What is time and a half?

Payroll is essential to the smooth running of your business operations, especially where your employees are concerned. One of the many elements affecting payroll and the ability to make this process that much quicker is the tracking and managing of employee time and a half. Today, many businesses are turning to technology in the form of workforce management systems to make these processes more manageable and more efficient.

What does time and a half mean?

Not many people are aware that overtime is known as time and a half. Time and a half refers to an increase in an employee’s pay due to several overtime hours worked or hours that exceed the 40-hour workweek. This means that in addition to an employee’s standard hourly rate, they will be paid an additional one half of that rate for each hour worked during the overtime period. It is important to note that the requirements and conditions for overtime pay are set in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). There are some exceptions to the 40 hours per week regulations. Those in the police force, firefighters, public agencies, hospital staff and nursing homes are generally exempt from these conditions.

When are you required to pay time and a half?

Many companies have additional overtime and time-and-a-half policies. Still, these are often guided by the FLSA, which identifies the following requirements for paying time and a half. These include:

• Overtime applies when an employee works more than 40 hours in a workweek.
• In some states, there are laws requiring time and a half for employees working more than eight hours.
•  Working on holidays is not regarded as working overtime; this includes bank holidays like Labor Day, Easter, Memorial Day etc.
• Certain states require overtime pay on a daily basis rather than a weekly basis, this is the case in California, Alaska and Nevada among others.
• The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest unless overtime hours are worked on such days.

How to calculate time and a half?

Now that we understand the meaning of time and a half, it’s vital to understand how this overtime amount is calculated. Generally, the rate for overtime is 1.5 x a worker’s hourly rate, or simply put, their regular rate of pay plus 50%. To calculate this amount, you can follow these easy steps:

• Step 1: Determine the overtime rate by multiplying the regular pay rate by 1.5‍.
• Step 2: Calculate the total overtime pay by multiplying the overtime pay rate by the number of overtime hours in a particular week.
• Step 3: To determine an employee’s whole week’s pay, add the regular weekly payment to the time and a half pay.

Here are some examples of how to calculate time and a half pay:

• What is time and a half for $10 an hour – Time and a half for $10 per hour is $15 per hour. Multiply your base wage by 40 to find your regular weekly pay. For example, 10 x 40 = 400. After that, multiply your time and a half by the number of overtime hours worked.
• What is time and a half for $14 an hour – time and a half for $14 per hour is $21 per hour. If you make $14 per hour and work 45 hours in one week, you’ll earn $14 per hour for the first 40 hours and $21 for the five hours of overtime.
• What is time and a half for $16 an hour – Time and a half for $16 per hour is $24 per hour. If your base hourly wage is $16 and you work 47 hours in one week, you’ll make $16 per hour for 40 hours and $24 per hour for the other seven hours. Your total pre-tax wages for that week would be $808.
• What is time and a half for $17 an hour – to find out what time and a half is for $17 per hour, you can multiply your hourly wage by 1.5. Time and a half is $25.50 per hour for $17 per hour.
• What is time and a half for $18 an hour – for an employee who makes $18.00 an hour. The calculation for their time and half pay is $18 x 1.5, which is $27 an hour.
• What is time and a half for $20 an hour – for an employee who earns $20 hourly during a 40-hour workweek, their time and a half pay would be $20 x 1.5 for $30 an hour.
• What is time and a half for $30 an hour – time and a half is $45 per hour for $30 per hour.

How can the EasyRoster Workforce Manager Software help you?

From the above, it is clear that working out the different time and a half calculations manually for several different employees across operations and departments can add to the complexity of financial management, especially where payroll is concerned. Not only does this take a significant amount of time it also takes up several different resources, which is often costly to businesses. Many businesses are turning to workforce management software to simplify this process, like EasyRoster.

One of the most important functions provided by EasyRoster is the power of the management information and reports that are provided by this system.  There are reports to be used by operations, finance, sales, human resources, and logistics departments.

These reports highlight incorrect rostering and attendance regarding the number and grades of personnel rostered or posted at a site, projected and actual wage costs, overtime, non-productive time, site profitability etc.   In short, these reports enable an operations manager to maintain day-to-day operational control to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum, and personnel requirements are precisely met. These reports are then used for payroll and automatically work out time and a half, saving the business time and resources.

Conclusion

Tracking and managing employee time and a half is essential to the smooth running of a business. With the complexities of managing different staff overtime pay in terms of payroll, many companies are turning to workforce management solutions like EasyRoster. Book a demo today for more on how this innovative software can simplify your time and a half processes.