People & Payroll
Add providers and staff with their pay arrangement and hours so Nabu can cost labor correctly, keeping committed pay apart from variable pay.
Why providers need to be in Nabu
Every service your clinic performs is delivered by a provider, and labor is usually the largest single component of service cost. Nabu needs to know how each person is paid, how many hours they are paid for, and how many of those hours are available for clients.
The most important thing to get right is whether the pay is committed or variable. Committed pay is owed whether or not a client books. Variable pay only exists when a service sells. That distinction drives your fixed costs, your contribution margin, and your break-even revenue.
Who to add here
Add everyone whose labor cost you want to track. Licensed providers such as estheticians, nurses, injectors, and laser techs perform services and generate revenue. Non-clinical staff such as front desk and office management go into overhead rather than directly into service cost.
Important: For sales records to link to the right provider, each provider needs an email address in Nabu. This is what Nabu matches imported sales data against, so it should be the same address you use in your booking software or CSV imports.
The fields explained
Basic information
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Name | First and last name |
| Email (required) | Work email address. This is used to match sales records to this provider. |
| Phone (optional) | Work phone number |
| Role / Title | Their job title (e.g., "Licensed Esthetician", "RN Injector", "Front Desk") |
| Service Provider | Check this box if this person performs revenue-generating services. Uncheck for admin staff. |
| Active | Check if currently working. Uncheck if they've left or gone on leave. |
Compensation
Pick the pay type that matches how the person is actually paid. Each one is handled differently.
| Pay type | Committed base pay | Variable pay |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Hourly rate for every paid hour on the roster | Optional service and retail commission |
| Salary (W2) | The salary, in full | Optional service and retail commission |
| Commission only | None | Commission on services performed |
| Flat fee per service | None | A set amount per completed service |
| Per-unit injectable | None | A set amount per unit or syringe |
| No base pay / Excluded | None | None. Use for owners and anyone paid outside payroll. |
| Unknown / Needs review | None until confirmed | Nabu flags the person instead of guessing |
Commission-only, flat fee, and per-unit providers carry no committed base pay at all. They cost nothing until a service sells. That raises your contribution cost and lowers your break-even revenue compared with an hourly or salaried provider doing the same work.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Hourly rate | If hourly: the hourly wage, for example $35. |
| Annual or monthly salary | If salary: the salary value. Nabu stores the monthly equivalent. |
| Service commission % | Commission on services, from 0 to 100. Leave at 0 if they do not earn one. |
| Retail commission % | Commission on retail and product sales. Charged to whoever performed a service on the same ticket, since retail lines carry no seller of their own. |
| Flat fee per service | If flat fee: either one amount for every service, or a different amount per service category. See below. |
| Injectable unit rate | If per-unit injectable: the amount paid per unit or syringe. |
| Include in payroll | Turn off for roster-only people or anyone paid outside payroll. |
| Compensation notes | Context for unknown, excluded, or unusual arrangements. |
| Monthly benefits | Employer-paid benefits per month, such as health and dental. |
Flat fees that vary by service category
Flat fee schedules are rarely one number. A provider might get $120 for an injectable appointment and $55 for a facial. Choose Different amount per service category and Nabu lists the categories from your service catalogue with a rate box for each.
Leave a category blank to fall back to the default rate you set above the list, so you only have to fill in the categories that differ. Rates are set per category rather than per individual service, which covers how these schedules are normally written without asking you to price hundreds of services one at a time.
Category rates are set in the app. The CSV importer handles the single flat rate only, so import first and add the category rates afterwards.
Hours
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Paid hours per week | Every hour on the roster, whether or not a client is in the chair. |
| Bookable hours per week | Hours available for client appointments. This should be less than or equal to paid hours. |
These two fields do different jobs, and confusing them is the most common setup mistake.
Paid hours drive what an hourly person costs you. A provider rostered for 32 hours is paid for 32 hours even in a quiet week, so their committed payroll is the hourly rate times 32, not times the hours a client happened to book. Getting this wrong understates payroll by the whole administrative and turnover portion of their week.
Bookable hours never change what someone is paid. They are the denominator that spreads a person's cost across the services they deliver, so lowering bookable hours raises the cost charged to each service. If a provider works 40 hours and spends 8 on charting, meetings, and turning over rooms, enter 40 paid and 32 bookable.
For a salaried provider with no roster on file, Nabu assumes a standard 40 hour week when converting the salary to a per-service cost. The salary itself is committed in full either way.
Payroll load (taxes and burden)
Payroll load is the employer side cost of having an employee: Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes. In the US it usually runs 12% to 20% on top of base pay.
Nabu applies a default estimate so you do not have to work it out. If your accountant or payroll provider has given you an exact figure, you can override it in the form.
Solo plan: your provider profile
On the Solo Founder plan, Nabu created a provider profile for you at onboarding using your signup name and email.
Check that this profile is accurate by going to Setup → People & Payroll. You should see your name there. Make sure:
- The email address matches what you use in your booking software
- The pay type and rate reflect how you actually pay yourself
- Paid hours match your typical week
You can edit this profile by clicking on your name.
The Solo plan supports one provider per location. If you hire team members, you will need to upgrade your plan to add them.
CSV import
If you have multiple providers, importing from a spreadsheet is faster than entering them one by one. Download the People & Payroll template from the Setup page, fill it in, and upload it.
The template columns are:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
first_name / last_name | Person name |
email | Work email for matching sales/provider records |
phone | Work phone |
role_title | Job title |
is_provider | yes if this person performs revenue-generating services |
is_active | yes for current team members, no for inactive/former people |
employment_type | employee, contractor, owner, or other. Use role/title for positions like Provider, Injector, Admin, or Manager. |
include_in_payroll | yes if Nabu should include this person in payroll calculations |
base_pay_type | "Unknown", "Hourly", "Salary", "Commission Only", "Flat Per Service", "Per Unit Injectable", or "No Base Pay". Use Unknown when the source record does not carry enough detail yet. |
hourly_rate | Hourly wage (leave blank for salary) |
monthly_salary | Monthly salary (leave blank for hourly) |
service_commission_pct | Service commission as a decimal (e.g., 0.10 = 10%) |
retail_commission_pct | Retail commission as a decimal |
flat_service_rate | Amount paid per completed service. Per-category rates are set in the app after import. |
injectable_unit_rate | Dollar amount paid per injectable unit or syringe |
payroll_load_pct | Employer payroll burden percentage |
monthly_benefits | Monthly benefits cost in dollars |
hours_worked_per_week | Paid hours per week, including non-service time |
productive_hours_per_week | Bookable hours per week |
source_employee_id | Optional source-system employee ID, such as Zenoti employee ID |
compensation_notes | Notes for unknown, excluded, or unusual compensation |
How provider data affects your reports
Once providers are set up:
- Committed base pay for hourly and salaried providers becomes part of your fixed costs on the Financials page, which sets the revenue floor the location has to clear
- Commission, flat fees, and per-unit pay become variable delivery cost, which sets your contribution margin
- Labor cost per service is charged at the provider's loaded hourly rate for the minutes the service takes, or at their flat or per-unit rate
- Provider profitability reports show revenue, cost, contribution, and profit per provider
- Sales records that include a provider email link to the right provider automatically
- Overhead per provider is allocated on their bookable hours relative to the whole team
Business Targets
Set revenue goals, profit margin targets and utilization assumptions so Nabu can show whether your clinic is on track, behind, or ahead of plan.
Products & Supplies
Enter the injectables, skincare and disposables used in your services, plus retail products, so material cost lands in service profitability.