Setting up and calculating your staff's pay has never been easier with Guardhouse. You can create Custom Pay Rates that are assigned to specific roles, tasks or projects. Instead of an employee getting paid the same hourly rate regardless of the variety of tasks, the employee would be compensated a different amount for each task performed.

Below is the process on how to set up Pay Rates. 

  • Go to Organization and select Company from the dropdown
  • Click on the Payrates subtab
  • Set up your Pay Calendar
  • Add in your Pay Categories
  • Build your Pay Groups
  • Attach a Pay Template to sites
  • Attach a Pay Template to each staff 


Setting up the Pay Calendar

The Pay Calendar shows the schedule of when paychecks are issued to your staff. This could be weekly, fortnightly, monthly, etc. To set this up:

  • Click the Pay Calendar Tab
  • Click Add New then add in the following information.
    1. Name - how you want to call the pay calendar
    2. Pay Period  - the duration that the pay covers
    3. Start Date  - the effectivity date that your pay rate will apply
    4. Payroll ID - this will automatically be generated when you connect to your accounting software (ex: Xero)

                       **You can check this article on how to connect / Integrate to Xero.  

  •  Hit Save to apply the changes.


Adding Pay Categories

A pay category is what you call the rates that will be used to build a Pay Group. In Xero, this would be your Pay Item. Here are the steps to follow:

  • Click on the Pay category subtab
  • Click Add New
  • Add the Pay Category Name  - The way you add a category would depend on the type of pay rules you follow. Here are a few examples to give you an idea:  
    1. When following a flat rate on weekdays, weekends, and public holidays, you can just use Flat Rate as a category.
    2. When following the Award, you can use the following categories
    3. Full Time / Part Time Security Officer Level 
      1. Casual Security Officer Level 2
        • FT/PT L1 Night
        • FT/PT L1 Saturday
        • FT/PT L1 Sunday
        • FT/PT L1 Public Holiday
      2. FT/PT L1 Day
        • CAS L2 Day
        • CAS L2 Night
        • CAS L2 Sat
        • CAS L2 Sun
        • CAS L2 PH
    4. If you are using an accounting package, like Xero or MYOB, use the categories available there as it is imperative that the categories match. For Xero, select a category from the Payroll ID dropdown and copy it as the Pay Category Name.


  • Select the Pay Type:
    1. Allowance
    2. Leave
    3. Pay
  • Tick whether you need to Export to Payroll
  • Hit Save Changes


Setting up the Pay Group

The Pay Group is essentially where you build rules using the categories you added and applying the rates you follow. Guardhouse makes it easier for you to set up pay groups following these steps: 

  • Click on the Pay Group subtab
  • Click Add New and input the following information:
    1. Pay Group Name (ex: Award Part Time / Full Time  Level 1, Casual Level 2, X Company Rate, etc.)
    2. Set the days - this covers weekdays, weekends, and public holidays
    3. Set the time - Guardhouse requires that the linear 24-hour timeline be covered 
    4. Select a pay category from the dropdown
    5. Add the rates

   **You can add as many Payrate as needed. Just click the +Payrate icon.

   ** You can also add Overtime Rates.

  • Hit Save to save the changes made.



Here are some sample Pay Groups you can use as a reference when creating your own pay groups.

1. Flat Rate


2. Award Rates



Setting up a Pay Template

After building your rules under Pay Groups, we now apply them to the sites and to the staff. To do this at the site level, follow these steps:  

  • Click on the Pay Template subtab.
  • Click Add New and add a name for the template you are creating. 
  • Choose from the dropdown a pay template that you wish to be applied as a default on all sites.
  • Hit Save Changes.


If there are sites that require a different pay template or have different rates, you can make the adjustments by selecting the site, clicking on the Edit button and making the necessary changes. Please refer below for example scenarios:

  • Flat Rate is the default pay template for all sites but one site has higher rates          


  • Award L1 is the default pay template for all sites but one site uses a different template     


There is an Actions button on the Pay Template page that allows you to do the following: 


  • Change the effectivity date         
  • Apply a pay template to your staff 
  • Deactivate a pay template -  Once a template is deactivated, it goes to the  Inactive list and can no longer be reactivated.


After applying a pay template on the site level, the next step is to apply it on the staff level. In order to do this, follow these steps:

  • Click on Organization and select Staff from the dropdown
  • Select a staff and click on the Salary / Wage subtab
  • Select from a pay calendar from the Payroll Calendar options
  • **If you're using Xero for your payroll, match the Payroll ID of the staff on Guardhouse and on Xero. Skip this step if Xero is not being utilized.
  •  Click Edit Pay Template
  • Choose a Pay Template from the dropdown options
  • Ensure that the Effectivity Date is correct


In  cases where you have a staff who receives a different rate, you can do custom rates for this staff by doing these steps: 

  • Select the staff whose rates you  want  to customize
  • Choose a Payroll Calendar
  • Click Edit Pay Template
  • Choose a Pay Template
  • Ensure the correct Effective Date
  • Click Create Custom Pay Template and make the necessary changes


onOnce you Set up all the Pay Calendar, Pay Category, Pay Group, and Pay Template, your staff's pay will automatically calculate in the Timesheets page.