Work with employee pay units
Pay units define the unit of measurement for employee compensation. An employee might be described as earning "$80,000 annually" (annual pay unit), "$38.46 per hour" (hourly pay unit), or "$300 per day" (daily pay unit). OnePayroll uses conversion factors to translate between these units.
How pay units are assigned to employees
Employees don't select a pay unit directly. Instead, the pay unit is inherited from the employee's Employee Type:
- Each Employee Type specifies a Pay Unit.
- When you assign an employee type to an employee, the Pay Unit and Pay Factor fields on the employee card are populated automatically as read-only FlowFields.
To view an employee's pay unit
- Search for Employees and open the employee card.
- In the OnePayroll section, view:
- Type — The employee type assigned to this employee
- Pay Unit — The pay unit inherited from the employee type (read-only)
- Pay Factor — The conversion factor from the pay unit (read-only)
Tip
To change an employee's pay unit, change their Employee Type to one that uses the desired pay unit, or update the pay unit on the current employee type. You cannot change the pay unit directly on the employee card.
Understanding conversion factors
Each pay unit has a Conversion Factor that defines how compensation values translate between units. The conversion factor is a decimal value defined on the Pay Units page.
Example pay units and conversion factors:
| Pay Unit | Description | Conversion Factor | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANNUAL | Annual salary | 260 | 260 working days per year |
| HOURLY | Hourly rate | 0.125 | 1/8 of a working day |
| DAILY | Daily rate | 1 | Base unit (1 day) |
| MONTHLY | Monthly salary | 21.67 | Average working days per month |
Note
These are examples. Pay units and their conversion factors are fully user-configurable on the Pay Units page.
Converting between pay units
OnePayroll uses conversion factors to express the same compensation in different units. For example:
Example: Annual to daily
An employee earns $65,000/year with an annual pay unit (conversion factor = 260):
- Daily equivalent: $65,000 ÷ 260 = $250/day
Example: Hourly to annual
An employee earns $18.50/hour with an hourly pay unit (conversion factor = 0.125):
- Daily equivalent: $18.50 ÷ 0.125 = $148/day
- Annual equivalent: $148 × 260 = $38,480/year
For more details on conversion math, see Pay units and conversions.
Global pay unit
The Global Pay Unit on the Payroll Setup page defines a standardized unit for comparing compensation across employees with different pay units. When viewing employee lists, compensation can be displayed in the global pay unit for easy comparison.
To set the global pay unit:
- Search for Payroll Setup.
- In the Global Pay Unit field, select the pay unit you want to use for standardized reporting.
Tip
Many organizations use an annual pay unit as the global pay unit for easy comparison of total compensation across all employees.
Best practices
- Use employee types consistently — Assign the same employee type to employees with identical compensation structures
- Verify conversion factors — Ensure your pay unit conversion factors reflect your organization's actual working days and hours
- Check after type changes — When changing an employee's type, verify that their compensation rate still makes sense in the context of the new pay unit
- Use the global pay unit — Set a global pay unit on Payroll Setup for meaningful cross-employee comparisons