when you come to the approval stage, you can release the vacation earnings.
Hours
Enter the regular, time & a half, and overtime hours worked.
Spot?
Use this field to identify if overtime is scheduled or spot. Some union benefits are based on scheduled time, which includes scheduled overtime, but not spot overtime.
LOA, Mileage, Site Allowance, Turnaround, Meal & Checkout, Taxi & Bus, Retro Pay, Vehicle Allowance, Payment in Lie, Other Taxable
Enter these amounts as appropriate here. They will be reported on the employee’s cheque as such.
Retention
Retention is set up by union and job. If the employee is entitled to retention pay, it will display here. It won’t be paid out unless it’s released during cheque approval.
Recruitment
If you are paying a recruiting agent for finding you this employee, the amount due the agency is reported here.
Fringe
When a cheque is costed, the fringe costs are apportioned to each timesheet. Fringe includes:
- CPP,
- Employer portion of EI,
- Union remittance,
- WCB remittance,
- Vacation pay,
- Statutory pay,
- Training pay,
- Employer RRSP,
- Person safety,
- Group safety,
- Production bonus,
- Staff safety,
- Small tools,
- Incentives,
- Provincial employer taxes,
- Payroll taxes
GST/HST Recovery
GST or HST is calculated on subsistence amounts according to the GST recovery rule for the timesheet.
Cheque No
The cheque that paid this timesheet.
GST/HST Rule
GST or HST is recovered from subsistence amounts based on this rule.
Employee?
This field shows if the employee is a subcontractor or a regular employee, according to how his/her employee record is coded.
Costed?
This field indicates whether or not the amounts from this timesheet have been transacted.
G/L YYYYMM
The G/L period this cheque is transacted to.
Cost Date & Time
When the cheque was transacted to.
Daysheet #
The daysheet this timesheet is recorded on.
Premiums
Web App
A second alternative is to use Abio’s web-based app. Find more information in the course on Job Site Management. The Recording Labour Hours topic demonstrates how to add labour hours in the field.