As KeyPay includes full Award interpretation, any changes or pay rises set by Fair Work are updated within the application. When pay rates increase as part of the annual Award increase, the new pay rates apply from the first full pay period starting in July. This means that depending on pay frequency and period, the new Award pay rates must be applied on different dates for each employer.

An employer may also have employees paid above Award rate, employees paid on Annual Salaries or use an Enterprise Agreement in place of an Award. In these instances, the pay rates will need to be updated manually by the user.

As well as the ability to update an employee's pay rate by editing either the hourly rate or annual salary in their individual profile, KeyPay also includes a bulk pay rate update feature.

Update Award Rates

KeyPay will display a message on the Dashboard every time any of the installed Awards receive an update, you can then choose to apply the update at the correct time. When the Award update includes a pay increase this will update all pay rates per Award level. 

The Award update will also affect the employees' pay rates as follows:

• Employees assigned to the Award rate > the pay rate will automatically change once the update is applied;
• Employees with an overridden rate > KeyPay will not update these employees' rates, however, it will display the list of these employees for you to check and ensure the custom rates are still above the Award.

1. From the Action Items click on apply the updates within the Award Change notification
   
   è  The Action Items on the Dashboard
   
   
   
2. Click on apply the updates
   
   è  The Manage Awards screen opens
   
   
3. Click on [Actions] > Apply updates
   
   è  The Award update screen opens
   
   
   
4. If KeyPay shows a list of employees with overridden rates, copy and paste this list on a notepad or word file, then click on [Install]
   
   è  A confirmation message is displayed
   
   
   
   
5. Click on [Accept]
   

Update individual pay rates

1. Go to Employees > Lists
2. Search for the Employee whose details you need to update
3. Open the Employee contact file
   
   è  The Employee Contact screen opens
   
   
   
   
4. Select the [Pay Run Defaults] Tab
5. In this section of the Employee profile you can edit a number of options that will modify their pay rate:
   • Award or Employment agreement > If the Employee is paid under an Award or an Enterprise Agreement their classified pay level will be displayed on one of these two fields. By changing the employee's assigned pay level, Keypay will update the Pay Template field below and the employee's pay rate.
     
   • Pay Rate > this field displays the employee's pay rate based on the Pay Rate Template selected above. To change the default Award level pay rate, select the option Override pay rate and type the new rate. You can then select if the new rate is per hour, per day or per annum.
     Note: if an employee has a custom pay rate, this will also change when updating the pay rate template. If your intention is to update an employee's level without amending the custom pay rate (as this rate is already higher than the pay rate applicable to the increased Award Level) after the level is updated you will need to select Override pay rate again and re-enter the original custom rate.
6. You can also schedule a pay rate to change on a specific date in the future by clicking on [Apply from a specified date]
   
   è  The Add upcoming rate change pop-up screen opens
   
   
   
   
7. Select/Enter the following details:
   • Commencement Date > enter the date you wish the pay increase to start
   • Pay Rate > enter the new pay rate
   • Period > select the pay rate period (per hour, per day or per annum)
8. Click on [Save]
9. Once you have updated the employee's Award level and/or pay rate click on [Save]
   

Update Pay Rates in Bulk

By using KeyPay Pay Rates bulk update feature you can update up to 200 employees at a time. You can choose to apply a pay rate increase either by an amount or a percentage.

1. Click on the Business Dashboard icon  > Payroll Settings > Update Pay Rates
   
   è The Update Pay Rates screen opens
   
   
   
2. Click on [Add employees]
   
   è The Add employees screen opens
   
   
   
   
3. You can then search for employees by a number of options:
   • Pay schedule
   • Employing entity
   • Tags
   • Employee groups
   • Primary location
4. Select the relevant search options
   
   è The list of employees is displayed on the screen
   
   
   
   
5. You can then select one or more employees in the list, or all of them and click on [Save]
   Note: by default, this screen only shows 10 employees however, you can increase the number of records appearing on the screen up to 100
   
   è The selected employees are displayed on the Update Pay Rates screen
   
   
   
   
6. Once again, you can increase the number of records showing on this screen from the default 10 up to 100
7. Select the employees you wish to apply the pay increase
8. Select the Adjustment type either $ (Amount) or %
   
   è The adjustment type updates against the selected employees 
   
   
   
   
9. In the Adjustment column, type the increase rate or increase percentage against each employee's line
10. If you wish to schedule the increase for a future date, click on the calendar icon  next to the Commencement date and select the scheduled increase date from the pop-up calendarè The new rate populates in the Future pay rate column
    
    
    
    
11. Once you have applied the new pay rates to the selected employees click on [Save new pay rates]
    
    è A confirmation message is displayed 
    
    
    
12. Click on [Continue] to confirm