Your crew visited three jobs today. Did payroll receive all their working time?
The job sheets might show mowing, hedge cutting and clearance. They may say little about loading equipment at the depot, driving between customers or unloading at the end of the day. A weather delay can change the plan again, leaving the office to reconstruct the hours from several messages.
For a landscaping or grounds maintenance business, a useful payroll record follows the employee's whole working day. It separates time from expenses and gives the crew leader something specific to approve.
This guide focuses on employees paid through payroll. It uses an illustrative depot-to-depot day and explains what to check when seasonal staff join or leave. The working-time discussion concerns UK minimum-wage calculations; the holiday section explicitly distinguishes Great Britain from Northern Ireland.
Start with the crew day, then allocate time to jobs
A customer's invoice and an employee's earnings answer different questions. A fixed price for maintaining a site does not establish how long the crew actually worked or which hours belong in payroll.
Keep a record of the workday's main blocks: required depot duties, journeys for work, customer jobs, actual breaks and the final return duties. Record each employee's participation rather than assuming everyone followed the same timetable. A crew leader may collect equipment earlier, or one person may leave before the last job.
Job allocation helps explain costs, but the employee's total must still reconcile. Avoid gaps between job sheets and avoid overlapping time when an assignment changes. A single record reference for each block makes the handover easier to check.
Worked example: three jobs and a return to the depot
Jordan is a fictional adult grounds maintenance employee. For this example, the employer agrees £14 an hour for all working time shown, including required depot duties and the journeys for work. Jordan travels in a company vehicle and has no mileage reimbursement claim in this example.
| Time | Activity | Worked hours | Illustrative gross earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07:30–08:00 | Required equipment loading at depot | 0.50 | £7.00 |
| 08:00–08:30 | Travel from depot to Job A | 0.50 | £7.00 |
| 08:30–10:30 | Job A | 2.00 | £28.00 |
| 10:30–11:00 | Travel to Job B | 0.50 | £7.00 |
| 11:00–12:30 | Job B | 1.50 | £21.00 |
| 12:30–13:00 | Genuine unpaid break, no duties | 0.00 | £0.00 |
| 13:00–13:30 | Travel to Job C | 0.50 | £7.00 |
| 13:30–15:30 | Job C | 2.00 | £28.00 |
| 15:30–16:00 | Required return journey to depot | 0.50 | £7.00 |
| 16:00–16:30 | Required unloading and equipment storage | 0.50 | £7.00 |
| Total | Nine elapsed hours, less 30-minute break | 8.50 | £119.00 |
This is an illustrative gross-earnings example before deductions. It excludes holiday pay, other payments, expenses and employer costs. It is not a customer result or a completed Workmax pay run. Jordan's ordinary journey from home to the depot and back home is outside the table.
The three customer jobs account for 5.5 hours and £77. Required depot duties account for one hour and £14. Journeys for work account for two hours and £28. Together, 5.5 + 1 + 2 = 8.5 hours; £77 + £14 + £28 = £119.
Using only customer-job hours would omit three working hours and £42 of agreed earnings in this example. The point is to check the full record, not to assume every crew has the same working pattern or travel arrangements.
Travel time and mileage need different records
For hourly paid work, travel between assignments can count as working time for minimum-wage purposes. Ordinary home-to-work travel is generally excluded. HMRC also says to assess the journey that actually happened, rather than replacing it with an ideal journey time from a route planner. See HMRC's travelling-time guidance.
Keep the contractual pay treatment clear as well as checking minimum wage across the applicable pay reference period. Jordan's £14 travel rate is an assumption in the example, not a universal statutory travel rate.
An expense claim records a cost; a time record explains the employee's day. If someone uses their own vehicle, record any relevant expense claim separately and check the applicable reimbursement and tax treatment. A mileage amount does not establish how many hours the person spent travelling or replace an assessment of pay for that time.
The minimum-wage employer guide explains why a headline hourly rate alone cannot establish compliance. Payroll needs the relevant hours, qualifying pay and any deductions, not just a job-sheet total.
Record what happened when weather changes the plan
Rain may postpone a customer job without ending the crew's working day. They might remain at the depot waiting for instructions, clean equipment or move to another assignment. Record the actual situation before deciding how it affects pay.
For hourly paid workers, time spent at the workplace and required to be available for work counts for minimum-wage purposes even if work is temporarily unavailable. That is different from being at home waiting for a call. Government guidance on working hours explains the distinction.
Do not turn a cancelled job into an automatic unpaid absence. Review the employment agreement and the actual circumstances, including any contractual pay obligations. A changed customer booking is operational information; payroll still needs a separate decision about the employee's pay.
Seasonal staff: check the arrangement before choosing holiday treatment
A busy summer, a short contract or occasional extra shifts does not by itself settle someone's holiday category. Record the contract dates, expected working pattern, leave year and any contractual entitlement above the statutory minimum.
In England, Scotland and Wales, an irregular-hours worker has paid hours that are wholly or mostly variable under the contract in each pay period. A part-year worker has contractual periods of at least a week during the continuing contract when they are not required to work and are not paid for that period. A fixed-term contract ending after a season does not automatically meet that definition.
For eligible irregular-hours and part-year workers, the reforms applying to leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 include a 12.07% statutory holiday accrual method and an option for rolled-up holiday pay. Eligibility and the calculation rules need checking before using either. Read the government's definitions and holiday reforms guidance.
Regular-hours employees generally receive holiday pay when they take leave; the calculation depends on their pay pattern. Do not add a flat holiday percentage to every seasonal employee's hourly rate. See GOV.UK's holiday-pay guidance.
Northern Ireland has separate rules. nidirect states that holiday pay cannot be included in the hourly rate as rolled-up holiday pay. Use the appropriate jurisdiction's guidance when arranging leave or calculating final pay. Keep Jordan's day-rate example separate from any holiday calculation.
Give the crew leader a clear approval job
Before the payroll cut-off, ask the person checking the day to confirm:
- Which employees took part in each activity and journey.
- Actual start and finish times, including depot duties.
- Breaks actually taken, distinct from travel or waiting for work.
- The agreed rates and any authorised changes.
- Corrections, their supporting information and who reviewed them.
- The total hours passed to payroll, with expenses recorded separately.
Appoint a deputy for days when the crew leader is away. Give unresolved records a named owner and a next action. Internal approval deadlines should help establish what is owed in time for payday, not cause worked hours to disappear.
Where Workmax fits
With Workmax Time Tracking and Payroll enabled, approved hours feed payroll preparation. Review rates and earnings before completing the run. Workmax Payroll describes the supported workflow and module options.
For a grounds maintenance business, bring a representative day like Jordan's to a walkthrough. Check how your team will record depot duties, travel, job hours and breaks, then follow the approved inputs into payroll review. Confirm the treatment of your different rates and expense records for your setup before using it live.
The example does not establish automatic route calculation, automatic travel pay or job-costing functionality. If you engage subcontractors or undertake work that may involve CIS, assess that separately; this employee-payroll guide does not establish CIS coverage or a worker's employment status.
The practical benefit to measure is less time reconstructing a day that has already happened. Track the time spent collecting records, investigating gaps and preparing payroll before and after a process change. Extra staff capacity is useful, but it is not automatically a cash saving.
For broader preparation, visit the payroll hub. Book a walkthrough using one of your crew's working days, including travel and depot duties, so the review starts with the records your business actually needs.
