Labor Resources are used to track employee time across workdays and specific events, such as time spent on a Visit. Note: Any employee who needs time tracking must be set up as a Labor Resource, even if they are already set up as a User.
In this article:
Create New Labor Resources
Navigate to: Setup > Labor > Labor Resource
Select New Labor Resource
Complete each field. See the table below for more deatails.
Select Save & Close
Name | This should be the name of the Labor Resource |
User | This refers to the SingleOps User most commonly associated with the Labor Resource, including instances where the User is setting themselves up as the Labor Resource. In that case, they would select their own User. |
Labor Type | This is typically the employee’s Job title or the type of labor they’re performing (i.e., Stump Grinder, Tree Climber, Overtime, etc.) |
Rate | These are hourly pay rates or loaded labor rates based on Labor Type |
Loaded Labor Rate Formula | See the section below for more details on Loaded Labor Rate Formulas |
Default? | Select the default checkbox next to the labor type you want the system to automatically assign when clocking in the Labor Resource. If the Labor Resource has only one labor type, it’s recommended to check this box to ensure the Labor Resource is automatically populated in the Employees field when creating a Clock In/Out event for that user. |
Manually Log Labor Details on a Completed Visit
Navigate to: Completed Jobs
Find & open the Job/Visit show page
Click the Labor / Expense Details button
Expand Labor Details
Click the + Labor Line button
Select a Labor Resource/Rate & complete the details, as needed
Select Update or Complete
*Note: Labor Details can also be recorded through the use of Timesheets.
Loaded Labor Rates
Loaded Labor Rates allow you to adjust the rate of a Labor Resource based on a specific condition.
Examples of this for a given Labor Resource are: one Operation's labor costs 1.5x as much as labor on other Operations, or labor cost changes based on the value of a Custom Input called Difficulty which you have added to your account as a Job-level Custom Input.
As with Labor Resources in general, these amounts relate to the Cost of Labor recorded on a Job and not the Price. Labor Resources and any applied Loaded Labor Rates affect the Cost for more accurate Job Costing and profitability on reports. Conversely, the Price of Labor is set on the Unit Price of an Item in category: Labor, which affects the Billable amount.
Using Loaded Labor Rates
Once you’ve created Loaded Labor Rate Formulas, you can apply them to your Labor Resources:
Navigate to: Setup > Labor > Loaded Labor Rate Formulas
Click New Loaded Labor Rate Formula
Fill in the required fields (see example formulas below)
Click Create Loaded Labor Rate Formula to save.
Suggestions & Examples of Formulas
Formula #1- A Sample Multiplier
For our first example we will create a formula that applies a simple multiplier. Let's say that after examining your numbers you have determined that you need to "load" your labor by 50% to account for other direct expenses such as payroll taxes, health insurance, workers comp, etc in order to have accurate job costing. The first step would be creating a new formula:
While building your formula we have provided a list of all available variables that can be used. The list in your system may be longer than in this example because your operation, client, and job custom inputs are all available as inputs to the formula. For this example all we need to do is take the labor resource rate and apply a 50% markup. Our final formula is:
labor_resource_rate * 1.5
Once the formula is created it can be attached to any labor resource rate. Once that is done the labor costs for that labor resource will be boosted by 50% in all of your job costing reports.
Formula #2- Using Custom Inputs
Let's make things a little bit more interesting. Let's say in your business, after examining your numbers, you have determined that your load factor for your tree operation is 50%, Maintenance is 35%, and PHC is 75%. To facilitate that, you can add a custom input to your operation and then bring that custom input into your formula. This way instead of hard-coding a 50% increase, your labor costs will be updated dynamically based on the operation of the job your team logs time against.
To create this formula you can utilize operation custom inputs like this:
To make this easy, all available variables are provided in the list, and you can click on any of them to have them added to the formula automatically. Now the formula can be associated with any labor rate, and as long as those values are filled in on the operation you're good to go!
Additional Formula Examples
*Please note: Formulas which call text are case sensitive (i.e. if Operation is entered in SingleOps as PHC, then a formula calling this Operation should read "PHC" and not "phc")
Example 1: Operation | In the formula below, if the Visit Operation is Snow, the Labor Resource Rate will multiply by 1.5. If it is not, it will multiply by 1 (remain the same).
labor_resource_rate*IF(visit_operation_name= "Snow", 1.5, 1) |
Example 2: Custom Input | In the formula below, if the Custom Input called "Job Variable" has a value of less than 10 on a Visit, it will multiply by 1.5. If the variable is 10 or more, it will multiply by 1 (remain the same).
labor_resource_rate*IF( job__variable <"10", 1.5, 1) |
Example 3: Custom Input with IFS | In the formula below, if a Job/Visit's Operation is PHC and the Custom Input called "Job Variable" has a value of more than 10, the multiplier will be 2; if the Operation is PHC and the Job Variable is 10 or less, the multiplier will be 3. If the operation is no PHC, the multiplier will be 4.
labor_resource_rate*IF( visit_operation_name="PHC", IF( job__variable>"10", 2,3), 4) |
Example 4: Custom Input as a multiplier
| If the Custom Input is the desired multiplier, the formula can be simplified to:
labor_resource_rate*job_variable |
The formula engine is flexible and powerful; if these examples do not cover your situation, please contact us at support@singleops.com and we would be happy to assist you with your formulas!
Maintaining Rates and Formulas Over Time
When pay rates or load factors change, create a new rate or formula rather than editing an existing one.
Editing rates or formulas in place can change historical job costs, so creating new ones preserves the accuracy of your past job-costing data.
Limitations and FAQ
Loaded Labor Rate Formulas do not support Item Groups.
Formulas cannot handle minimum-hour or premium pay cases (such as emergency storm pay or acting crew-leader pay). Use a separate labor rate for these situations instead.
Why don't Labor Resources appear on a crew's timesheet? Auto-population is driven by the User association on each Labor Resource; confirm each resource is tied to the correct User.
Why are my Labor Details empty after clocking time? The Labor Resource's time must be tied to a Visit (clock in → add an event on the Visit → clock out) for Labor Details to populate.
Labor Resources Video
*Note: Some of the content in this video may reflect a previous version of SingleOps. For a more accurate guide, please refer to the steps listed above.
Labor Schedules Video
*Note: Some of the content in this video may reflect a previous version of SingleOps. For a more accurate guide, please refer to the steps listed above.