Batch Post Accrued Benefits

The accrued benefits feature lets you quickly calculate and post hours earned for vacation and sick time, etc. to the Benefits screen of each employee.

Getting There

From the main screen of Employee Data & Payroll click the Functions menu (upper left) and choose Batch Post Accrued Benefits.

Note: If a fixed number of vacation hours is earned once a year on each employee’s anniversary date see the Anniversary Date article.

Accrued (Earned) Benefits

Benefits recorded using this feature appear on the “Earned” tab of the Employee Benefits screen. This is something you might do at the end of each Pay Period or perhaps once a month or once a quarter, depending on benefits policy of your company.

1. You’ll want to include only staff members “Employed as of” a particular date. Usually this would be the date through which the benefits accrue, for example the last day of the pay period or the quarter. Only staff members with an Employment Status of “Currently Employed” will be included.
2. Enter a Post Date. This is the date the newly “earned” benefits will be recorded on the Employee Benefits screen. This might be the first day of the next pay period or quarter depending on your policies.
3. Select a Benefit Pay Code to be used for everyone like Vacation or Sick Time.
4. Enter a Comment to describe this item (optional). This is a global comment for all included employees and will appear on the “Earned” tab of the Employee Benefits screen once the items are processed.
5. Select a Calculation Method and the appropriate Standard Amount as follows:
   1. Simple – This means you are applying a fixed number of hours earned to everyone. If you entered 1.00 for the Amount each person would earn 1 hour.
   2. For every pay period ending between – This means you are applying a fixed number of hours per pay period between the Start and End Dates you select.
      Example: If you have 26 pay periods per year and wanted each employee to earn roughly 1 week of vacation the amount per pay period would be 1.54. For 2 weeks vacation (with 26 pay periods) the amount would be 3.08. See: Accumulation Formula
   3. For every 40 hours worked between – This is a prorated amount based on the number of hours worked.
      Example: If you wanted each full time employee to earn roughly 1 week of vacation per year, the Amount per 40 hours worked would be 0.80. For 2 weeks vacation the amount would be 1.60. See: Accumulation Formula
6. Click Next. A list of all eligible employees will appear.
7. Place a check in the right hand column to select individual employees or check the box at the top of the column to include everyone on the list.
8. Make any manual changes to the hours earned for individual people.
9. Click Process. Each entry will now appear on “Earned” tab of the Employee Benefits screen.

Vacation Rate Varies – User Defined Fields

Sometimes the hours a person earns are based on their years of service. For example more recently hired employees may qualify for 1 vacation week per year, while those with longer service may qualify for 2 weeks or more. Although you can manually edit hours on the batch post screen, there is an easier way. You may set up a User Defined Field and enter the accrual rate for each person such as 0.80 per 40 hrs (1 week) or 1.60 (2 weeks). Then on the Batch Post Accrued Benefits screen select the name of the field (such as “Vacation Rate”) instead of Standard Amount.

Note: The “hours worked” excludes benefit hours for the period specified.