Chapter 3 - Human Resources

The following information is covered in this chapter:

• Human Resources tab window
• Cafeteria Plans
• Pension Plans
• Paid Time Off
• Evaluate
• Loans

Human Resources tab window

The Human Resources tab window offers a complete spectrum of tools and command buttons to assist you with assigning pay items to and making claims for cafeteria plan accounts, pension plans, setting up and maintaining personal time, customizing evaluation forms, and assisting you with evaluation scheduling. In Top Pay and Ultimate Payroll version 16, there is a new feature called HR Forms, which provides an array of the most commonly used human resources forms you may need for your employees.

As with setting up your new employee defaults (see Setting up new employee defaults ), you can also set up information to default in for new employees from the Human Resources tab window. Should you need to customize each employee's record, you can then highlight each employee and update his or her record.

Cafeteria Plans

The Cafeteria Plans section of the Human Resources window allows you to set up and administer your company's cafeteria plan. Instructions are provided in this section of the chapter for setting up your payroll program. Please familiarize yourself with it before entering your cafeteria plan information.

What is a Cafeteria Plan?

A Cafeteria Plan is an employee benefit program designed to take advantage of the regulations contained in Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code. Employees may choose from among two or more benefits consisting of cash and qualified benefits offered by the employer.

Both the employer and employee save money by converting un-reimbursed medical and dependent care expenses and group insurance premiums from an after-tax to before-tax basis. Your payroll program allows you to manage such a Plan with a feature called the Cafeteria Plan.

How does the tax savings work?

Under Section 125, the taxes that are eligible for reduction are Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax, Employer and Employee FICA, and Federal Unemployment tax. In most states, the State Unemployment tax is reported using the full gross wages. Contact your State Unemployment office to check if your State Unemployment tax is eligible for the reduction.

Who can offer/participate in a Cafeteria Plan?

Any sole-proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or S-Corporation can offer a cafeteria plan to its employees.

Employees choose whether or not they want to participate in all or part of the plan. Prior to the effective date of each Plan Year, an enrollment form must be filled out by each employee (including those who do not wish to participate).

Those not eligible to participate in such a plan include a sole proprietor, a partner or owner of an S-Corporation who owns 2% or more, and an employed spouse of a Sub S-Corporation. Owners, however, benefit from tax savings from those employees who do participate.

What benefits are allowed?

There are two basic options in a Section 125 benefits plan: flexible spending accounts (medical and dependent care) and premium conversion.

Flexible spending accounts

Medical

A Medical Spending Account allows an employee to set aside before-tax dollars to pay for medical expenses which are not paid for through insurance or the employer. Expenses include dental, medical, and vision expenses normally allowed by the IRS as deductions on a tax return. Insurance premiums cannot be included in a medical spending account. Refer to IRS Publication 502 for a list of eligible medical expenses and other related information. It is recommended that employers set an allowed maximum for a medical spending account so as to reduce their risk.

Dependent Care

A Dependent Care Spending Account allows an employee to set aside before-tax dollars to pay for day care expenses for children under 13 years old or for adult day care for a disabled spouse or other disabled dependent. According to IRS regulation, a maximum of $5000. 00 can be set aside in a Dependent Care account each Plan Year for married couples filing jointly and single heads of households. Refer to IRS Publication 503 or a tax advisor for information on eligible dependent care expenses.

Premium conversion

The premium conversion part pays insurance premiums in before-tax dollars for Group Sponsored Insurance Programs such as Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Prescription Drug Insurance, Term Life Insurance (up to $50,000), etc.

Benefit payments on long-term and short-term disability will be taxable to the recipient if the premiums are paid in before-tax dollars.

Buttons in the HR Cafeteria Plan tab window

Update

The Update button is only active when the New Employee Settings selection is made from the Employee List. Clicking this button will update any settings made in the Cafeteria Plan tab window for all employees.

Clear File

At the end of each Plan Year, all employee account balances must be zeroed out. The Clear File button will zero the balances for all employees and delete the Flex Register file.

Make sure that your Flex Register file (located in the Top Pay folder or Aatrix Payroll Folder) is backed up before continuing.

Pay Claim

Click the Pay Claim button to open a window that allows you to cut a reimbursement check.

To reimburse the employee through the normal payroll process, once the claim is made, the claim total will be paid as long as there are sufficient funds in the employee's Flexible Spending Account.

Make Claim

Click the Make Claim button to open the Claim Entry window.

Register

Click the Register button to display the Flexible Spending Account register window.

Save

If you have made any changes to the setup of an employee's Flexible Spending Account(s), click the Save button to save these changes.

Setting up the Cafeteria Plan Administrator

Before setting up your employees in the Cafeteria Plan Administrator, you should have finalized all the details of your Cafeteria Plan (e.g., benefits being offered, eligibility requirements, reimbursement schedule, etc. ).

Setting up the Cafeteria Plan Administrator

1. Make sure you have created all applicable deductions and reimbursement payroll items and assigned them to the appropriate employees.
2. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Cafeteria Plan tab.

Located at the top of the Employee List is an option called New Employee Settings. It is a file that acts like a template. If all (or most) of your employees have the same Cafeteria Plan setup, it will save you time and frustration if you first configure this file and then update the Employee List instead of setting up each employee individually.

3. Decide whether you want to set up all employees at the same time, or to individually set up each employee.

• To set up all your employees at the same time, select the New Employee Settings option located at the top of the Employee List.
• To set up an individual employee, select the name of the employee in the Employee List.

4. Select from the pop-up menus the deductions and reimbursement payroll items that apply to your Cafeteria Plan's Flexible Spending Accounts.
5. Click the Options for Group Insurance Premium button to display the Flex Options setup window.

6. Select from the pop-up menus the deductions and reimbursement payroll items that apply to your Cafeteria Plan's Group Insurance Premium Conversion.

Leave the pop-up menu selection as None if you don't offer a particular group premium conversion or Flexible Spending Account.

7. Mark the Make default for all employees checkbox if you wish to have these pop-up options selected for all of the employees.
8. Click the OK button.
9. Click the Save button.
10. If you are setting up the New Employee Settings file, click the Update button.

When you click the Update button, the setup in the New Employee Settings file is assigned to all employees in the Employees List. A message will appear stating that this has been done. Click the OK button.

If you need to personalize the setup of any particular employee, simply select the employee from the Employees List and make the necessary changes.

Viewing/Editing Flex spending account registers

When you record a paycheck or reimbursement check that includes Flex Spending Account (FSA) data, the program takes this data and stores it in separate FSA registers. The following instruction set explains how to access the FSA registers for viewing and/or editing purposes.

Viewing/editing a FSA register

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Cafeteria Plan tab.
2. Select the name of the employee whose FSA register you want to view or edit.
3. Click the Register button.
4. From the Register pop-up menu, select either Medical FSA or Dependent Care FSA.

5. In the employee's Flex register, view, delete, or edit any of the recorded entries.

Delete Entry

To delete an entry, select the entry you wish to delete. Click the Delete Entry button. The entry will be permanently deleted from the selected FSA register.

The program does not automatically adjust the FSA registers if you delete a paycheck from Pay History. You must go into the FSA register(s) and manually delete the corresponding entry.

Edit Entry

To edit an entry, select the entry you wish to edit. Click the Edit button. A dialogue will appear allowing you to change any of the information related to the selected entry.

6. Click the Done button to return to the Cafeteria Plan window.

Pre-designed Cafeteria Plan reports that cull information from the FSA registers are available in the Reports tab window.

Entering reimbursement claims

Whenever an employee submits a claim for reimbursement of an eligible medical or dependent care expense (e.g., child care, dental fees, eyeglasses, x-rays), you must enter that claim into the employee's file. If you have questions concerning eligible expenses, consult IRS Publications 502 (Medical) and 503 (Dependent Care) or your tax advisor.

Insurance premiums are not eligible for reimbursement from Flexible Spending Accounts.

Entering a reimbursement claim

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Cafeteria Plan tab.
2. Select the employee's name in the Employees List.
3. Click the Make Claim button.

The employee's name will display in the title of the Make Claim dialogue.

4. Select whether the claim type is a Medical or Dependent Care expense.
5. Enter the relevant information (date, amount, and description) in the text boxes.
6. Click the Pend button to add the claim to the employee's file.

When you click Pend, the claim is placed in the Currently pending list.

Pending claims are removed from the list when the employee is reimbursed.

What next?

• If you don't want to reimburse the employee's claim now, click the Done button to return to the Cafeteria Plan window.
• If you want to reimburse the employee now, refer to the next section. It provides instructions for reimbursing claims.

Reimbursing claims

There are two ways in which you can reimburse an employee for an eligible medical or dependent care expense:

• Add the amount of the reimbursement to the employee's paycheck
• Print a separate reimbursement check

No matter which method you use, the outcome is the same-- the employee is reimbursed for an eligible expense using money that has been set aside in his/her Medical or Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account.

Adding reimbursements to paychecks

If you want to include Medical and Dependent Care reimbursement payments on your employee's paychecks, you must first set them up as extra income payroll items (reimbursement type, exempt from all deductions) and then assign them to all applicable employees.

Also, these reimbursement items must be selected from the Reimbursement pop-up menus in the main window of the Cafeteria Plan Administrator.

The program will correctly maintain your employee's Flexible Spending Account registers ONLY if the reimbursement payroll items are linked appropriately in the Cafeteria Plan Administrator.

Adding a reimbursement to a paycheck

This method includes the reimbursement amount in the paycheck's Net pay as a non-taxable item.

1. Access the Process Payroll tab window and process payroll as you normally do.
2. When you get to an employee who is to receive a reimbursement, verify that the amount pending for reimbursement displays.

When you record the paycheck, a copy of the paycheck is placed in Pay History and the reimbursement amount is recorded in the Flexible Spending Account register.

Viewing Flexible Spending Account registers

1. Access the Human Resources tab window.
2. Click the Cafeteria Plan tab.
3. From the Employee list, select the employee whose register you want to view.
4. Click the Register button, and then select the appropriate register from the Register pop-up.

If you have to reprint a check that contains a Medical and/or Dependent Care reimbursement, reprint the check from the Pay History window.

Writing reimbursement checks

Use the following instructions to write out a separate reimbursement check.

Writing a reimbursement check

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Cafeteria Plan tab.
2. Select the employee for whom you are writing a reimbursement check.
3. Click the Pay Claim button.

If the claim has not yet been entered in the employee's file, click the Make Claim button, enter the claim information, then click the Reimburse a Claim button. For information on how to make a claim, please see Entering a reimbursement claim.

4. In the dialogue for the employee's claim, select whether the reimbursement claim type is for a Medical or Dependent Care expense.

5. Enter the relevant information (i. e. , date, amount, check number, description) in the text boxes.

If applicable, the Reimbursement amount field will contain the cumulative dollar amount for the claims currently pending for the selected claim type.

6. From the Check Register pop-up menu, select the register you want this check recorded in.
7. (Optional) If you want to print the check, set up the bottom check printing portion of the window.

Print a check. . .

Select the Print a check. . . checkbox. If this option is not selected, the check will be recorded only.

Pay to the order of

Enter the name of the employee you are printing this check for.

Checkform

From the Checkform pop-up menu, select the checkform you want to use for printing.

8. Click the OK button.

If you are printing the reimbursement check, the print dialogue will appear. Insert your checkform in the printer, then click the Print button. The check will be printed and then recorded in the appropriate Flexible Spending Account register and selected check register.

If you aren't printing the check, the check is recorded in the appropriate Flexible Spending Account register and selected check register.

Closing out a Plan Year

At the end of your Plan Year, you will need to zero out the balances in your employees' FSA registers. If your Cafeteria Plan has a provision that allows your employees a certain amount of time (e.g., 90 days) after the end of the Plan Year to submit claims, you will want to wait to close out your Plan Year until that time.

Money left in Flexible Spending Accounts and not paid out in reimbursements are forfeited to the company.

Closing out a Plan Year

1. Before opening your payroll program, make a backup of your Flex Register file.

Normally, this is located in the Registers ƒ folder located in the Company Folder.

2. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Cafeteria Plans tab.
3. Select any employee name from the list to make the Clear File command active.

Selecting an employee name simply makes the Clear File command active. The Clear File process will remove ALL the employee records, not just for the selected employee.

4. Click the Clear File button.

A warning dialogue reminding you to back up your Flex Register appears.

5. Click the Cancel button to cancel the operation, or the Continue button to proceed to the next dialogue.
6. If you choose Continue, the next dialogue will offer the following choices:

Delete all entries (the new Plan Year hasn't started)

Deletes all entries in the Flex register.

Delete all entries dated before. . .

Deletes only all the entries before the date you enter in the text box.

7. After making your selection, click the OK button.

The entries you specified will be deleted from the Flex Register file.

Pension Plans tab window

The Pension Plans tab window gives you the ability to track employee pension deductions and employer-paid pension contributions for your 401K, Simple IRA, or any other pension plans you may have. Also, you can provide your employees with a detailed record of the deductions and the total contributed to their pension from the registers maintained by the Pension Administrator.

Buttons in this window

Edit Titles

Click the Edit Titles button to open the Edit Titles dialogue that allows you to edit existing titles or create new titles.

Update

The Update button is only active when the New Employee Settings selection is made from the Employee List. Clicking this button will update any settings you make for all employees.

Clear File

At the end of each Plan Year, all employee account balances must be zeroed out. The Clear File button will zero the balances for all employees and delete the Flex Register file.

Make sure that your Flex Register file (located in the Top Pay folder or Aatrix Payroll Folder) is backed up before continuing.

Register

Click the Register button to display the Pension Plan register window.

Save

If you have made any changes to the setup of an employee's Pension Plan Account(s), click the Save button to save these changes.

Setting up Pension Plans

Before setting up your employees in the Pension Plans tab window, you should have finalized all the details of your company's pension plan with your pension plan provider. In addition, all your deduction pensions and employer-paid contribution pensions need to be set up in the payroll program and assigned to the appropriate employees. For information on creating deductions and employer paid items, please see Creating payroll items.

Setting up Pension Plans

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Pension Plans tab.
2. In the Pension Plans tab view, click the Edit Titles button.
3. In the Enter/Edit Additional Plans dialogue, enter or edit titles for your pension types in the order you want them to appear in the Pension Plans tab window.
4. Click the OK button to return to the Pension Plans tab window.

Located at the top of the Employee List is an option called New Employee Settings. It is a file that acts like a template. If all (or most) of your employees have the same Pension Plan setup, it will save you time and frustration if you first configure the New Employee Settings file and then update the Employee List instead of setting up each employee individually.

5. Decide whether you want to set up all employees at the same time, or to individually set up each employee.

• To set up all your employees at the same time, select the New Employee Settings option located at the top of the Employee List.
• To set up an individual employee, select the name of the employee in the Employee List.

6. Select from the pop-up menus all those deductions and employer-paid payroll items that apply to the designated pension types.

Leave the pop-up menu selection as None if no deductions or employer-paid contributions apply.

6. Click the Save button.
7. If you are setting up the New Employee Settings file, click the Update button.

When you click Update, the setup in the New Employee Settings file is assigned to all employees in the Employees List. A message will appear stating that this has been done. Click the OK button.

8. If you need to personalize the setup of any particular employee, simply select the employee from the Employees List, make the necessary changes.

Creating pension registers

When processing payroll for an employee who does not yet have a pension register, an alert message will inform you of the fact and offer several options. Choose the option that applies to your needs.

Build with YTD Balances

Build with 0. 00 Balances

Don't Build Registers

Choose whether you want to build (i. e. , create) a register for the employee with a 0. 00 balance, with the pay history year-to-date balance, or not to create one at all.

Viewing/editing pension registers

When you record a paycheck that includes pension data, the payroll program takes this data and stores it in separate pension registers. The following instruction set explains how to access the pension registers for viewing and/or editing.

Viewing/editing a pension register

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Pension Plans tab.
2. Select the name of the employee whose pension register you want to view or edit.
3. Click the View Register button.
4. In the Liability Register dialogue, select the pension register you wish to view or edit from the Register pop-up menu.

The register displays the selected employee's pension deductions and employer-paid pension contributions.

5. View, delete, edit, increase, or decrease any of the entries in the displayed register.

Delete Entry

To delete an entry, select the entry you wish to delete, then click the Delete button. The entry will be permanently deleted from the selected pension register.

Edit Entry

To edit an entry, select the entry you wish to edit, then click the Edit button. A dialogue will appear allowing you to change any of the information related to the selected entry.

Increase

Click the Increase button to add an entry that increases the amount of the selected pension register. In the Account Increase dialogue, enter appropriate information and then click the OK button.

Decrease

Click the Decrease button to add an entry that decreases the amount of the selected pension register. In the Decrease Amount dialogue, enter the appropriate information and then click the OK button.

6. When finished editing the register, click Done to return to the Pension Plans window.

Clearing pension registers

The Clear Files feature allows you to remove the detail (e.g., entries) from your employee's pension registers without removing the balances.

Clearing a pension register

1. In the HR tab window, click the Pension Plans tab.
2. Determine whether you want to clear the pensions registers for all employees or a single employee.

• If you want to clear the pension registers of all employees, select the New Employee Settings option.
• If you want to clear the pension register of a single employee, select the name of the employee.

3. Click the Clear Files button.

The detail (e.g., entries) are cleared from the pension register(s) while the balances remain.

Paid Time Off tab window

Setting up vacation, sick, holiday, and personal time pay

Setting up your payroll program to calculate vacation, sick, holiday and/or personal time pay is a two step process. This includes:

• Setting up income items for your vacation, sick, holiday and/or personal time pay and assigning them to all applicable employees. For information on how to set up the income items, please see Setting up paid time off (PTO) items .


• Setting up the calculation method of the vacation, sick, holiday and/or personal pay for each employee.

Setting up vacation and holiday pay

In this example, we will be setting up the vacation pay. To set up the Sick and/or Personal pay, follow the same steps however select the appropriate type (Vacation, Sick, or Personal).

Step 1 - Creating a vacation pay item

Please see Setting up paid time off (PTO) items for the instructions on how to set up the income items.

Step 2 - Setting the vacation time calculations

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Personal Time tab.
2. Highlight the New Employee Settings option in the Employee List to set this up for all new employees. Alternatively, you can highlight a specific employee.

3. Set up the vacation time calculations that apply to all or most of your employees.

Type

Select the Vacation accrual option. (Available types: Vacation, Sick or Personal Time. )

Link to

Select the income item you created for handling vacation pay. Please see Setting up paid time off (PTO) items for information on setting this up.

Accrue x Time

Enter the number of hours the employee should earn for every number of hours/days/weeks/pay period worked.

Options

Click the Options button to view other setup options.

• Reduce available hours to
  To reduce the number of available hours on a particular date, mark this checkbox. Enter the number of hours in the text box and choose the desired date from the pop-up menu.
• Increase available hours by
  This option increases the number of available hours on a particular date. Enter the number of hours in the text box and choose the desired date from the pop-up menu.
• Hours available should never exceed
  This options puts a cap on the number of hours available to accrue. Enter the desired cap (in hours) in the text box.
• Allow hours taken to earn more hours
  Marking this box will allow an employee's vacation hours to be used as "worked" hours for the calculation of other hours.

Hours Earned/Taken/Available

Enter the number of hours that are currently available for use.

4. To set up your Holiday pay, mark the Include holiday time checkbox and select the income item from the pop-up list.
5. Click the Options button to open the Holidays Preferences window (also available by selecting Program (program name)> Preferences).

Mark the checkbox next to the holidays observed

The dates for the ten "fixed" holidays default in for the current year, but they can be edited in the text field to the right of the appropriate holiday. To unassign a holiday, click the checkbox to the left of the holiday.

Create Additional Paid Holidays

To add any additional holidays that are not displayed in the Holiday preferences window, click this button.

In the Additional Paid Holidays dialogue, mark the textbox next to the holidays that you want to active, and then enter the text to print on the checkstubs and reports, the date (MM/DD/YY) and how many hours to pay for the holiday.

Click the OK button to save the additional holidays or click the Cancel button to return to the Holiday Preferences window.

Automatically assign holiday hours

Marking this checkbox will automatically assign and pay the holiday pay for the pay period that the holiday

Auto assign to salaried employees only

Mark this checkbox to assign the holiday pay to only those employees who have been set up as salaried.

If you need to include personal time and/or sick pay in your payroll, complete the same steps changing the options as needed.

Evaluate tab window

A well-planned performance appraisal can give employers valuable insights into the work being done and those employees who are doing it well.

Some of the many advantages of conducting performance evaluations on a consistent basis include reinforcing good work performance, providing corrective feedback, communicating your expectations for good job performance and better capabilities for judging who is eligible for bonuses and pay raises.

Buttons in the HR Evaluate tab window

Print

Use the Print button to print out previous employee evaluations.

Remind

Use this command to set up reminders for upcoming employee evaluations.

Evaluate

When you're ready to evaluate an employee, select the employee from the Employees list, then click the Evaluate button.

Clear File

The Clear File button allows you to delete some or all of the previous evaluations from the selected employee's file.

Form Setup

This button allows you to create and edit the performance appraisal form(s) you will use for evaluating employee work performance.

Save

Click the Save button to exit the window.

The Employee Evaluator utility

To use the Employee Evaluator, open the Human Resources tab window and then click the Evaluate tab.

If the program cannot find an evaluation form on your computer, a window will appear asking you to name and save a form before it will open the Employee Evaluator window.

Evaluation History

When you select an employee, the Employee Evaluator window displays the score from the employee's last evaluation as well as all previous evaluations.

Printing previous evaluations

There may be times in which you need to review previous employee evaluations. A hard copy of these evaluations can be printed by clicking the Print button.

Printing a previous evaluation

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. From the Employee scrolling list, select the employee for which you wish to print a previous evaluation.
3. In the Previous evaluations scrolling list, select the date of the evaluation you want to print.
4. Click the Print button.
5. In the print window that appears, click the OK button to print the results of the selected evaluation.

Deleting previous evaluations

If needed, you can easily delete previous evaluations from an employee's file.

Deleting a previous evaluation

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. From the Employee scrolling list, select the employee for which you wish to delete a previous evaluation.
3. Click the Clear File button.
4. In the Clear Evaluations dialogue, choose either Delete all evaluations or Delete all evaluations but the most recent.
5. Click the Delete button.

Probation Periods

If your company utilizes probation periods for new hires or perhaps for disciplinary action, mark the appropriate checkbox and enter the beginning and end dates.

New Hire

Enter the start date and the end date in the appropriate fields.

Disciplinary

Enter the start date and the end date in the appropriate fields.

Notes

Click the Notes button to open a text window to enter any information pertinent to this employee.

Creating a note

1. Click the Notes button.

The first time you click the Notes button, an alert message will ask you to choose whether or not you would like your files encrypted when saved. Click the Yes button if you'd like them encrypted, No to leave them unencrypted.

2. (Option 1)If you clicked the Yes button, enter a password in the password dialogue and click the OK button.

The text entry window will display. Enter your note.

Be sure to write the password down and store it in a safe place. There is no way to retrieve a password!

2. (Option 2) If you clicked the No button, simply enter your note into the text window that displays.

The day/date will automatically insert in the text window.

3. Save the note by selecting File > Return to Payroll and then clicking the Save button.

If you set up a password for the employee note, you will be prompted to enter this password in order to access the note.

Evaluation forms

With the Evaluate feature, you can set up your own customized performance appraisal form by adding the desired questions (e.g., Employee completes tasks on time?) and possible response options (e.g., Always, Often, Seldom, Never) to the form.

Creating evaluation forms

You can create as many performance appraisal forms as needed with each form containing as many questions you deem necessary.

Creating an evaluation form

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. Click the Form Setup button.
3. In the New Survey dialogue, enter a name for the evaluation form you are creating, such as Performance Evaluation Form.
4. Click the Save button.

Once the form has been saved, you can add whatever questions you want to it. For details, refer to Adding questions to evaluation forms.

Adding questions to evaluation forms

Once an evaluation form is saved, you can add the questions you want to the form.

Adding a question to an evaluation form

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. Click the Form Setup button.
3. From the Evaluation Form pop up menu, select the form to which you want to add questions.
4. Click the New button.
5. In the Question text box, enter the question (limited to 255 characters) exactly as you want it to appear on the evaluation form.
6. Select the type of Response Format you want for this question.

Open ended

When Open ended is selected, click the Default button to enter a default response for the open ended question.

Multiple choice

When the Multiple choice option is selected, click the Responses button to enter all the possible responses for your multiple choice question. Then enter how many points each possible response is worth. For example, if the question "How often are you on time for work" is answered with an "Always" response, the employee would receive 5 points for this question.

Checklist

When the Checklist option is selected, click the Responses button to enter all the possible responses for your checklist question. Then enter how many points each possible response is worth.

Yes/No

When the Yes/No option is selected, text boxes appear allowing you to enter the number of points a "Yes" answer or "No" answer is worth.

True/False

When the True/False option is selected, text boxes appear allowing you to enter the number of points a "True" answer or "False" answer is worth.

7. (Optional) Click the Next Question button if you want to add another question to this evaluation form.

When you click the Next Question button, the question you just set up is added to the evaluation form. The New Question window remains open so that you can set up another new question. Thus, you can add all of your questions to the evaluation form at this time by clicking the Next Question button.

8. Click the OK button.

Your question is added to the evaluation form and you are returned to the Evaluation Form Setup window.

9. Click Done to return to the Human Resources tab window with the Evaluate tab selected.

Editing evaluation questions

There may be times in which you feel you need to modify a question on an existing evaluation form. Use the following instructions to do so.

Editing an evaluation question

If you change the responses of a question that has been used in previous evaluations, the employee's response and score on that evaluation may no longer be valid. If you feel that your changes may invalidate previous evaluations, set it up as an entirely new question.

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. Click the Form Setup button.
3. From the Evaluation Form pop up menu, select the form which contains the question you want to edit.
4. From the Existing evaluation questions scrolling list, select the question you wish to edit.
5. Click the Edit button.
6. Make the changes you want.
7. Click the OK button.
8. Click Done to return to the Human Resources tab window with the Evaluate tab selected.

Deleting evaluation questions

Because an evaluation question may be part of a previous evaluation, the program does not allow you to delete a question from the Existing evaluation questions list. Instead, the program allows you to delete the question from appearing on future evaluation forms.

Deleting an evaluation question

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. Click the Form Setup button.
3. From the Evaluation Form pop up menu, select the form which contains the question you want to delete.
4. From the Existing evaluation questions scrolling list, select the question you wish to delete.
5. Click the Delete button.

The deleted questions are indented slightly. When a deleted question is highlighted, the Delete button will change to Undelete.

6. Click Done to return to the Human Resources tab window with the Evaluate tab selected.

Undeleting evaluation questions

There may be times when a question you've previously deleted from the evaluation form needs to be undeleted.

Undeleting an evaluation question

1. In the Employees tab window, click the Evaluate button.
2. In the Employee Evaluator dialogue, click the Form Setup button.
3. From the Evaluation Form popup menu, select the form which contains the question you want to undelete.
4. From the Existing evaluation questions scrolling list, select the question you wish to undelete.
5. Click the Undelete button.

The selected question shifts to the left and the Undelete button will change to Delete.

6. Click Done to return to the Human Resources tab window with the Evaluate tab selected.

Moving evaluation questions

You can arrange your evaluation form questions in any order you wish by using the Move Up and Move Down buttons.

Moving an evaluation question

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. Click the Form Setup button.
3. From the Evaluation Form pop up menu, select the form which contains the question(s) you want to move.
4. From the Existing evaluation questions scrolling list, select the question you wish to move.
5. Click either the Move Up or Move Down button to move the question.
6. Click Done to return to the Employees tab window.

Printing evaluation forms

You can print out a copy of your evaluation form if you wish to examine the setup of the questions you've added.

Printing an evaluation form

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. Click the Form Setup button.
3. From the Evaluation Form popup menu, select the form which contains the question(s) you want to print.
4. Click the Print button.
5. In the print window that appears, Click the OK button to print the evaluation form.
6. Click Done to return to the Human Resources tab window with the Evaluate tab selected.

Deleting Evaluation Forms

To delete a form, open the Defaults ƒ folder in your Aatrix Top Pay folder. Drag the form you don't want to the Trash.

Evaluating employee work performance

This section covers all topics related to the evaluation of your employee's work performance. Topics covered are:

• Evaluating employees
• Printing and deleting evaluation results
• Setting up reminders for future evaluations

Evaluating employees

When you have finished setting up an evaluation form, you can use it to evaluate the work performance of your employees. Based upon your responses, the program will provide you with a score for each employee you evaluate.

Evaluating an employee

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. From the Employee scrolling list, select the employee you wish to evaluate.
3. Click the Evaluate button.
4. Select the evaluation form you wish to use.
5. Click the OK button.

A window will appear displaying the first question of the selected evaluation form.

6. Choose the appropriate response for the displayed question.

If the displayed question does not apply to this employee, select the "question doesn't apply" checkbox at the bottom of the window. The question will not be printed on the employee's evaluation form, nor will it be included in the employee's evaluation score.

This option is grayed out for text answer questions.

7. Click the Next button to advance to the next question. To return to the preceding question, click the Previous button. You can also display a question by selecting (highlighting) the desired question in the Questions list.
8. Click the Save button.
9. Fill in the Save Review window with relevant information.

Comments (Optional)

Enter any applicable comments in the text box (up to 255 characters).

Remind (Optional)

Enter the date for this employee's next review.

Print a copy of this review (Optional)

Select this box to print out the employee's evaluation.

Your name or initials

Enter the name or initials of the person who conducted this evaluation. This field is required in order to save the review.

10. Click Save.

The evaluation will be added to the employee's file.

Setting up evaluation reminders

Use this feature to set up reminders and due dates for conducting employee evaluations.

Setting up an evaluation reminder

1. In the Human Resources tab window, click the Evaluate tab.
2. From the Employee scrolling list, select the employee for which you wish to set up an evaluation reminder.
3. Click the Remind button.
4. In the text box, enter the date you want to be reminded of an employee evaluation.
5. Click the OK button.

On the date that this reminder comes due, the program will remind you to conduct the evaluation when you start your computer as well as when you open your payroll program.

You can set up multiple reminder dates for the same employee (for example, 6/27/05, 7/27/05, and 8/28/05) by simply repeating steps 3-5, and entering a different date each time.

Loans

The Loan tab window allows you to set up employee loans and offers simple access for tracking the loan, payback amounts, and payback period.

You can create payment settings for the entire Employee List, for all New Employees that will be entered, or for individual employees by clicking on the appropriate selections in the Employee list box on the left side of the window. Please note that even if you create a generic Loan setup for the entire Employee List, you can still create customized loans for individuals who might have special circumstances.

Creating payroll item deductions for loans

To have the payback amount for the loan automatically deducted from each employee paycheck, you need to create a specialized deduction. Deductions are created in the Payroll Items tab window by clicking on the red New button in the Deductions section. Again, you can create the deduction item for the entire Employee List, for new employees only (New Employee List settings), or for individuals.

Detailed instructions for setting up payroll item deductions can be found in Creating a new deduction

Once you have created the deduction, you can set up your loans and payback options.

Setting up loans

1. In the Payment Settings box, choose the correct deduction from the deduction popup list.

If you have not already created a deduction for this, you can do so by clicking the Payroll Items tab. In the Payroll Items tab window, click the red New button, In the New Deduction dialogue, enter in the appropriate information, and then Click the OK button.

See Creating a new deduction for detailed instructions for this process.

2. In the Payment box, enter the amount to be paid back.

Alternatively, you can leave this field blank. The program will calculate the preferred payback amount based on the amount of the loan and the length of the payback period.

3. Enter a dollar amount in the Minimum box.

This is the smallest amount an employee may opt to have deducted for their loan repayment.

4. Enter a percentage in the Do Not Exceed box.

This allows you to make sure the employee always receives a minimum percentage of their Net Pay. The program will re-calculate the loan repayment amount based on what you've set. If you want to make sure your employees will always receive at least 75% of their regular net pay, set the Do Not Exceed to 25% of Net Pay.

5. Set criteria in the Options box, if desired.

Loan Fee

Enter a dollar amount in this box if you wish to charge employees a fee for the advance/loan.

If balance exists...

If you check this option, it allows you to charge interest on the loan if payback is not made in a specified time period. You can enter the specific number of days and the percentage of interest you wish to apply to the balance.

6. On the right side of the dialogue, enter the Loan Limit for any loan amounts.

This limit may be set uniformly for all employees, or individually by employee. Setting a limit on the loan amounts does not prevent you from exceeding the limits if desired, it exists instead to establish a benchmark or, in individual cases, a reminder not to exceed certain amounts.

7. Click the Save button on the toolbar to save your settings.

Now that you have set up the criteria for loans, you're ready to create loans and payroll advances. When you choose a particular individual who has taken an advance, you will now be able to see his or her Current Balance, the amount outstanding on the loan, and the current Available Credit. These amounts will change as the loan is paid back.

Cutting advance or loan checks

Now that you have created a deduction and a general or individualized loan, it's time to cut the check. This is done by highlighting the name of the employee in the Employee List and clicking the Advance button on the toolbar.

Cutting an advance check

1. On the Employee List, highlight the name of the employee receiving the advance.
2. Click the Advance button on the toolbar.

3. In the Payroll Advance dialogue, enter the amount of the advance check.
4. Mark the Print a check checkbox and then select the checkform you wish to use from the popup list.

By default the check number that appears in the Check # textbox is the next available from your current check register. You can change this number if necessary.

5. Select the appropriate payback option radio button.

Change payback AMOUNT to reflect this advance

This option changes the payback amount you set up in the main dialogue to reflect the advance.

Change payback PERIOD to reflect this advance

This option changes the payback periods calculated to repay the advance.

Recalculate payment to pay back in xx periods

This option automatically creates payment amounts for each pay period based on the amount of the loan and the criteria you set for it in the main Loan dialogue.

6. If you created a loan fee in the main Loan dialogue, select the appropriate option.

No loan fee

Skips the loan fee for this advance.

Deduct loan fee from this advance

Immediately deducts the amount of the loan fee from the check you are cutting.

Add loan fee to loan balance

Adds the loan fee to the balance the employee owes.

7. Click the OK button.
8. In the Macintosh print dialogue, select the printer and any options appropriate to your checkform and then click the Print button.

The program returns you to the Human Resources Loan tab window. If you have the deduction set up to occur every pay period, the program will automatically keep track of the payments and balance remaining.

Adjustments

You can make adjustments and keep track of them by utilizing the features available in the Details dialogue. (Change to Loan/Advance details). If the employee makes a payment on his or her own volition, you can adjust the balance remaining manually by subtracting the payment from the remaining balance and entering the new amount into the Current balance textbox.

Making an adjustment

1. Enter the new balance into the Current Balance textbox.
2. Click the Save button on the toolbar.
3. Click the Details button on the toolbar to review the adjustment and other loan details.

Editing loan details

You can edit, delete, or void loan details in the Details dialogue. Highlight the line you wish to edit, void, or delete and click the appropriate button on the right side of the dialogue.

Editing an entry

1. In the Details dialogue, highlight the line to be edited.

2. Click the Edit button.
3. In the dialogue that appears, make changes as needed.

Date

Make adjustments to the date if needed. The date displayed will be current.

Amount

Enter the new dollar amount.

For

From the pop-up list, assign an identifier to the adjustment from Advance, Payment, Loan Fee, Interest, or Adjustment.

4. Click the OK button to return to the Details dialogue.
5. To close the dialogue, click the red close button in the upper left corner.

Voiding and deleting entries

Voiding an entry leaves it in the Details dialogue, but makes the numerical amount for that entry $0. 00. Deleting an entry removes it completely. When you highlight an entry and click the Delete button, an alert message will ask if you are sure you want to delete and not void the entry. Click Yes to delete it, click No to choose another option.

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