Arranging Payday

Payment and the associated payment systems are important because:

• Pay is a key factor in attracting and motivating employees;
• Pay affects directly relationships in the workplace;
• The right pay levels and systems are vital to the success of your organisation;
• Employees look for a fair reward for their efforts at work. Jersey law sets requirements about pay deductions*

What do you need to do?

• Recognise that pay is just one element of a complex package in motivating employees;
• Ensure you also design jobs and work groups to increase satisfaction, provide appropriate training and support, concentrate on clear communications and ensure full consultation;
• Know what is wanted from the payment system e.g. to ensure pay rates match the competition, improve quality of service/product and control staff costs;
• Maintain confidentiality of personal pay/earnings;
• Ensure that you meet the minimum wage requirements of the law;
• Provide employees with an itemised pay statement*

Choosing a payment system

Assess the different pay systems that might meet your objectives, such as:

• Basic rate where pay is the rate for the job;
• Performance pay where a proportion of pay is based on individual output/service;
• Performance pay where a proportion is based on group/organisation output/service;
• Performance pay where a proportion is based on merit rating after performance appraisal;
• Profit-related pay where a proportion is a bonus linked to profitability;
• Skill-based pay rewarding skills possessed/acquired.

Keep the payment system simple and easy to understand.

Involve managers and employees/representatives in the design and changes to the pay rates/system.

*Pay deduction and itemised pay slip requirements are set out in Employment (Jersey) Law 2003.  

Records to be kept by employers

(1)    If an employee qualifies for the minimum wage, their employer must keep in respect of the employee records that are sufficient to establish that the employer is remunerating the employee at a rate that is at least equal to the minimum wage.

(2)    The records must show the actual number of hours worked by the employee during each pay reference period (and not just the contractual hours worked).

(3)    The records must be in a form that enables the information that is to be kept about the employee in respect of a pay reference period to be produced in a single document.

(4)    The records that must be kept under this Article must be kept by the employer for a period of 10 years beginning with the day on which the pay reference period specified in paragraph (5) ends.

(5)    The pay reference period to which this paragraph refers is the one immediately following the pay reference period to which the records relate.

(6)    The records may be kept by means of a computer.