Overview

Staff Types let you define categories for your workshop mechanics and assign specific labour rates to each. This allows job costs and billing to be calculated accurately based on who performed the work — so a Senior Mechanic and an Apprentice are costed at their respective rates rather than a single flat rate.

Each Staff Type has two rate components:

Rates are tied to effective date ranges, so rates can change over time (for example, at the start of a new financial year) without affecting historical job cost records.

❕Note: Staff Types were added in 2025.

Setting up staff types

Navigate to Workshop → Configuration → Staff Types.

Creating a staff type

1. Navigate to Workshop → Configuration → Staff Types.
2. Click + Add.
3. Enter a unique Name for the staff type (e.g. Senior Mechanic, Mechanic, Apprentice).
4. Add a rate entry:
   • Click + Add Rate.
   • Enter the Internal Rate — the hourly cost rate.
   • Enter the External Rate — the hourly billing rate.
   • Set the Effective From date for when this rate takes effect.
   • Optionally set an Effective To date if the rate has a known end date.
5. Click Submit to save.

Adding future rates

When rates change — for example at the start of a new financial year — add a new rate entry rather than editing the existing one:

1. Open the staff type from Workshop → Configuration → Staff Types.
2. Click Edit.
3. Click + Add Rate and enter the new Internal and External rates with the new effective date.
4. Save.

The system will use whichever rate entry was effective on the date the work was performed when calculating costs in reports. This ensures historical job costs remain accurate even after rates change.

Assigning a staff type to a mechanic

Staff types are assigned within the People module on each mechanic's staff profile.

1. Navigate to the staff member's profile in People.
2. Click Edit.
3. Locate the Workshop Staff Type field.
4. Select the appropriate staff type from the dropdown.
5. Save.

Once assigned, all workshop tasks completed by that mechanic will use their staff type's rates for internal costing and external billing calculations.

How staff type rates affect reports

When a workshop cost report is run, the system:

1. Identifies the date the work was performed.
2. Looks up the mechanic's assigned staff type.
3. Finds the rate entry that was effective on that date.
4. Applies the Internal Rate (for cost reports) or External Rate (for billing reports).

This means you can have a Senior Mechanic on a higher rate and an Apprentice on a lower rate, and reports will reflect the actual cost composition of each job accurately.

🧠 Learn more: Invoicing Workshop Work

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Invoicing Workshop Work

Workshop Reports Overview

Workshop Settings