Employee Management Best Practices

This guide covers the recommended setup order, common mistakes to avoid, and tips for ongoing maintenance to help you get the most out of AccuArk's employee management features.

Recommended Setup Order

Follow this sequence when configuring employee management for the first time. Each step builds on the previous one, so completing them in order prevents issues later:

1. Locations — Set up all business locations under Settings > Locations. Every employee and time clock rule is tied to a location.
2. Departments — Create departments under Employees > Departments. Departments help organize employees and filter reports.
3. Positions — Define job positions under Employees > Positions. Positions are assigned to employees and appear on schedules.
4. Roles and Permissions — Review the default roles (Super Admin, Location Admin, Manager, Employee, Accountant) and customize permissions if needed. Ensure each role has only the access it requires.
5. Add Employees — Create employee records with all required fields: name, contact information, location assignment, department, position, and role.
6. Time Clock Settings — Configure time clock rules for each location, including rounding, early clock-in restrictions, and automatic break deductions.
7. Benefit and Deduction Types — Create the benefit types (insurance, retirement, perks) and deduction types (taxes, garnishments, contributions) your organization uses.
8. Time Off Types and Accrual Policies — Set up time off categories (vacation, sick, personal) and define accrual rules for each.
9. Assign Benefits, Deductions, and Time Off — Assign the configured types to individual employees with their specific amounts, coverage levels, and start dates.
10. Build Initial Schedules — Create the first set of employee schedules so staff know when they are expected to work.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Forgetting to assign location access — Employees without location access cannot clock in or appear on that location's schedule. Always verify location assignments after creating a new employee.
• Not setting overtime thresholds — The default overtime threshold is 40 hours per week, but your state may have daily overtime rules or a different weekly threshold. Review and update the Max Regular Hours setting on each employee's Compensation tab.
• Missing emergency contacts — Emergency contact information is a workplace safety requirement. Make it part of your onboarding checklist to collect this before the employee's first shift.
• Not setting Reports To — If the Reports To field on an employee profile is empty, time off requests have no approver and will sit in a pending state indefinitely. Assign a reporting manager for every employee.
• Creating duplicate records — If a former employee returns, use the Rehire function on their existing record instead of creating a new employee. Duplicates cause confusion in reports and split the employee's history across two records.

Multi-Location Tips

• Use the Location Admin role for managers who are responsible for a single location. This limits their access to only the employees, schedules, and reports for their site.
• Set up location-specific time clock rules because different states may have different break and overtime laws. A location in California needs different break rules than one in Texas.
• Review cross-location access quarterly to ensure employees and managers only have access to the locations they currently need.

Payroll Processing Workflow

Follow this sequence each pay period for accurate and efficient payroll:

1. Close the pay period — Lock timecards so no further edits can be made to the period being processed.
2. Review exceptions and overtime — Check the time clock exceptions report for missed punches, early departures, and overtime hours.
3. Generate salary records — Create salary records for all employees in the pay period.
4. Review line items — Verify that base pay, overtime, commission, benefits, and deductions are calculated correctly on each salary record.
5. Approve and mark as paid — Approve the salary records and apply the payment.
6. Export or print pay stubs — Distribute pay stubs to employees for their records.

Ongoing Maintenance

• Review inactive employees quarterly — Archive or clean up records for employees who are no longer with the organization to keep your active lists manageable.
• Update benefit costs annually — Insurance premiums and other benefit costs typically change at renewal. Update the benefit type defaults and employee-specific amounts each year.
• Audit permission levels when roles change — When an employee is promoted or moves to a different department, review and update their role and permissions to match their new responsibilities.
• Back up audit reports — Periodically export audit trail data for long-term retention, especially before any system migrations.