How to Setup and Run Payroll in CHIP

Great news! Chalk It Pro now handles payroll for your coaches and staff. You can pay coaches for the classes they teach, pay staff by the hour for other work like cleaning, and see it all in one payroll report.

📝 Note: Want to practice first? Try the interactive guide, where you can click through every step in a practice copy of Chalk It Pro without changing anything in your gym.

Only gym admins see PAYROLL in the left menu. The report always covers the gym you currently have selected, so if you manage more than one gym, switch to the right one first.

Coaches, admins and anyone you add as staff see MY HOURS and STAFF SCHEDULE in the ME section of the menu.

📝 Note: You’ll see a red count on PAYROLL when work hours are waiting for review, and on STAFF SCHEDULE when there are shift or time off requests.

Here’s the short version. Each step is explained in more detail below.

Want to pay a coach more for CrossFit than for Spin? Here’s how:

Once you add a class type rate, the top row changes from All class types to All other class types.

Each class is paid at the coach’s rate for that class type. If the coach doesn’t have one, their default rate is used. If they have neither, the class shows no pay.

📝 Note: A coach can have one rate per class type, and different coaches can have different rates for the same class type. To remove a class type rate, click the trash can next to it. That coach then falls back to their default rate for that type.

💡 Tip: To remove a default rate, clear both the Rate and the Per-Head Bonus (or set them to 0) and save. Rate accepts $0 to $100,000, and Per-Head Bonus accepts $0 to $1,000.

⚠️ Heads up: Rate changes apply to past classes. Pay is worked out each time you open the report using the rate saved at that moment, and Chalk It Pro doesn’t keep a rate history. If a raise starts partway through a period, run and export the earlier period first, then change the rate.

The quickest way is to set them all at once:

A few things to know about the list:

You can also set the type on a single class. Open it in the class editor and use the Class Type field in Class Details. Start typing to find a class type, and if it doesn’t exist yet, pick Add “Spin” (or whatever you typed) to create it on the spot.

📝 Note: For recurring classes, the class type comes from the series editor, and changing it there applies to every date in that series, including past dates on the report. Classes with no class type are paid at each coach’s default rate. Deleting a class type removes it from its classes and deletes any coach rates set for it.

The report opens on your Last Pay Period, the most recent one that has fully ended. Use the Payroll Range menu to pick a different period, and the report reloads right away:

Both the first and last day are included in full. Classes after today are never counted, so if a range hasn’t ended yet, the report tells you above the grid.

Along the top you’ll find:

The grid has one row for each coach for each class they taught. If two coaches share a class, each gets a row. Rows are grouped by coach, and each coach’s line shows their totals for the period.

Here’s what the main columns mean:

💡 Tip: Groups start collapsed, so you first see one total line per coach. Use Expand all and Collapse all to open or close every group, Columns to show or hide columns (the grid remembers your choice), and Filters or the search box to narrow things down.

Each row is calculated on its own, then the rows are added up under the coach:

Amounts are rounded to the cent, with halves rounding up. If a class is shared by two coaches, each coach is paid the full amount for that class, so split the rate between them if you only want to pay for the class once.

The report follows your class schedule and then applies payroll rules, so it can differ a little from the attendance report.

Included:

Left out:

📝 Note: If a coach had approved time off on the staff schedule but is still listed on a class that day, the row is marked Coach on time off in the Check column and the report warns you. If someone else coached, change the coach for that day on the class schedule and the pay moves to them.

Use work hours for anything that isn’t a class, like programming, cleaning, front desk or events.

Here’s what your staff will do:

Staff can edit or delete anything that isn’t approved yet. Approved hours are locked, so they’ll need to ask you to change them.

💡 Tip: Use Add Hours to log time for someone yourself, or the edit icon to fix an entry. Hours you add or edit are approved right away.

Approved hours show on the report as Work rows under the person, with their note, and are added to their total.

⚠️ Heads up: When hours are approved, the person’s hourly rate at that moment is locked in. Changing their rate later only affects hours approved after the change. (This is different from class pay, which always uses the current rate.) Also, you can’t approve hours for someone who doesn’t have an hourly rate for that activity or a default rate. The message tells you who needs one.

The staff schedule shows one week of who works when. Each coach’s classes come straight from your class schedule, so there’s nothing to enter twice. You add shifts for everything else, like front desk or cleaning.

There’s nothing new to set up. The schedule uses what payroll already has: the activities from Staff & Hourly Rates, your coaches, admins and staff, your pay period’s week start day, and the coaches on your class schedule.

Here’s how to plan your week:

📝 Note: A time off request lists the classes that person is down to coach under Needs a sub. Find cover, then change the coach for those days on the class schedule.

The schedule is the plan, and payroll pays what actually happened. Shifts are paid once their hours are logged and approved, through the same Work Hours review, so a shift is never paid twice.

Chalk It Pro works out what each person earned. It doesn’t pay anyone, withhold taxes or file payroll taxes. Every amount on the report is gross pay, before taxes or deductions. You’ll run the actual payroll in your payroll provider, like QuickBooks Payroll, Gusto or ADP, or hand the numbers to your accountant.

Here’s your routine each pay period:

💡 Tip: Keep your exports. Since rates have no history, an export is your record of what was calculated at the time.

📝 Note: Whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor changes how they’re paid and taxed. Your payroll provider or accountant sets that up, and Chalk It Pro doesn’t track it.