Set Up Salaried Cost Rates

Salaried Cost Rates let you track the cost of salaried employees using a cost per timesheet instead of a fixed hourly rate. ClickTime distributes this timesheet cost across all hours on the timesheet when you run Adjust Salaried Costs, so reports reflect the actual cost per hour for that period.

Where to find it: Company > People > Person Details (Cost section, salary model) and Company > Timesheets (Adjust Salaried Costs).

Jump to a section:

• How salaried Cost Rates work
• Set up salaried cost on a person
• Timesheet flow and cost adjustment
• Run Adjust Salaried Costs
• Reporting on salaried costs
• Best practices
• Troubleshooting

How salaried Cost Rates work

Salaried Cost Rates are designed for employees whose compensation is based on a salary rather than an hourly wage. Instead of a single fixed hourly cost, you specify:

• Cost per Timesheet – The total cost you want to assign to that person for one timesheet period (for example, one week, if your timesheets are weekly).
• Projected Cost per Hour – A temporary hourly estimate that applies to time entries until the timesheet is adjusted.

As the person enters time, ClickTime uses the Projected Cost per Hour on each entry. When the timesheet is approved and you run Adjust Salaried Costs, ClickTime:

1. Totals the hours on that timesheet.
2. Divides Cost per Timesheet by the total hours to find the actual hourly cost for that period.
3. Updates each time entry on the timesheet so its cost reflects this adjusted hourly rate.

Set up salaried cost on a person

To enable the salaried cost model for a specific person:

• Go to Company > People and open the person’s Person Details page.
• Find the Cost section and click Edit.
• Select the Salary cost model (instead of a standard hourly Cost Rate).
• Enter the following fields:

• Cost per Timesheet – The total cost for that person per timesheet period (for example, one week or two weeks, depending on your timesheet settings). This can include salary, benefits, taxes, and other overhead.
• Projected Cost per Hour – A reasonable estimate of what one hour of this person’s time costs on average. This value is used on entries before cost adjustment.

Save the changes. From this point on, new time entries for this person use the salaried model.

Note: You can switch a person between hourly and salaried cost models if needed. Review your cost reports after making this type of change to ensure consistency.

Timesheet flow and cost adjustment

Salaried Cost Rates interact with the timesheet approval process.

1. The person enters time as usual throughout the timesheet period.
2. Each time entry temporarily uses the Projected Cost per Hour from their Cost section.
3. The timesheet is submitted and then approved or locked by a manager or administrator.
4. Once the timesheet is approved/locked, it becomes eligible for Adjust Salaried Costs.

Only timesheets that are in an approved/locked state and have a salaried cost configuration are candidates for cost adjustment.

Run Adjust Salaried Costs

Administrators can adjust salaried costs in bulk from the Timesheets page.

Step 1 – Open the Adjust Salaried Costs tool

• Go to Company > Timesheets.
• Filter to the time period and people you want to review.
• Select the timesheets you want to adjust (for people with the salaried model enabled).
• Click Adjust Salaried Costs.
  

Step 2 – Review the preview

A modal window will show:

• The list of selected timesheets.
• Whether each timesheet is complete, incomplete, or ineligible for adjustment.
• An option to download a preview report of the adjusted hourly rates before applying changes.
  

Use the preview to confirm that:

• Timesheets marked as incomplete make sense in your context (very low hours can lead to very high hourly costs once adjusted).
• Cost per Timesheet values are reasonable for the selected period.

Step 3 – Apply the adjustment

• Choose which categories of timesheets to adjust (for example, complete and/or incomplete).
• Click Adjust Costs to apply the cost distribution.

ClickTime will:

• Compute the adjusted hourly cost for each timesheet using Cost per Timesheet ÷ total hours.
• Update the Cost Rate on each time entry in those timesheets to reflect the adjusted hourly cost.
• Display a success message once processing is complete.

After adjustment: A darker blue dollar icon on the Timesheets page indicates that costs have been adjusted for that timesheet. A lighter blue dollar icon indicates that a salaried cost model is configured but costs have not yet been adjusted.

Reporting on salaried costs

Once costs are adjusted, reports that include cost values will use the adjusted hourly cost from each timesheet.

• Profitability reports – Total cost for salaried staff is based on the adjusted hourly cost, which reflects their Cost per Timesheet for that period.
• Project cost reports – Hours from adjusted timesheets carry the updated hourly cost into project totals.
  
• Customizable Data Export (CDE) – The cost-related columns show the adjusted cost values for each entry after the adjustment runs.

Reminder: Salaried Cost Rates and related reports are intended for estimating labor cost and profitability. They are not a substitute for payroll or general ledger systems.

Best practices

• Align Cost per Timesheet with HR/Finance. Agree on how salary, benefits, and overhead should be represented so reports match how your organization thinks about labor cost.
• Watch for incomplete timesheets. Extremely low hours in a timesheet will drive the adjusted hourly cost up. Use completeness checks and review flags in the Adjust Salaried Costs preview.
• Adjust regularly. Build Adjust Salaried Costs into your month-end or billing-cycle process so profitability reports always reflect adjusted costs.
• Document your approach. Note which roles use salaried cost and how Cost per Timesheet is calculated so future admins can maintain consistency.

Troubleshooting

• “I don't see the Adjust Salaried Costs button.” Confirm that you are an administrator, that the selected timesheets are approved or locked, and that at least one selected timesheet belongs to a person with the salaried cost model enabled.
• “The adjusted hourly cost looks too high.” Check whether the timesheet is incomplete (very few hours entered) or whether Cost per Timesheet is higher than intended. Update the person’s cost settings and rerun the adjustment if needed.
• “Reports didn't change after I adjusted costs.” Confirm that you adjusted the correct timesheets and that your report date range includes the affected period. Re-run the report after adjustment completes.
• “Some timesheets are marked ineligible.” Review the status of those timesheets (for example, unapproved, missing hours, or not using the salaried model). Only approved/locked timesheets for salaried cost employees are eligible.
• “We switched someone from hourly to salaried (or vice versa).” Review cost reports around the transition, and consider documenting the change date for Finance. If needed, adjust or re-run cost distributions for affected periods.