What are OLA rates?
OLA stands for Overtime, Leave, and Absence. These are three rate configurations inside a pay policy that determine how much an employee earns — or has deducted — for overtime work, authorised leave, and unauthorised absence.
For the first time, all three are configurable directly inside payroll settings as part of the pay policy.
Where was overtime configured before? Why is it moving?
Previously, overtime rates were configured inside Time and Attendance settings. This meant that clients who did not use Workpay's Time and Attendance system had no way to configure overtime rates in payroll.
Overtime rates are now part of the pay policy — inside payroll settings — so every client can configure them regardless of which Time and Attendance system they use, or whether they use one at all.
What are the options for setting an overtime, leave, or absent pay rate?
The same three options apply to all three rate types:
Fixed value
You enter a flat amount per hour or per day. Every employee on this policy earns this rate for that type of pay, regardless of their salary. Example: everyone on this policy earns KES 500 per overtime hour.
2. Calendar-based
The rate is calculated automatically from the 30.33 daily rate. The system shows you the computed rate. You do not enter a number.
3. Payroll Rate
The rate is the same hourly rate already calculated by your computation method. The system uses what it already knows from your pay policy configuration. You do not enter a number. This is the simplest option for most clients.
What is the overtime rate inside the pay policy? Is it the same as the multiplier?
No. These are two different things.
The overtime rate in the pay policy is the base hourly rate used to compute overtime pay — for example, the employee's standard payroll hourly rate or a fixed amount per hour.
The overtime multiplier — for example 1.5x or 2x — is configured separately in Overtime Settings. The final overtime pay for any session is: base overtime rate × multiplier × hours worked.
Your account manager will walk you through both during your activation session.
What is the leave pay rate?
It is the rate used to compute pay for authorised leave days or hours taken, or for leave pay-out when an employee exits. You can set it per day or per hour.
Leave pay does not carry a multiplier — it is applied at face value per authorised leave day or hour. If you select Payroll Rate, the system uses the same rate as your standard payroll computation.
What is the absent pay rate?
It is the rate applied when an employee has unauthorised absent days — days they were contracted to work but did not attend.
The same three method options apply. Absent pay only takes effect when your attendance data source is set to Use Time and Attendance data and T&A reports fewer hours than the employee's configured shift hours.
If you are running on fixed hours, absent pay is not triggered — the system assumes full attendance.
Do I have to configure leave and absent pay rates separately?
You need to select a method for both, but it does not have to require any manual input. If you select Payroll Rate for either, the system uses the same rate as your normal payroll computation — no additional amount needs to be entered.
You only need to enter a specific amount if you want a fixed rate that is different from the standard payroll rate.
Where do overtime multipliers go — things like 1.5x or 2x for different types of overtime?
Overtime multipliers are configured in Overtime Settings — a standalone section in Workpay, separate from the pay policy. The pay policy holds only the base overtime rate. The multipliers and factor configuration — which type of overtime gets which multiplier — are managed in Overtime Settings.
Your account manager will guide you through both the pay policy rate and the Overtime Settings during your activation session.