Piece rate vs minimum wage compliance for NZ payroll

We've made it easier for New Zealand businesses to comply with the legal requirement to pay piece-rate workers at least minimum wage for every hour worked.

What's new?

If your business pays employees on a piece-rate basis (e.g. bins picked, units produced), Employment Hero Payroll now automatically compares each worker's piece-rate earnings against what they would have earned on an hourly rate, and pays whichever is higher. This happens automatically each time you run a pay run.

What does this mean for you?

• No more manual calculations at the end of each week.
• Confidence that workers are always paid correctly under the Minimum Wage Act.
• A clear audit trail ready for any MBIE inspection.

How it works in three steps

1. Set up your work types - Tick the "Apply piece rate" checkbox on any work type used for piece-rate work (e.g. "Bin picking — standard").
2. Submit timesheets as normal - Employees or managers enter one timesheet for hours worked (time-rate) and one or more timesheets for units completed (piece-rate) for each day.
3. Run your pay run - Employment Hero Payroll automatically calculates both totals per day and pays the higher amount. An info icon (ⓘ) on each earnings line lets you see the full comparison breakdown.

For workers will also see a clear note on their payslip explaining how their pay was calculated (if payslip line notes are enabled).Who is this for?

This feature is available to all New Zealand businesses using timesheets and pay categories set up with a fixed unit rate.To get started, head to Settings > Work Types and tick "Apply piece rate" on any relevant work types.

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