Tipping In Time To Pet

Time To Pet has built-in support for tipping. Tips can be added to any invoice, paid or unpaid, from both the admin dashboard and by your clients from the Mobile App or Client Portal. You can then decide how those tips are disbursed to staff members and include them on staff pay stubs.

IMPORTANT: Time To Pet does not pay your staff/users directly. The steps described in this article are simply tools that will help you calculate what to pay your staff outside of Time To Pet via your payroll processor or another preferred method.

Check out this video from our Customer Experience Team on how tipping works in Time To Pet!


Automatic Tips

You can add an Automatic Tip to any individual client, and that tip will automatically be applied to any future invoices that are generated.

1. Navigate to the client profile.

2. Go to the Services/Invoices tab.

3. Click the Edit button underneath "Auto Tip

client profile services/invoices tab with arrow pointing to auto tip

4. Fill out the automatic tip amount to be applied, then click the Save button.

edit auto tip

Any invoices created after saving this Auto Tip will have the designated tip amount automatically applied.

Note: Invoices created before Auto Tip is enabled will not have the tip added automatically. You can add it to the invoice manually, or you can use the Bulk Update tool to refresh rates on at least one event on the service order.

Note: Automatic tips will recalculate with every change on an invoice until a payment is made toward the invoice. Once a payment has been applied to the invoice, any changes made to the invoice will not trigger the tip to recalculate, and changes to the tip will need to be made manually.

Automatic Tip Reporting

To see a list of clients with or without Automatic Tipping enabled, the value of their Automatic Tip, and when it was last updated, head over to Reporting > Staff/Users & Clients and add the "Clients With or Without Auto Tip" filter.

Notes:

  • You can also use this filter when sending a mass email in Messages > Email Clients
  • The "Clients With or Without Auto Tip" report includes a column displaying the date when an auto tip was last edited.
    • Auto tips edited before November 20, 2024: No date will be shown in this column.
    • Auto tips edited on or after November 20, 2024: The date of the last edit will be displayed.

Adding A Tip To An Invoice

Tips can easily be added to any invoice.

  1. Locate the invoice you want to add a tip to and click the Edit link.

    Client Invoice with Edit Link


  2. Click the “Add Tip” button at the bottom of the invoice: 

    Edit Client Invoice Screen - Edit Tip Button


  3. A new window will appear, allowing you to set any tip amount: 

    Invoice Tip Amount Pop Up Window

4. After setting the tip amount desired, click the “Save Tip” button.

Enabling And Disabling Tipping

To allow clients to add a tip from the Mobile App or Client Portal, you must first allow them to do so from Settings > Client Settings > Portal Settings under the "Invoicing" section:

screenshot of portal settings invoicing section with red box around allow tipping in portal setting

Clients can also be given the ability to enable and manage their own automatic tip. When set to "Yes", clients will be prompted to enable an automatic tip when paying invoices in the App if they do not already have it enabled. They can also enable, disable, and edit their automatic tip preference on their My Info page of the web Portal.

Note: For clients to be able to add tips, you must be connected to one of our supported payment processors. See Credit Card Processing for more information.

Adding A Tip As A Client

Clients can add tips to any open or paid invoice that doesn't already have a tip that has been disbursed to staff.

Adding A Tip To Open Invoices

From the Client Portal within the Invoices section, they'll click "Make A Payment":

invoices screen of client portal with red arrow pointing to make a payment button

Then, they can click the "Add Tip" button next to the invoice:

client portal make a payment screen with red arrow pointing to add tip button

On the Client App, after tapping Invoices > Make Payment on an invoice, they can add a tip to any open invoice while making a payment, as well as set the selected tip percentage as an auto tip (if they do not already have one set).

Adding A Tip To Paid Invoices

Clients can also add tips to invoices that have already been paid. To do this, they can navigate to the Invoices section of their Client Portal and then click on the "Paid Invoices" tab. From there, they can click the "Add Tip" button next to the invoice:

client portal invoices screen paid invoices tab with red arrow pointing to add tip button

Similarly, on the Client App, they will open the "Paid" invoices tab and click to add a tip:

Note: If a tip on a paid invoice has already been disbursed to staff, clients will not see the option to add another tip to it. The existing tip disbursement would need to be undone to allow the client to edit the tip amount. See How To Undo A Tip Disbursement for more information.


Alternatively, you can create a new, blank invoice with just a tip added, then allow the client to pay for that invoice. See Creating A Blank Invoice To Add Custom Line Items And/Or Tips (No Events) for more information.

Adding or Adjusting An Automatic Tip in the Client App


Clients can check the "Apply This Tip Percentage To Future Invoices" box (if they do not already have an Automatic Tip set up) to add this tip percentage as an Auto Tip to future invoices.



If a client already has an Auto Tip set up, they will not see this option, and their auto tip will automatically be added. They will still be able to add an additional tip on top of their Automatic Tip.

Adding Or Adjusting An Automatic Tip In The Client Portal


In the My Info section of the Client Portal on the right-hand side of the screen, clients can add or adjust their Automatic Tip amount. This flat rate or percentage will be automatically added to invoices created after the Automatic Tip is added.

Image of Auto Tip tool with arrow pointing to 0% teal badge on right-hand side of client portal My Info section


Clients can adjust this amount anytime by clicking the pencil icon next to "Auto Tip" and changing the amount and/or type. Then, they select the percent (%) sign for a percentage or the dollar ($) sign for a flat rate amount. Once they have entered their desired Auto Tip amount, they click the floppy disk icon to save.


Screenshot showing the dropdown percentage and flat rate options for the Auto Tip tool along with save icon

Tips For Cancelled Services

When services are cancelled on an invoice containing a tip, that tip will remain where it is on the invoice. To remove the tip from the invoice, you can do so manually by clicking the “Edit” icon next to the tip, changing the tip amount to $0.00, and saving your changes. If the invoice has already been paid, the tip will be moved to the client’s open payment balance, which you can then apply to another invoice.

screenshot of an invoice with an arrow pointing at the cancelled status and a box around the tip amount

If you would like to refund the tip after removing it from a client’s invoice, you can do so by navigating to the client’s Balance Sheet, finding the tip payment in the list of payments, clicking “Edit” on the payment containing the tip, and then clicking “Refund Payment” in the bottom left corner of the Edit Payment screen.

Note: Any tips that have already been disbursed or paid out to staff members cannot be edited or removed from a client’s invoice. In order to adjust the tip on an invoice that has already been disbursed, you would first need to undo the disbursement. Please see How To Undo A Tip Disbursement for more information.

If a tip has already been “paid out” on a staff member’s invoice/pay stub, you will need to delete that invoice/pay stub in order to return the tip to the staff member’s Tip Balance. This will then allow you to undo the tip disbursement. For more information, please see our article on Deleting Invoices/Paystubs.

Editing & Removing Existing Tips

To edit or remove an existing tip, open the Edit Invoice screen, then click the "Edit Tip" button in the lower left-hand corner:

edit invoice screen with red arrow pointing to edit tip button

Note: If there is already a tip on the invoice that has been disbursed to staff, you will not be able to edit or remove the tip. The tip disbursement would need to be undone before you can edit the tip amount. See How To Undo A Tip Disbursement for more information.

Disbursing Tips To Staff

General Overview

Before disbursing tips to your staff members, it's important to read through the entire process to understand how tipping works in Time To Pet:

  1. The client adds a tip to the invoice and pays for it.
  2. That tip is then available to disburse to staff.
  3. Disbursing the tip adds it to the designated staff member's tip balance, which can be equated to a "tip jar".
  4. Tips will continue to accumulate in the staff member's tip balance/tip jar until it is emptied by being paid out on a pay stub.

It's important to note that once disbursed, tips are no longer tied to events or invoices, so regardless of which dates you enter when generating pay stubs, the staff member's entire tip balance will be added and paid out.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Time To Pet does not pay your staff/users directly. The steps described in this article are simply tools that will help you calculate what to pay your staff outside of Time To Pet via your payroll processor or another preferred method.

PRO TIP: When disbursing tips to staff, we highly recommend only disbursing tips after the last date of service on the invoice (rather than disbursing tips as the client pays them). This will ensure that the correct staff members receive the correct portion of the tip and that the tip is not incorrectly disbursed to a staff member who is later unassigned from some or all of the events. You can refer to the "Trip Range" column to easily find the last date of service for each tip.

To disburse tips to staff:

  1. Navigate to Staff > Pay Center > Tips tab.

    pay center tips tab with red arrow pointing to tips tab

  2. All tips available for disbursement will be listed in the "Non-Disbursed Tips" section.  
  3. Click the “Disburse” button for the tip you want to disburse.
  4. A new window will appear with all staff members that are assigned to one or more visits on the invoice. Their allotment of the total tip will automatically be calculated based on their percentage of the entire revenue for the invoice. 

    disburse tip window

  5. Each staff member’s amount can be manually adjusted, but the total cannot add up to more than the total tip available in the invoice.

    To add a staff member that was not part of the original invoice, select the staff member you want to add from the upper left-hand corner, then click the "Include Staff" button:

    disburse tip window with red box around include staff dropdown and button

  6. When ready, click “Save & Disburse”.

The Window will close, and the tips disbursed will be added to the designated staff member's tip balances. The tip will disappear from the “Non-Disbursed Tips” list and will move to the “Disbursed Tips” list.

Bulk Disbursing Tips

Instead of manually disbursing tips one by one, you can use the Bulk Disburse tool to disburse multiple tips at one time.

General Overview

Before disbursing tips to your staff members, it's important to read through the entire process to understand how tipping works in Time To Pet:

  1. The client adds a tip to the invoice and pays for it.
  2. That tip is then available to disburse to staff.
  3. Disbursing the tip adds it to the designated staff member's tip balance, which can be equated to a "tip jar".
  4. Tips will continue to accumulate in the staff member's tip balance/tip jar until it is emptied by being paid out on a pay stub.

It's important to note that once disbursed, tips are no longer tied to events or invoices, so regardless of which dates you enter when generating pay stubs, the staff member's entire tip balance will be added and paid out.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Time To Pet does not pay your staff/users directly. The steps described in this article are simply tools that will help you calculate what to pay your staff outside of Time To Pet via your payroll processor or another preferred method.

PRO TIP: When disbursing tips to staff, we highly recommend only disbursing tips after the last date of service on the invoice (rather than disbursing tips as the client pays them). This will ensure that the correct staff members receive the tip and that the tip is not disbursed to a staff member who is later unassigned from some or all of the events. Refer to the "Trip Range" to easily find the last date of service for each tip.

  1. From Staff > Pay Center > Tips tab, click the Bulk Disburse button:

    screenshot of tips tab with an arrow pointing at the bulk disburse button


  2. A new screen will open, listing all of the tips to be disbursed. Each tip is automatically distributed to the staff members assigned to events on the corresponding invoice according to the percentage of revenue each event accounted for from the entire invoice.

    In this screen, you can change the amount to disburse to each staff member, click the invoice number or Calendar links to view the invoices and service orders the tip came from, and you can skip disbursing any individual tip by checking the "Skip This Tip" option.

    bulk disburse tips screen


  1. You can also choose to filter all of your in-disbursed tips based on different criteria by clicking the dropdown menu where it says "Show All Tips" at the top of the screen.

    screenshot of bulk disbursed tips filter dropdown menu

    The filter options you have to choose between are as follows: Show All Tips, Invoices With Due Dates Between, Invoice With Date Between, Invoices With First Event Between, Invoices With Last Event Between, Invoice With Last Event Before and Payment Received Between. This will allow you to more easily navigate through your un-disbursed tips and only disburse the tips that you intend to, especially if doing so in preparation for generating pay stubs.

  2. Once you're ready to disburse, select the "Disburse Tips" button.

    screenshot of disburse tips button


  3. A new window will open, asking you to confirm:

    bulk disburse tips confirmation window


  4. After confirming, you'll see a progress screen while the tips are being disbursed.

IMPORTANT: Do not navigate from the screen until you have received a completed message at the top of the screen.

How To Undo A Disbursed Tip 

You can undo a tip disbursement from Staff > Pay Center > Tips tab in the "Disbursed Tips" section. Click "Show" next to the disbursement you want to undo:

pay center tips tab with red arrow pointing to show buttons

Then, click "Undo Tip Disbursement":

tip disbursement window with red button that says undo tip disbursement

Viewing Staff Tip Balance And History

To see a history of tips you've disbursed to a staff member, as well as what their current tip balance is (tips that have not yet been paid out on a pay stub), navigate to the staff member's profile and click on the Tip Balance tag:

staff profile with red arrow pointing to tip balance tag

A new screen will open with a history of tip disbursements with a link to the client invoice it came from, as well as a log of when tips are "paid out" on a pay stub:

tip balance history



Paying Tips To Staff

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Time To Pet does not pay your staff/users directly. The steps described in this article are simply tools that will help you calculate what to pay your staff outside of Time To Pet via your payroll processor or another preferred method.

Once a tip has been disbursed, it is added to the staff member's tip balance, where it will stay until it is "paid out" on a pay stub. Tips are not tied to specific events once disbursed, so the next time you generate a pay stub, the staff member's entire tip balance will be added to the pay stub, regardless of the pay period you enter.

Note: For more information about generating pay stubs, check out our help doc on Generating/Deleting Pay Stubs/Invoices For Staff/Users

You can edit how much of the tip balance to pay out by editing the pay stub before finalizing it. To edit the pay stub, click "Edit" on the staff member you want to edit the tip for:

GENERATE PAY STUB SCREEN STEP ONE WITH RED ARROW POINTING TO EDIT BUTTON

Then, edit the tip amount:

generate pay stub screen edit pay stub with red box around tip balance

Be sure to save your changes!

Viewing Tips As Staff

Once tips have been disbursed to a staff member, the staff member will be able to view the amount they received and the client who sent it. They can view this information in the web Dashboard from My Pay > Tips:

staff dashboard my pay section with tips tab selected and red box around my pay button and tips tab

Or in the Time To Pet Staff App from the Side Menu > My Pay > Tips.

phone mockup of time to pet app with red arrow pointing to three lines in upper left corner

Mobile phone mockup of the my pay section of the mobile app


FAQs

Q: Can clients add tips to invoices after they have been paid?

Yes! See the Adding A Tip To A Paid Invoice section above for those steps.


Q: If there has been a tip on an invoice, is the client able to add another tip?

As long as the tip hasn't been disbursed already, the client can add another tip by going to the Invoices section of their portal/app, clicking "Make A Payment" and then clicking "Add Tip." 


Q: How does a client leave a tip that's not attached to a specific invoice?

You can create a new, blank invoice with just a tip added to it, then allow the client to pay for that invoice. See Creating A Blank Invoice To Add Custom Line Items And/Or Tips (No Events) for more information.


Q: Are clients enrolled in automatic charging able to tip?

Yes, tipping is absolutely an option with Automatic Charging. You can actually add an Auto Tip to the client's account if they'd like one automatically added, or they can go in any time and add a tip to an invoice, even after it's been paid. See Automatic Tips and Adding A Tip To A Paid Invoice for more information.


Q: Is the auto-tip feature retroactive?

Auto tips will be added only to invoices created after you enable the Auto Tip. Pre-existing invoices will not be affected.


Q: Can a tip from cancelled services be applied to future invoices?

When services are cancelled, the tip will remain on the invoice. You can manually remove the tip from the invoice by clicking the "Edit" icon next to the tip, changing it to $0, and saving. That will move it to the client's open payment balance, which you can then apply to another invoice.


Q: Why are tips accumulating for my staff/users?

After tips have been disbursed, they stay in the tip balance until they are paid out on a pay stub; in other words, as tips are disbursed, they will accumulate in the user's tip balance until a pay stub is generated where the tips are paid out. See Paying Tips To Staff for more info.


Q: What happens to a tip when a pay stub/invoice is deleted?

Any tips that were "paid out" on the pay stub will return to the user's Tip Balance when the pay stub is deleted. Deleting pay stubs returns everything to how it was before it was generated.


Q: Do client tips get paid directly to the staff member, and where does the money from the tip actually go? 

Time To Pet does not pay your staff/users directly. The process of disbursing tips and "paying them out" on a pay stub are simply tools that will help you calculate what to pay your staff outside of Time To Pet via your payroll processor or another preferred method.

That said, as soon as a client has paid a tip, that money is paid out to the payout account saved in Time To Pet, along with all other client payments.

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