Cost centers (or Departments) are more than just a way to pay an employee at different rates.
In Wurk, cost centers also help you track where an hourly employee is working (location and/or department) and what they are doing (job, activity, project). A cost center is a part of your business to which you charge hours but does not generally earn a profit, for example, IT or Accounting. The process of charging hours to a cost center is called allocation, which manifests in taxes and reporting.
Your Wurk Administrator sets up cost centers and pay rates for you so that you know which ones to use for each employee and situation. When a new employee is added in Wurk, a default cost center and pay rate are usually assigned to them. As they start working in multiple areas or as your business grows, for example, if some of their work falls under IRS tax code 280e, you can associate the employee and certain hours on their timesheet with additional cost centers and using different pay rates and even different job assignments.
Your employees will then be able to switch cost centers when they log hours. Salaried employees, by contrast, do not typically charge to different cost centers, however, if you need to be able to track them this way, your company may choose to customize this feature.
NOTE: In Wurk, you may see cost centers listed as Locations or Departments, depending on your company setup. If you manage hourly employees, your best practice is to make sure you and your employees are trained in which ones to use when clocking in and out so they can do this without your help.
Managing 280E: Tax Deductions, Cost Centers, and Compliance
How are Cost Centers Linked to Employees and Timesheets?
When an employee clocks in using a cost center or department, there is typically a pay rate also associated with that employee. For example, if working as a Bud Tender, an employee may charge to a special cost center and at a different pay rate than if working in Joint Rolling. This manifests in the employee’s paycheck and taxes paid. The typical workflow, whether it is done by just a few people or several large departments, goes like this:
What Do I Have To Do To Manage Cost Centers?
START HERE
1. First make sure that the employee is set up with the correct cost centers (if not, contact your Administrator). You can check the employee's cost centers from the Main Menu under Team>My Team, Employee Information .
2. Then, when you review your employee's timesheets, make sure that they picked the right cost centers when punching in.
