Environment-level per diem setup
Set environment-wide per diem defaults, including rate structure, eligibility thresholds, and pay ID inclusion.
To get started with per diem setup, configure the per diem defaults for your environment.
PERMISSIONSYou need the Per Diem Configuration permission enabled for your role in Administration () > Role Permissions > Administration to configure per diem calculation rules.
Per diem settings are located in Administration () > Settings > Per Diem. Use the toggle next to the section name to turn on the feature, then configure the following.
NOTETurning off the module hides per diem settings and setup across Job site settings, the Job site employees list, cost coding, and the employee's Per diem tab, and stops new per diem entries from being generated. Historical per diem entries already calculated for past payroll weeks stay visible in Payroll and reports. All rates, assignments, overrides, and calculated entries are preserved and restored when you turn the module back on. These components of Per diem are discussed in detail later in this topic.
Per diem rate structure
Choose whether per diem uses a single rate or separate paid and billable rates:
- Single rate: Uses one default paid rate.
- Paid + Billable: Tracks a paid rate and a billable rate independently. The paid rate is the amount the employee receives. The billable rate is the amount billed back to the client for that per diem.
NOTEThe rate structure is set at the environment level and applies to every job site. It's not something you override for an individual job site.
Per diem type
- Allow daily per diem: Enables daily per diem and sets the minimum worked hours required for an employee to qualify.
- Allow weekly per diem: Enables weekly per diem and sets the minimum worked days required for an employee to qualify.
At least one of these options needs to stay enabled.
NOTEIf you disable daily or weekly per diem, its threshold value is preserved, so re-enabling it later restores your previous setting instead of resetting it. Disabling a period at the environment level also removes that period's setup from every job site, and any employee assigned to it is automatically set to
Not eligible. For more information, see the next step about configuring job site-level settings.
Additional settings
- Multi-job per diem: Determines whether an employee who works at more than one job site on the same day receives per diem from each job site. When enabled, per diem is calculated separately for each job site an employee works at that day, using that job site's own eligibility rules, thresholds, and rates. This means an employee could, for example, qualify for daily per diem at one job site while not qualifying at another, depending on how long they worked at each and how each job site is configured.
- Include per diem in payroll: When enabled, per diem amounts appear on payroll and are approved together with payroll. See Per diem and payroll approval to learn more.
NOTEEnvironment-level settings act as defaults for new job sites. After a job site is created, changes to environment settings don't override its existing per diem configuration.
Configure Pay ID inclusion
Per diem eligibility is based on time recorded against Pay IDs marked for inclusion. This setting is located in Administration () > Settings > Pay ID, where each pay ID has an Included/Excluded toggle under the Affect Per Diem column. It works as follows:
- Included: Time recorded against the Pay ID counts toward per diem eligibility thresholds and is eligible for per diem rate application.
- Excluded: Time recorded against the Pay ID is ignored by per diem calculations entirely. Thus, it doesn't count toward thresholds, and no per diem is generated for it.
By default, every Pay ID is set to Excluded.
NOTEChanging a pay ID's inclusion setting recalculates per diem for the current payroll week only. Past payroll weeks' per diem entries stay as they were.
Proceed to Configure per diem on a job site level to learn how to set up per diem for each job site specifically.
Updated about 2 hours ago