Extra Pay on the Employee Profile

How do I add or manage one-time and recurring extra pay on my employee's Pay Info tab?

Purpose: This guide will help Account Owners, Full Admins, and payroll admins understand how to manage/add recurring and one-time extra pay to an employee's future paycheck through the Pay Info tab. 


Extra Pay tab

If you are using BambooHR Payroll, you can manage an employee's extra pay by navigating to the Pay Info tab on the employee profile and clicking on the Extra Pay section at the bottom. Users with access will see a table with the following information: 

  1. Pay Type: The name of the pay type record will display in this field. See below for details on the pay types available in Payroll. 
  2. Upcoming Payment: This column will display the upcoming extra pay amounts and the scheduled pay date for the employee. If the extra pay is recurring, you will also see the frequency and which paycheck of the month applies. If the recurring pay is scheduled to start on a certain date that date will display. This column will not be visible to the employee. Once the employee is paid out, the record will be removed automatically. 
  3. Edit This Upcoming Extra Pay: Click on the amount and date hyperlink in the Upcoming Payment column to edit the scheduled extra pay. 
  4. [Year] Total: This column will show the total amount paid to the employee within the year for each pay type. Upcoming pay types that have not been paid out will not be calculated in the year-to-date total.
  5. Extra Pay History: Hover over the extra pay record and click on the history icon on the far left to open the Extra Pay History page. By default, the current year will display. See below for details.
  6. Invalid extra pay error: If an extra pay type error is deducted for recurring pay or one-time pay, an invalid pay error will appear in place of the pay type name. The same error message will appear under the pay type for recurring extra pay with an invalid paycheck of the month frequency. Click on the hyperlink in the Upcoming Payment column to fix the error. 

You can also filter the Extra Pay tab to show data for a specific year and add extra pay within this tab. 

Want to save time and add recurring extra pay in bulk? Click here to learn more!


Add extra pay

To add recurring or one-time extra pay, click Add Extra Pay within the Extra Pay section on the employee's Pay Info tab. A modal will appear for you to fill in the following information: 

  1. Extra Pay Type: This is a required field that allows you to specify the pay type from the drop-down list of standard default pay types. If you have custom pay types, those will also appear. If you need a custom pay type created, please get in touch with Support.
  2. How often should this be paid?: You are required to choose a frequency of One-Time Only, Every Paycheck, or Monthly. If you select a recurring extra pay frequency, you will also be prompted to select which paycheck of the month the recurring pay will happen (see Recurring extra pay frequency rules below). 
  3. When do you want this to start?: Once you select the payment frequency, choose which pay date you want the extra pay to start recurring. A list of pay dates for the next six months will appear. If you choose One-Time Only, the date you select is the date it will be paid. The dates provided for one-time pay will also include pay dates for off-cycle payrolls. If there is already another record of the same pay type associated with the pay date chosen, you will receive a notification, and a separate entry will be added for the same pay type. 
  4. Amount: Enter the amount to be paid. 

Click Save to finish adding extra pay. Account Owners, Full Admins, and Payroll Admin users with access will see the upcoming pay under the Upcoming Payments column on the employee's Extra Pay tab.

If an employee’s Pay Schedule changes and the Pay Date that was selected for a One-Time Only extra pay type is no longer available, BambooHR will automatically assign the one-time extra pay to the next available pay date (after the original pay date) within the employee’s new Pay Schedule.

Recurring extra pay frequency rules

Please keep in mind the following as you select the frequency of recurring extra pay.  

Every Paycheck: Extra pay will apply to any payroll the employee is part of, including off-cycle payrolls.

*Monthly (standard setup): When the Monthly frequency is selected, an additional option will appear, and you will need to choose which Paycheck of the Month the recurring pay should apply. The following options are based on how many paychecks happen within a month and your pay schedule frequency settings: 

  1. Monthly:
    • Not applicable, no secondary option appears
  2. Twice a month & Every other week*: 
    • First paycheck of the month
    • Second paycheck of the month
  3. Weekly*: 
    1. First paycheck
    2. Second paycheck 
    3. Third paycheck
    4. Fourth paycheck

*Note that there will not be a Fifth paycheck option for a Weekly pay schedule frequency or a Third paycheck of the month option for the Every other week pay schedule frequency as these may not happen monthly. The options available ensure your employees will be paid. For the two extra paychecks that occur with these frequencies, we encourage you to set them up as one-time extra pay.

Monthly (future pay schedule changes): A change to an employee’s pay schedule (updates to the compensation record for a future date that includes a pay schedule change) may result in different available Paycheck of the Month options. As a result, when the Monthly option is selected for an employee with a planned future pay schedule change, you will not be prompted with a secondary selection for the paycheck of the month. Instead, BambooHR will automatically display the Paycheck of the Month selection that corresponds with the payment date selection (‘When do you want this to start?’).

Extra pay types added to an employee profile will appear on the Extra Pay page on the Payroll tab based on the target pay date. 


Edit and end extra pay

If you wish to edit the extra pay record, click on the hyperlink within the Upcoming Payment column to edit the following fields in the modal: 

  • Extra Pay Type
  • 'When do you want this to start?' (if recurring pay is set to start on a future date)
  • Amount

You will also have the option to end the extra pay when editing the record. Click End This Extra Pay and then confirm the changes.  

It is important to note that you must add/edit extra pay in BambooHR before opening the payroll run. If you open the payroll run before or while adding/editing extra pay for an employee, you must select a future pay date to proceed or click Cancel and add the extra pay on the Edit page for the current payroll run.


Extra pay history

Want to see a history of payments made to an employee? We got you covered. Hover over the extra pay type record you wish to view and click on the history icon to open the Extra Pay History page. Filter by year to see a record of payments made for that specific pay type. A table will show the date the payment was made, the amount, and any paystub notes. 

The history view will not display upcoming payments, however, it will display extra pay records included on future-dated payrolls that are approved but have not yet been paid out. These will be labeled as Approved, payment pending. For example, you have employees with cell phone reimbursements on the upcoming payroll due 8/1. However, the pay date isn't until 8/5. Once you approve payroll on 8/1 by noon PST, you will see an Approved, payment pending next to the cell phone reimbursement extra pay record within the employee's history view until it is paid out on 8/5.

Please note that employees will have access to their history. However, pending extra payments will only appear to Account Owners and admin users.