Tips not showing on Export any more

[Circletax]

I have been using the same method for figuring out payroll for a company for over a year and a few weeks ago the report has now changed.  I have always gone to shifts>>Labor and tips>> then selected the time period.  I then go to export and click on Export Shifts.  There used to be a transaction tips column it is now gone. WHY?????  I called tech support today and was told that changed in a recent update....but WHY? Am I the only one that used that report for payroll?  I wish there was a better way to work tip splitting but I have to manually calculated it.  I know there's a function to split tips but we have servers that get their own tips and then bartenders that split tips.  There's no way to do both.  I guess the reporting wasn't that accurate anyways because our bartenders would leave things open and if they timed out but a tab was under their name and someone else closed it after they clocked out it wouldn't show up as tips to anyone.  Does anyone have any better ideas on pulling out tips for staff members that share them?  I export a sales report and then filter it by the people I need to come up with tips.  There's got to be a better way!

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @Circletax.  Since I use this report to split cash tips manually (as they are not currently part of the tip pool) it’s essential to me, too.  I just went tried to replicate the problem you are having.  When I clicked export > Export Shifts AND export > Labor Cost, both of my CSVs still have the tip columns that have always been there.  Which makes me think that something is amiss in your account, somehow.  

Before you call the support team, I’d recommend a couple of things.

1. Check your Shifts > Settings > Tips.  You probably haven’t changed anything but it’s always good to confirm nothing is obviously wrong there.
2. Log out of the online dashboard, close your browser and clear the cookies and web history.  Sometimes a cookie gets messed that causes unexpected and unexplainable issues.

If that doesn’t work, you’ll just need to get on the phone and have an investigation started.  But I can confirm that I”m still seeing everything I expect, so it’s definitely odd that you aren’t.

Good luck!

[Circletax]

Thanks!  I double checked my settings and nothing has changed.  I think I am looking for a different column than you're talking about.  I am looking at the credit card tips so there used to be a column that said "transaction tips."  It still shows up on the other export report but then I have to run that one 7 times to get the information I need.  I already called and I was told that was changed with the last update.  I am so confused why you would update a report and remove something like the credit card tips.

[TheRealChipA]

I appreciate the clarification.  Actually, I HAD missed the fact that the export > shifts report was now missing the Transaction Tips column, and yet it is still in the export > Labor Cost report.  That is definitely odd, IMO.  I’m going to tag a couple of Square folks who used to be involved with the Team/Payroll/Shifts stuff.  Maybe they still are and can enlighten us.

@SQPhil @danitza Can you help with this?  @Circletax is definitely correct that the Transaction Tips column has been removed from the export > shifts report.  I have to admit that is definitely going to complicate things for me as well.

[becosta5757]

The report is now completely gone! I also use this report weekly to ensure employees are paid correctly. I called Square, they said the report was removed as if it was no big deal and that it's not coming back. If you have tipped employees it's an absolute must to see this report. Square has the data, why not just show us the report. I've used the report for years and can't be the only one, this will effect every business that has tipped employees. The only reason I can see for taking the report away is to later charge us for access to it.

[TheRealChipA]

@becosta5757 No need to panic.  In this case, there is actually another explanation than going down the “Square is going to charge us more” rabbit hole.  There are no conspiracies here.  Also, if someone at customer service told you the report(s) were gone, they were very misinformed as just a quick bit of clicking on links revealed to me what really happened.

The report is still there.  They just renamed it in the Shifts menu.  It is now called “Timecards.”  From that option you can now do all things timecard, it seems — add/edit shift records, export labor cost and shifts reports.

[TheRealChipA]

Also @_Violet @JJ_ can a moderator have the product team follow up on the concern highlighted by the OP of this thread, and confirmed by myself?  The topic concerns the fact that the Shifts CSV is suddenly missing the Transaction Tips column, something that is vital to this report for many of us.  I tried tagging a few Square folks but have heard nothing after two weeks.  I guess I tagged the wrong folks?

Thanks

[JJ_]

Thank you for the tag @TheRealChipA I am looking into this now

[Circletax]

Any new info on this?

[becosta5757]

Not panic, just confused on why they would take it away. You are not correct. The "timecards" report you are referring to is not the report that was removed. The report was called "Labor v Tips" it showed the hourly rate and then the hourly rate with tips.

For example: CHIPA is paid $12 an hour, as a tipped employee. This is not state min wage. So CHIPA receives tips, if the tips CHIPA earns does not bring $12 an hour up to min wage ($15 in my state) the employer must ensure the employee is making min wage.

Report that was removed showed: Employee Paid Wage, then calculates the tips they received to show total hourly wage for their shift (paid wage plus tips).

This is what we need to see. Yes someone at customer service told me the report was gone and not coming back and I have emails from them showing this. 

[Circletax]

I never used that report because I have to manually go through the tips because I have bartenders that share tips so I check everyone's manually, but it's so weird to me that they removed information from their system for no reason.  It is now taking me at least an extra hour per week to run payroll because I have to run the shifts report and then have to run labor cost per day or run transactions per day to get the tips that my bartenders get in order to properly split it.  So I guess what we're saying is PUT OUR REPORTS BACK THE WAY THEY WERE A MONTH AGO! It seems like it should be easy enough to go back and get those things added back in.  With my report I talked to customer service was told they'd updated the system but he would take my "suggestion" to change the report and if they felt like it was something that was needed maybe it could be added in future updates.  🤔  I'm like it was there just last week!  Put it back!

[becosta5757]

Exactly, just put it back, they have the data. I'm paying them to be my payroll company so I don't need to take an extra hour to run payroll with more manual calculations. It must be messing with any business that has tipped staff.

[TheRealChipA]

@becosta5757 my apologies.  Since you posted a reply on a thread discussing a missing column from a CSV, I assumed you were talking about the same report as the original poster.  If yours is a different topic/report, I’m sorry that I didn’t notice that.  Like I said, I assumed you were on the same topic as the rest of this discussion.  So…..

Can you post a screen shot of the missing labor v tips report?  I only need to see the headers, etc, so that I don’t see sensitive information.  But if I can see it (since I do not know what report you mean) I might be able to tell you where the information can be found now.

[becosta5757]

Unfortunately I can not screen shot it, as Square removed it. I never had a need to take a screen shot previously...

[JJ_]

Hello everyone! Just heard back from the team, and they have confirmed that they have removed this from the reports because they identified that in some scenarios the Tipping information could be inaccurate. They are working on improving this reporting, and they expect to complete these improvements by Q2 2024. 

In the meantime, you can for All team view tip data by exporting 

Cash tips and transaction tips via Export Labor Cost CSV. For individual team members, you can view Cash tips via Export Shifts.

We are sorry for this inconvenience and hope to be able to offer better tip-reporting tools soon. 

[TheRealChipA]

Thanks @JJ_.  Actually I had noticed that the data in that column wasn’t always consistent at an employee level and didn’t always match final payroll numbers. But since the total tips always added up correctly, I figured the distribution within  the pool would constantly change until the last minute, so I didn’t worry. I only use the total tips to approximate my payroll obligations on a weekly basis, anyway.

 I’m just using Labor Cost CSV for now, so I’m good. But I appreciate knowing there is a temporary limitation that should be fixed soon. 

I’ll look for the announcement.   And @Circletax @becosta5757 if you want me to help you explore work arounds for your needs for now, let me know. I’m pretty good at this stuff after 10+ years with Square! Ha.