The Pay Periods feature groups your recorded hours and earnings into the same date ranges your employer uses. This gives you a record to compare with your pay stub, even when payday comes days or weeks after the shifts you worked.
All users can set one default Pay Period. With Premium, you can set a unique Pay Period for each job you track.
Set up your Pay Period
Open More → Preferences → Pay Periods.
Under Default Pay Period, tap Choose your pay schedule.
Choose how often your employer’s Pay Period repeats.
For Weekly, select the day of the week the Pay Period starts. For Monthly, select the day of the month. For Twice a month, select both start dates. For Every 2 weeks, choose your Pay Period dates.
Check your Pay Period dates. The beginning and ending dates should match those on your pay stub — not the date your paycheck is issued or deposited.
Tap Save.
If you track multiple jobs with Premium, each job can use that default or have its own Pay Period.
To set a different Pay Period for a job, select it under Job Pay Periods and choose Use custom pay period. Follow the same setup steps you used for the default Pay Period, then tap Save. Repeat for any other jobs with different payroll schedules.
Pay Periods and Start of Week are separate settings. Start of Week controls your Calendar layout and ordinary weekly views. Pay Periods follow your configured payroll dates. Changing Start of Week does not change Pay Period boundaries.
Want to change which day your Calendar week begins? See How to change your start of week. This setting also affects weekly views, but does not change your Pay Period dates.
View a Pay Period
Open Totals and select Pay using the buttons below the displayed dates. You can also tap the displayed date range and choose Pay within the Date Range screen.
If you use only a default Pay Period, you’ll see that period. If you track multiple jobs, choose the job whose Pay Period you want to view. Jobs with matching pay schedules can be viewed together using the filter icon.
Use the left and right arrows beside the displayed dates to move between Pay Periods.
With Premium, tap the displayed date range, turn on Compare to and choose an available comparison option. Tap Save to apply your choices.
By default, totals include shifts and paychecks. When comparing earnings recorded with your shifts against your pay stub, use the filter icon in the top-right corner to show shifts only. This avoids including paycheck entries that may contain the same earnings.
Why compare your pay stub with your own records?
Your total tracked earnings won't necessarily equal the amount deposited into your bank account.
For example, if you received cash tips during the pay period and reported them to your employer, you’ve already received that income. Those tips may still appear on your pay stub as taxable income, and taxes associated with them may be withheld from your paycheck.
Instead of comparing two totals, compare the hours, earnings, taxes and deductions that make up those totals.
Keep your earnings history up to date
Your Pay Period totals are only as complete as the earnings history behind them. Record your shifts, hours and earnings consistently so your Pay Period totals reflect what you earned during those dates.
If you miss a shift or leave out part of your earnings, your Pay Period total won't give you a complete record to compare with your pay stub.
For a stronger record, keep a photo of your checkout slip at the end of each shift. With Premium, you can attach a photo to your shift in ServerLife for easy reference if your pay stub doesn't match what you recorded.
Compare what you tracked with your pay stub
Pull up the corresponding Pay Period in ServerLife and compare the information you recorded with what appears on your pay stub.
Hours worked: Compare the hours listed on your pay stub with the hours you recorded for your shifts.
Hourly wages: Check the wages reported on your pay stub against the hours and hourly rates you tracked.
Tips: Compare the tips you recorded during the Pay Period with the tip information on your pay stub. Cash tips you’ve already taken home may still appear as reported income for tax purposes, while credit card tips may be paid through your paycheck depending on how your employer handles them.
Taxes and other deductions: Review the taxes and other payroll deductions listed on your pay stub. These can help explain why your take-home pay differs from the total earnings you recorded.
A difference between your tracked earnings and take-home pay doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an error. The goal is to understand what you earned, what was reported and how your final paycheck was calculated.
What if something doesn’t look right?
First, make sure you’re comparing the same Pay Period dates and that you recorded all of your shifts during that period.
Then compare the individual details rather than only looking at your total earnings and the amount deposited into your bank account.
If you’re still seeing a discrepancy, you can use your tracked hours and earnings as a reference when asking your employer or payroll department about it.