If an employee/s has irregular hours or receives regular allowances/overtime, you may need the system to calculate their Ordinary Weekly Pay (OWP) based on the last 4 weeks for leave purposes. This 4-week OWP average should represent the employee's regular pay during that period, excluding any discretionary or irregular payments that might otherwise be included in the 52-week (AWE) calculation.
During the first four weeks of pay runs, the system will calculate the 4-week Ordinary Weekly Pay (OWP) using the figures provided in the 'OWP 4 week import'. If this import is not completed, the system will then use the last four weeks of data from the 'AWE template’.
Warning
This section only needs to be completed if the OWP (Ordinary Weekly Pay) gross from the previous 4 weeks differs from the AWE (Average Weekly Earnings) totals.
Helpful Hint
OWP gross includes:
- Regular salary or wages.
- Regular allowances.
- Regular productivity or incentive based payments.
- Regular overtime.
OWP does not include:
- Irregular or one off payments (like bonuses).
- Discretionary payments.
For more information on what OWP includes or excludes, please check here.
- Select the appropriate tab on the spreadsheet to choose the correct pay frequency. Employees are automatically categorised into the correct worksheet based on their assigned pay schedule.
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The first four columns will be pre-filled with data retrieved from the system (First Name, Last Name, IRD Number & External ID. In Column E, enter the Second to Last period end date from your previous payroll system. The spreadsheet will then automatically populate the last 4 weeks period end dates.
Helpful Hint
Do not edit the "Period Ending" column to avoid import errors.
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Enter the OWP earnings into the “Period Gross” column for each pay period.
Important
If an employee has not worked for a full 4 weeks, leave the “Period Gross” column blank for any weeks not worked.
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Enter the hours paid into the “Period Hours” column for each pay period.
Helpful Hint
This column requires the number of hours paid for for the period. This includes:
- All hours worked.
- Any leave hours but excludes any LWOP (leave without pay) hours.
Example 1: Sally worked 32 hours and took 8 hours or annual leave, the total hours paid / period hours is 40.
Example 2: Sally worked 30 hours and took 10 hours LWOP. The total hours paid / period hours is 30.
Warning
This field is crucial for employees working irregular hours so that Average Hours reports can be populated in order to calculate their leave pay.
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Enter the days paid into the “Period Days” column.
Helpful Hint
In these columns you must enter the number of days or part days worked by each employee for each relevant pay period.
N.B. Part days are entered as follows: One half day = 0.5 day. Entering correct data in this field is extremely important due to the following reasons:
- The total number of days worked in the 4 week period is used as part of determining an employee's ADP when taking any leave.
- The system uses the total number of days worked when calculating an employee's pro rata gross earnings to then determine AWE, ADP and/or 8% holiday pay. The pro rata earnings apply when an employee's leave year start date or leave entitlement falls mid-pay period. Further information on how the system calculates pro rata historic gross earnings can be found here.
Warning
If this field is left blank the system will assume the employee has worked a 5 day week.
To ensure accurate leave calculations, confirm that the correct number of days paid has been entered.