Employee pay rates may change periodically. Playground allows you to schedule past or future pay rate changes. If an employee works a set number of hours per week, you can even set default hours to populate in payroll.
Pay Types
Playground offers two employee pay types: hourly and salary.
Hourly Pay | Employees are paid a set dollar amount per hour worked. |
Salary Pay | Employees are designated a yearly salary and are paid in accordance with their pay schedule. |
Hourly Pay
Employees are paid a set dollar amount per hour worked. Hours can be tracked in Playground using the staff clock in/out feature. You can also add hours worked during the payroll approval process. If employees are paid for a set number of hours per week, you can set a default number of hours to populate in payroll.
Salary Pay
Salaried employees are designated a yearly salary. The total pay to employees will be calculated based on the pay schedule you use. See the table below for the formulas used to calculate pay for each pay frequency.
Pay Frequency | Pay Formula |
Weekly | = salary ÷ 52 |
Bi-Weekly | = salary ÷ 26 |
Semi-monthly | = salary ÷ 24 |
Monthly | = salary ÷ 12 |
Calculate Salary for Partial-Year (School-Year) Schedules
If you have salaried staff who only work — and only get paid — for part of the year, like a 9-month school-year contract, you'll need to adjust how you enter their annual salary. Playground doesn't have a dedicated partial-year pay type, but you can still get every paycheck to come out correctly with one extra calculation.
Playground always calculates each paycheck using the full-year formula for your pay frequency (see the table above) — even if you don't run payroll for every period in the year. This means that entering an employee's true contract amount (e.g., their actual $20,000 school-year salary) will result in underpayment, since Playground spreads that amount across a full 52, 26, 24, or 12 pay periods instead of the fewer periods they're actually paid.
To make each paycheck come out to the right amount, calculate an adjusted annual salary using the formula below, and enter that figure — not the employee's actual contract total — as their pay rate.
Annual salary to enter = (per-paycheck amount) × (full-year number of pay periods for your frequency)
Divide the employee's true contract amount by the number of paychecks they'll actually receive to find their per-paycheck amount.
Multiply that per-paycheck amount by the standard full-year number of pay periods for your pay frequency (52 weekly, 26 bi-weekly, 24 semi-monthly, 12 monthly).
Enter the result as the employee's salary in the Add Pay Rate window — not their actual contract total. See Create a New Employee Pay Rate for the full steps.
Example: A teacher has a $20,000 school-year contract, paid bi-weekly over 18 paychecks.
Per-paycheck amount: $20,000 ÷ 18 = $1,111.11
Adjusted annual salary to enter: $1,111.11 × 26 = $28,888.89
Each of the 18 paychecks will now correctly total $1,111.11, and the full $20,000 will be paid out over the school year.
During the months the employee isn't working, exclude them from those payroll runs rather than approving a check for them.
🚨 This is a workaround, not a dedicated Playground feature. The salary on the employee's pay rate will display the adjusted figure (e.g., $28,888.89), not their actual contract amount ($20,000). Keep a record of the true contract terms outside Playground so there's no confusion later — for example, on an offer letter or in your HR files.
💡 The hourly rate shown on pay stubs and the rate used for PTO payouts are calculated from the adjusted annual salary you entered, not the true contract amount. If the employee has Default Hours set, double-check these numbers look right for partial-year staff.
Default Hours
You can set custom default hours per pay period for salaried employees. This is especially useful for part-time salaried employees who work fewer hours but are paid a fixed salary.
When default hours are set, the employee’s hours and pay automatically appear on the Review Employee Pay tab during the payroll approval flow. This reduces the amount of manual entry required each pay period and helps ensure payroll is processed accurately and consistently.
Set Default Hours
From the Admin Dashboard, click My School and then Staff.
Click the name of the staff member that you want to edit, then click Settings.
From the settings tab, click + Add Pay Rate or click Edit on an existing pay rate.
Type in the default hours per pay period and then click save.
🚨 Default hours are set per pay period. If you change the company pay frequency, you must update all default hours to match the new pay period.
For example, if the pay frequency changes from weekly to bi-weekly, the default hours should be adjusted to reflect the two-week pay period.
Here are some important things to keep in mind when using default hours:
Rates: Default hours will impact the rate that is shown on the employee's pay stubs.
Salaried employees without default hours will see a rate that is equal to salary/2080 hours.
Salaried employees with default hours will see a rate that is equal to salary/default hours per year.
PTO: Paid time-off that is tracked on the staff schedule will be paid out at the default hour rate.
For example:
Salary: $40,000
Default hours: 25 hours per week
Custom default hour rate: $40,000/(25*52) = $30.77/hour
PTO tracked on the calendar will be paid out at the rate of $30.77/hour
💡 If an employee with default hours tracks time in Playground, the default hours will override the tracked hours, and their total earnings will only reflect the default hours.
Create a New Employee Pay Rate
From your Admin Dashboard, navigate to My School and then click Staff.
Click the staff member whose pay rate you want to add.
From the staff member's profile, click the Settings tab.
Click the blue Add Pay Rate button.
Enter the pay rate, pay type, effective date, and default hours.
If you are not using default hours, enter '"0."
Click the blue Save button to save the new rate.
💡 If the effective date is mid-pay period, both rates will show in the related payroll.
Edit Existing Pay Rate
🚨 Editing a pay rate overwrites it — the previous rate is not saved to the employee's pay rate history. Only use Edit to correct a mistake on an existing rate.
If you want to keep a history of the employee's pay rates (for example, when giving a raise), add a new pay rate with the new effective date instead of editing the existing one.
From your Admin Dashboard, navigate to My School and then click Staff.
Click the staff member whose pay rate you want to edit.
From the staff member's profile, click the Settings tab.
Click the blue Edit button next to the most recent pay rate.
The Staff Hourly Rates window will open. Update the rate, pay type, effective date, and/or default hours.
Click the blue Save button.
🚨 Editing an employee's historical pay rate will not change the amounts they have already been paid. The pay rate will reflect on the current pay period or as of the effective date.
Delete Existing Pay Rate
From your Admin Dashboard, navigate to My School and then click Staff.
Click the staff member whose pay rate you want to delete.
From the staff member's profile, click the Settings tab.
Click the three dots next to the pay rate and then click Delete.
FAQs
Can staff have two different pay rates?
Can staff have two different pay rates?
It is possible to update a staff member's pay rate. However, they can't have two different pay rates active at the same time. This means that one pay rate has to end before a new one can start. If staff get paid two different rates at the same time, you would need to edit their pay rate when approving payroll.
Does editing a pay rate keep a record of the old rate?
Does editing a pay rate keep a record of the old rate?
No. Editing a pay rate replaces it, so the previous rate is not kept in the employee's pay rate history. To keep a history of pay changes, click Add Pay Rate and enter the new rate with its effective date. The previous rate stays on the employee's profile as a historical record.
Can I pay a salaried employee for only part of the year?
Can I pay a salaried employee for only part of the year?
Yes. Playground doesn't have a separate partial-year pay type, but you can enter an adjusted annual salary so each paycheck comes out to the right amount.
Divide the employee's contract amount by the number of paychecks they'll actually receive.
Multiply that amount by the full-year number of pay periods for your pay frequency (52, 26, 24, or 12).
Enter the result as their salary in the Add Pay Rate window.
See Calculate Salary for Partial-Year (School-Year) Schedules for a full example.