Purpose
The Company Master holds the standard lists that employee records draw from: Work Locations, Departments, Divisions and Job Titles. Once a list exists, the matching field on the employee profile becomes a drop-down instead of free text. That keeps "Sales", "sales" and "Sales Dept." from becoming three departments in your reports.
Who can do this: the Employer Administrator. Your broker can also set these lists up when adding your company. Whether a custom role can be granted access to Company Master has not been confirmed.
When to use this
Set the lists up before you add employees, whether one at a time or by census import. Every employee you add picks from these lists. Cleaning up inconsistent free-text values after the fact is slow, and the values also drive payroll and access rules described below.
Where it lives
Company Information > Company Master in the left navigation. The page has four tabs.
| Tab | What it holds | What depends on it |
|---|---|---|
| Work Locations | Each location with its full address. One is flagged (Primary Work Location). Each row shows the number of employees assigned. | State income tax withholding (the employee's work location decides which state's tax is withheld). Time tracking geofences (a location can carry a geofence that limits where employees can clock in). E-Verify hiring sites (each hiring site corresponds to a work location). Role scoping by location. Scheduling by location. |
| Departments | Department name and code | Role scoping by department, report grouping, QuickBooks Online class mapping |
| Divisions | Division name. A division is a separate grouping, independent of departments. It is not a parent of departments. | Report grouping |
| Job Titles | Job title and job code. A job code can be typed or generated automatically (see Managing Employer Preferences). | Role scoping by job title, report grouping, pay-rate setup for employees with several jobs |
The Work Locations tab has an Add Work Location button, a search box, and per-row Actions for editing. The other three tabs are expected to follow the same pattern (an Add button, search, and Actions) but this has not been re-confirmed on the current release.
Add a value
- Open the tab you need.
- Click the Add button for that tab (for example Add Work Location).
- Complete the form. For a work location, enter the name and full address, and mark it as the primary location if it is your main site.
- Save. The value is available in employee profiles and in hiring flows immediately.
Warning: Work locations are payroll data. Adding a location in a new state means state tax registration for that state. Moving an employee to a location in another state changes their withholding from the effective date of the move. Read Adding Company Address Information before you add or change a location, and check with your accountant about registration.
Edit or remove a value
Use the row's Actions to edit a value. What happens to employee records that already use a value when you rename or remove it has not been confirmed. Before you rename or remove a value that employees are assigned to, check the employee count on the row and reassign those employees first if you can.
Why it matters
Everything that groups employees by these dimensions is only as clean as these lists: reports and filters, role scoping by criteria, QuickBooks Online class and location mapping, scheduling by location, and E-Verify hiring sites.
Tip: Keep each list short and use one name per team or role. If two names mean the same team, pick one. The list is the vocabulary everyone else must use.
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