Keep fixed pay apart from site pay
Set the fixed monthly gross for each person and keep anything tied to being at site out of it, so the extra stops when the person moves back to an office. A site engineer on ₹30,000 gross could have ₹15,000 as Basic and DA, ₹6,000 as HRA and ₹9,000 as a special allowance. Putting half of pay into Basic and DA respects the Code on Wages, which pulls any excess allowance back into wages for PF, gratuity and bonus.
Worked example: a site engineer's April
Devendra spent 24 days of April at the Bhadla site. His company pays ₹250 for each day at site, so his site allowance is 24 x ₹250 = ₹6,000. He also had ₹4,500 of approved overtime. His April earnings are ₹30,000 fixed + ₹6,000 + ₹4,500 = ₹40,500, before PF, ESI and professional tax. The site in-charge signs the days-at-site list, and HR enters the allowance as a monthly input; approved overtime arrives as an earning by itself.
When the plant is commissioned in May, the company pays a ₹10,000 commissioning bonus to everyone on the project list, entered as a bonus input for each person. If the camp charges for meals, recovering the mess bill is a deduction from wages, so check the permitted deductions first.
Joiners, leavers and site transfers
Crews join and leave mid-month all through a project. ZeniaHR prorates a part month by calendar days, unless the company has opted for a flat 30-day month. A fitter on ₹21,000 who joins the site on 11 April is paid for 11 to 30 April, which is 20 days: at ₹700 a day, that is ₹14,000. When an engineer moves from one project to another, record the transfer so the new location shows in his history, and move his site allowance with him from the transfer date.
Statutory items and payday
Each run deducts employee PF and ESI and the professional tax that applies to the employee's state, and works out the employer's PF share, split into EPS and EPF, with the employer's ESI. Draft the run, recompute it when a site sends late inputs, and finalize it in time for wages to reach accounts by the 7th of the next month. Staff at remote camps rarely see a printed payslip, so the PDF in the mobile app is how they check their site allowance.
How to set it up in ZeniaHR
- Enable Direct Payroll and set each person's monthly gross, with Basic and DA at no less than half of it.
- Collect a days-at-site list from each site in-charge every month and enter the site allowance as a payroll input.
- Enter commissioning bonuses as bonus inputs for everyone on the project list in the month the plant is commissioned.
- Check the deduction rules before recovering mess or camp charges from wages.
- Lock the attendance month, then draft, recompute and finalize the run, and pay the batch before the 7th.
Read more about payroll in ZeniaHR.
Roles this applies to
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How is site allowance paid to solar project staff?
Most companies pay a fixed amount for each day spent at a remote site, kept separate from the fixed salary. The site in-charge confirms the days each month, and HR adds the amount as a payroll input, so the payslip lists it separately and it stops when the person leaves the site.
How should a commissioning bonus be paid?
As a one-time earning in the month the plant is commissioned, added as a bonus input for each person on the project list. Write the rule, including who qualifies and the amount, into the project incentive policy before work starts, and ask your payroll adviser how it is treated for PF.
How is salary worked out for someone who joins a site mid-month?
Pay for a part month follows calendar days, or a flat 30-day month where the company has picked that option. A fitter on ₹21,000 who joins on 11 April is paid for 20 days of the 30-day month, which is ₹14,000 before deductions.