Salary bands and raise cycles

Set the pay range of every grade, see where each person sits in it, and run a yearly raise round where managers propose raises and approvers sign them off.

Contents: Who can use it · Salary bands · Band check · Raise cycles · Manager worksheet · Approval and applying · Raise letters · FAQ

Who can use it

Everything is on every plan. Each part has its own permissions on the Roles screen: Salary bands (List, Create, Update, Delete), Raise cycles (List, Create, Update, Delete, Apply) and Raise worksheets (List, Update, Submit). Anything that shows what people are paid also needs View Compensation under employee field permissions, so a manager needs it to open a worksheet.

Where: HR → Compensation (bands, band check, raise cycles, worksheets).

Salary bands

A band is the monthly pay range of a grade: Minimum, Mid point and Maximum, in one currency, from a start date.

1. Open Salary bands and click New band.
2. Choose the Grade, the Currency, the three amounts and Effective from. Leave the mid point empty to use the middle of the range.
3. To make a band apply to one place only, choose a Branch or a Country. With neither it applies everywhere. The most specific band wins: branch first, then country, then the general one.
4. Click Save.

Adding a new open-ended band for the same grade, place and currency ends the previous one the day before. Dates that would overlap another band are refused.

On an employee's Compensation tab each pay period shows the Compa-ratio (pay divided by the mid point) and the Range position (how far through the range the pay is), with Below band, In band or Above band. Yearly pay is compared as a twelfth. Other rates are not checked.

The band check

Band check on the Salary bands page decides what happens when someone records pay outside the band:

Setting	What happens
Off	Nothing is checked
Warn (default)	The change is saved and a warning is shown
Block	The change is refused until the amount is inside the band

Even with Block, a change that moves pay toward the range from the side it was already on (a raise for someone below the minimum) is allowed.

Check an amount answers "where would this pay sit" for a grade and a place, for example before you make an offer.

Raise cycles

1. Open Raise cycles and click New cycle.
2. Fill in the Name, Effective date of the raises, Currency, Budget % (the raise pool as a share of each team's monthly pay) and, if you like, Joined on or before to leave out recent joiners.
3. Choose a Performance cycle if you want guidelines to read ratings from it. Without one, each person's newest finished review is used.
4. Add Guidelines: rows with an optional rating range, an optional compa-ratio range and the suggested Min % and Max %. The first row that fits a person is used, so put specific rows first.
5. Click Open cycle. A worksheet is made for every manager. People with no manager go to one worksheet that HR fills in.

Only active people with monthly pay in the cycle currency are included. Everyone left out is listed with the reason, for example "No pay on record". A cycle can be edited and deleted until it is opened; after that only the name and notes change. Close cycle stops further edits.

The cycle page shows progress: worksheets by status, people, raises proposed, total increase and percentage, the budget, and how many raises are outside the band or the guideline.

The manager worksheet

A manager sees only their own team's worksheet; HR sees all of them. For each person it shows current pay, rating, compa-ratio, the suggested range and the budget left.

1. Type a Raise % or a New amount for each person you want to raise. Leave it empty for no raise.
2. Optionally choose a New grade if the raise comes with a promotion.
3. Add a Comment. It is required when a raise is outside the guideline or leaves pay outside the band.
4. Click Save, then Send for approval.

Raises can never lower pay. With the band check on Block, a raise that ends above the band maximum is refused. A raise above the manager's budget is allowed but is marked Over budget, and the approval flow can add a step for it.

Approval and applying

A sent worksheet goes through an approval flow for Raise proposals. Approvers decide it in the Approval inbox. Their flow can react to the total raise %, being over budget, raises outside the band or guideline, and promotions. Withdraw pulls a waiting worksheet back so you can change it. A rejected worksheet comes back to the manager to edit and send again.

If no flow exists, someone with the Apply permission approves the worksheet when sending it; everyone else is asked to have HR add a flow.

When nothing is waiting any more, HR clicks Apply raises. Each approved raise is written to the person's pay history on the effective date, and a promotion also changes their grade. A raise dated in the future waits and starts on its day. A raise dated inside a locked payroll month shows Needs retro; settle it in payroll under Retro pay.

A person whose pay changed after the cycle opened, or who has left, is marked Failed with the reason; the others are still applied. Fix it and click Apply raises again: only failed people are retried and nobody is paid twice.

Raise letters

Once a raise has been applied and its date has come, click Raise letter on the person. It uses your published Increment letter template and can be filed in the document vault or emailed. For many people at once, use bulk letters with the same template.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

"Nobody is eligible" means no active person has monthly pay in the cycle currency.

I cannot send my worksheet. Add a comment to raises marked outside the guideline or band, and propose at least one raise.

Why does a person show no band? The grade has no band for that currency, place and date, or the band check is Off.

Can I change a cycle's budget after opening? No. Delete is not possible either; close it and start a new one.