Labor rates and billed hours
This reference explains how Fleet360 decides the Labor Rate and the Billed Hours on a labor posting, and why the amount charged to a work order can differ from the time a technician actually worked. It does not describe how to post labor; see Post labor to a job for the steps.
The two settings involved
Flat Labor/Actual Hours (Admin ➝ System Switches ➝ Work Orders ➝ Flat Labor/Actual Hours) chooses the labor posting mode: Flat Rate (billed hours can differ from hours worked) or Actual Hours (billed hours always equal hours worked).
Select Rate (shown only when Flat Rate is selected) chooses the default rate source: System uses the single Flat Labor Rate entered on the same switch; Employee uses the wage on each employee record.
See Work Order System Switches for how to set them.
Which labor rate is used
Fleet360 checks the following sources in order and uses the first one that applies. Later sources are ignored, so a rate set higher in the list wins even when the system switch points elsewhere.
Order | Rate source | Where it is set | When it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Customer flat rate for the job | Maintenance and Repair ➝ Settings ➝ Flat Rates (Flat Rates) | The work order has a customer and a flat rate exists for that customer and the job’s VMRS code. The flat rate amount is posted once as a Flat-Rate labor line; any further labor posted to the job records the hours at a rate of zero. |
2 | Customer labor rate | Customer file, Markups tab: Override Labor Rate with a Labor Rate (Customer Files) | The work order’s customer has Override Labor Rate turned on. This applies to every technician regardless of the system switch. |
3 | System flat labor rate | Flat Labor/Actual Hours = Flat Rate, Select Rate = System, Flat Labor Rate | No customer flat rate or customer labor rate applies. Every technician is posted at the same rate. |
4 | Employee wage | Employee record, Labor Rates panel (Employee Maintenance) | Everything else: Flat Rate with Select Rate = Employee, or the system is set to Actual Hours. Blank if no wage is entered on the employee. |
A customer labor markup percentage (Customer file, Markups tab) is added on top of whichever rate is chosen in rows 2 to 4. It is not added to a customer flat rate.
Hours worked and billed hours are separate
A labor posting stores two hour values:
Hours Worked is the time the technician actually spent. It feeds productivity statistics and labor reports.
Billed Hours is the quantity charged to the work order. Labor cost on the work order is Billed Hours multiplied by the Labor Rate.
Posting mode | Billed Hours on a manual posting | Billed Hours from Paperless Shop |
|---|---|---|
Actual Hours | Locked to Hours Worked; the field is read only. | Equal to the time clocked on the job. |
Flat Rate (System or Employee) | Defaults to Hours Worked but can be changed before posting. | The job’s estimated (scheduled) hours are billed when the technician first clocks off. Later clock-offs by the same technician add hours worked at a rate of zero, so the estimate is billed once. |
Customer flat rate applies | The flat rate amount is billed once as a Flat-Rate line; the Labor Rate field is read only. | Same as manual: the flat rate is billed once, further labor records hours at zero. |
Changing a rate does not change posted labor
The rate and hours are written to the transaction at the moment labor is posted. Changing the system switch, an employee wage, a customer labor rate or a flat rate afterwards affects new postings only. Labor already on a work order keeps the rate it was posted with, including on closed work orders. To correct a posted amount, reverse the transaction and post it again.
Why the job’s Actual hours and a technician’s Time Worked can differ
A job can show different hour values in different places. They measure two separate things:
Where you see it | What it is |
|---|---|
Actual on the job line (the hours chip on the job card) | The total of the Billed Hours on the job’s labor postings. This is the charged side - it is what drives the labor cost on the work order. |
Time Worked on the job’s Technicians tab | The technician’s clocked time on the job, recorded from clocking on and off in Paperless Shop. It is not a posting and it does not set the charge. |
Hours Worked on a labor posting | The worked-time value stored on one labor posting (see the table above). It feeds productivity and labor reports; the posting’s Billed Hours is what is charged. |
They can legitimately disagree: billed flat-rate or estimated hours while the tech clocked more or less; clocked time that has not been posted yet; Hours Worked edited when labor was posted; or several technicians each with their own Time Worked while labor was posted once. None of these means a number is wrong - Actual follows the posting, Time Worked follows the clock.
If Actual and Time Worked must match, post labor so Billed Hours equals the clocked time (Actual Hours mode bills what was worked; see the table above). To fix a posted amount, reverse the labor transaction and post it again - the corrected posting then drives both the cost and the Actual total. A gap that does not match any posting means time was clocked but not posted to that job.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I set one labor rate when the system is on Actual Hours? There is no single company-wide rate field in Actual Hours mode - every labor posting uses the wage on the posting technician’s employee record (Admin > Users > open the user > Facility tab > linked employee > Labor Rates panel). The Flat Labor Rate and Select Rate switches only apply in Flat Rate mode and are ignored while Actual Hours is selected. To charge one rate to a specific customer, turn on Override Labor Rate on the customer file’s Markups tab - that customer’s rate then applies to every technician on their work orders. Note the system Flat Labor Rate field itself is capped at $99.99 per hour even in Flat Rate mode. Rate changes apply to new postings only - labor already posted keeps the rate it was posted with.
Every technician shows the same rate. Either the customer on the work order has Override Labor Rate turned on, or Flat Labor/Actual Hours is set to Flat Rate with Select Rate = System. Set Select Rate to Employee (or turn off the customer override) for per-technician rates.
The Labor Rate field is blank. The rate source that applies has no value: usually an employee with no wage entered, or Select Rate = System with a zero Flat Labor Rate. See Labor rate is not showing on a work order.
The job shows more or fewer billed hours than the technician worked. The system is in Flat Rate mode, so Billed Hours was set separately from Hours Worked (in Paperless Shop, to the job’s estimated hours). Switch to Actual Hours if billed time must always equal time worked.
I changed the rate but the work order did not update. Expected; posted labor is not recalculated. Reverse and repost the labor.