Quarterly Employment Statistics

The Custom Reports feature is currently in beta; please feel free to provide feedback by clicking on the BETA label.

The Quarterly Employment Statistics Report lets you download an Excel file populated with employment and earnings figures, which you can use to complete the Quarterly Employment Statistics form that you might have to submit to Stats SA via email.

👉 How-To Guides¶

Before you start

The report is available only if the Enable Quarterly Employment Statistics Report (STATSSA) box is checked under Settings > Advanced > General.
Employee data must be complete enough to pass pre-validation (including Employment Contract Type on each employee's Skills & Equity or Employment Equity screen).
Custom items that are used within the reporting period must not have a blank Employment Statistics Reporting value (i.e. select a classification, or select “Not Applicable”).
All payslips must be finalised for all employees for the entire period of the report.

How to enable the Quarterly Employment Statistics report¶

Go to Settings > Advanced > General.
Check the Enable Quarterly Employment Statistics Report (STATSSA) box.
Click Save.

What enabling does

A new Quarterly Employment Statistics report becomes available under Reports.
A new field becomes available under custom items called Employment Statistics Reporting (with additional fields/options depending on the custom item type).
A new Employment Contract Type field becomes available on employees’ Skills & Equity and Employment Equity screens.

Skills & Equity vs Employment Equity

If you're doing Employment Equity Reporting on SimplePay, the Employment Equity options apply to you. Otherwise, the Skills and Equity options apply by default.

How to set Employment Contract Type¶

Individually¶

Go to Employees, and select the relevant employee.
Go to Edit Info > Employment Equity or Skills & Equity.
Click on the Employment Contract Type dropdown, and select the appropriate option.
- Full-time employee: permanent, temporary, or casual employee who normally works the agreed hours, i.e. 40 hours or more per week.
- Part-time employee: permanent, temporary, or casual employee who usually works less than 40 hours per week.
Click Save.

Use of information

The selection is used in the Persons Employed section of the Excel file.

In bulk (for Employment Equity)¶

Go to Employees > Bulk Actions.
Under Payroll Inputs, click Regular Inputs.
Confirm that your filters are correct (Pay Point and Pay Frequency).
Click the first drop-down, and under Other, click Employment Equity.
In the Add column, check the boxes for the relevant employees.
Scroll right to the Employment Contract Type column, and select the relevant option.
Click Save.

Alternative for Skills & Equity

Go to Employees > Bulk Actions.
Under Informational Inputs, click Skills & Equity.
Confirm that your filters are correct (Pay Point, Pay Frequency, and Status).
Scroll right to the Employment Contract Type column, and select the relevant option.
Click Save.

How to set Employment Statistics Reporting on custom items¶

Custom income items¶

Go to Settings > Custom Items.
Add a new custom income item (or edit an existing one).
On the Add Custom Income screen (or Edit Custom Income screen), click on the Employment Statistics Reporting dropdown, and select the appropriate option.
Required fields
- If you select "Bonus", you must have Taxed Annually (Irregular Income) checked.
- If you select "Overtime Payment", you must have Overtime checked.
If you select "Bonus", select a value in the required Type of Bonus Paid dropdown.
Click Save.

Other custom items (deductions, allowances, employer contributions)¶

Go to Settings > Custom Items.
Add or edit the relevant custom item (deduction, allowance, or employer contribution).
Set the Employment Statistics Reporting dropdown to "Gross Earnings" or "Not Applicable".
Click Save.

Custom items that are copies of system items

If a custom item is a copy of a system item, you do not have to set the Employment Statistics Reporting field, as described above. It will default to the same earnings type as the system item it copied.

A full list of system item and their earnings types is available in the Explanation section below.

How to pre-validate and download the report¶

Go to Reports > Quarterly Employment Statistics (under Workforce).
In the Date Range section, select a Quarter.
Click the hyperlinked Click here.
On the Quarterly Employment Pre-Validation screen, click on the hyperlinked warnings to review them and correct the underlying data (missing Employment Contract Type, custom items missing Employment Statistics Reporting, or employees with draft payslips).

Monitoring pre-validation progress

In step 4, when you click on a hyperlinked warning, a new tab will open where you can correct or complete the data. Therefore, the Quarterly Employment Pre-Validation screen will remain open, and you can refresh it to see how many more warnings you have to address.
Return to the report screen (using the Go back link on the pre-validation screen).
Tick the Password protect this report download box if you have enabled password protection.

Enabling password protection

To enable password protection, click on Settings > Advanced > General > tick the Enable password protection for reports box > Save.
Click Download.

Download behaviour

If you click Download before completing pre-validation, the system shows the error message: "You will need to pre-validate your Quarterly Employment Statistics data before downloading the report."
If the data passes pre-validation, the Download button is enabled, and clicking it downloads an Excel file.
Some information is not available in the system and, therefore, not included in the Excel file. An example is the details of the contact person, which you should provide on the Quarterly Employment Statistics form.

Submission method

Submission of the Quarterly Employment Statistics survey to Stats SA must be done via email.

📌 Quick References¶

Settings and fields you need to choose or complete

Field / Setting	Where	Options	Notes
Enable Quarterly Employment Statistics Report (STATSSA)	Settings > Advanced > General	• Checked • Unchecked	Enables the report and related fields in the system.
Employment Contract Type	Employees > Select employee > Edit Info > Employment Equity (or Skills & Equity)	• Full-time employee • Part-time employee	Used to count employees in the Persons Employed section. Blank values trigger warnings during pre-validation.
Employment Statistics Reporting (Custom income items)	Settings > Custom Items > Select or add income item	• Gross Earnings • Commission • Bonus • Overtime Payment • Severance, Termination and Redundancy Payments • Not Applicable	Available only when the report is enabled. If set (and not "Not Applicable"), the item is included in the relevant earnings type. "Bonus" requires Taxed Annually (Irregular Income) to be checked, and *Type of Bonus Paid* to be completed. "Overtime Payment" requires Overtime to be checked.
Type of Bonus Paid	Custom income item (only when *Employment Statistics Reporting* = "Bonus")	• Production/incentive bonus • Performance bonus • Attendance bonus • Birthday / Thirteenth cheque • Profit sharing • Other	Required when "Bonus" is selected; used to populate the bonuses table.
Employment Statistics Reporting (Other custom items)	Settings > Custom Items > Select or add deduction or allowance or employer contribution item	• Gross Earnings • Not Applicable	Classifies these items into Gross Earnings (or excludes them).

📚 Explanation¶

Previously, you had to manually compile information from various reports and exports in order to complete the Stats SA QES form, which is time consuming. SimplePay now populates an Excel file for the selected quarter, which can be used to complete the QES form more easily. Some information, such as the details of the contact person, does not appear in the Excel file, and you have to provide it.

Click here for more information about what is included in the Excel file.

Employees included/excluded (PART 1 - Employment)

Included: all employees who have a Basic Salary on their payslip within the selected period.
Included: Directors.
Excluded: Independent Contractors.
Excluded: employees whose Basic Salary = R 0 for the period selected and have the Commission or Once-Off Commission item.

Persons Employed counts (1.1)

Counts are per month for the 3-month period selected.
Employee count is based on the number of active employees.
Full-time employees are employees with "Full-time employee" selected in Employment Contract Type.
Part-time employees are employees with "Part-time employee" selected in Employment Contract Type.
All employees is the sum of Part-time and Full-time counts.

New Appointments (1.2)

Per month count for employees whose Date of Appointment falls within each month of the selected period.

Resignations, transfers, retrenchments and dismissals (1.3)

Per month count for employees whose Last Day of Service falls within each month of the selected period AND have a UIF Status Code of:
- 4 – Dismissed
- 6 – Resigned
- 7 – Constructive Dismissal
- 11 – Retrenched
- 12 – Transfer to another branch
- 13 – Absconded
- 16 – Voluntary Severance Package

Earnings (PART 2)

Figures are calculated on a per-month basis as shown on the Stats SA form template.
Gross earnings are payments for ordinary-time, standard or agreed hours during the reference period for all permanent, temporary, casual, executive and managerial employees, before taxation and other deductions.

Click here to see how system items are categorised by earnings type.

Payroll Item	QES Earnings Type
Annual Bonus	Bonus
Annual / Irregular Payment	Bonus
Arbitration Award – Non-taxable	Severance, Termination and Redundancy Payments
Arbitration Award – Taxable	Severance, Termination and Redundancy Payments
Basic Salary	Gross Earnings
Basic Hourly Pay	Gross Earnings
Overtime	Overtime Payment
Short Time	Gross Earnings
Annual Leave Pay	Gross Earnings
Sick Leave Pay	Gross Earnings
Family Responsibility Pay	Gross Earnings
Annual Leave Pay Extra	Gross Earnings
Sunday Pay	Gross Earnings
Sunday Overtime	Overtime Payment
Public Holiday – Worked	Gross Earnings
Public Holiday – Not Worked	Gross Earnings
Other Leave Pay	Gross Earnings
Unpaid Leave	Gross Earnings
Commission	Commission
Dividends Restricted Equity	Gross Earnings
Dividends Virtue Of Employment	Gross Earnings
Dividends Unrestricted Equity	Gross Earnings
Extra Pay	Gross Earnings
Loss of Income Policy Payout	Gross Earnings
Night Shift Allowance	Gross Earnings
Once-Off Commission	Commission
Overtime @ Input Rate	Overtime Payment
Restraint Of Trade	Bonus
Severance Pay	Severance, Termination and Redundancy Payments
Retirement Lump Sum	Severance, Termination and Redundancy Payments
Exempt Policy Proceeds	Gross Earnings
Gratuities / Severance Benefits	Severance, Termination and Redundancy Payments
Termination Lump Sum	Severance, Termination and Redundancy Payments
Leave Paid Out	Severance, Termination and Redundancy Payments
Broad-based Employee Share Plan	Bonus
Computer Allowance	Gross Earnings
Expense Claim (non-taxable)	Not Applicable
Other Allowance – Non-taxable	Gross Earnings
Telephone / Cell Phone Allowance	Gross Earnings
Relocation Allowance – Taxable	Gross Earnings
Relocation Allowance – Non-Taxable	Gross Earnings
International Subsistence – under limit	Gross Earnings
International Subsistence – over limit	Gross Earnings
Local Subsistence – under limit	Gross Earnings
Local Subsistence – over limit	Gross Earnings
Tool Allowance	Gross Earnings
Travel Allowance Reimbursive	Gross Earnings
Travel Allowance Reimbursive – taxable	Gross Earnings
Travel Allowance Fixed And Costs	Gross Earnings
Uniform Allowance	Gross Earnings
Gain from Vesting Equity	Bonus
Bursaries And Scholarships Paid Out	Gross Earnings
Bursaries And Scholarships Regular Paid Out	Gross Earnings
Share Options	Gross Earnings
Pension Fund – Employer	Gross Earnings
Provident Fund – Employer	Gross Earnings
Tax Paid on Behalf of Director / Member	Bonus
SDL – Employer	Gross Earnings
UIF – Employer	Gross Earnings
Medical Costs Benefit	Bonus
Income protection policy benefit	Gross Earnings
Medical Aid Benefit	Gross Earnings
RAF – Employer	Gross Earnings
Long Service Award – Cash	Bonus

Custom items that are copies of system items

If a custom item is a copy of one of the system items listed above, you do not have to set the Employment Statistics Reporting field. It will default to the same earnings type as the system item it copied.

🔍 FAQs¶

What do I need to do before I can download the Quarterly Employment Statistics report?

You must run the pre-validation for the selected date range and resolve any warnings (missing Employment Contract Type, custom items missing Employment Statistics Reporting, or employees with draft payslips). If you try to download before pre-validation, you will see this error message: "You will need to pre-validate your Quarterly Employment Statistics data before downloading the report."

Why doesn't SimplePay provide the information for the contact person section of the QES form?

SimplePay doesn't provide this information because it is not always the same as the SARS contact person captured on the system. You should provide the relevant information when completing the form.

Why is the Download button disabled?

The Download button is enabled only once the pre-validation checks have been passed.

Which employees are excluded from the report?

Independent Contractors are excluded. Employees whose Basic Salary = R 0 for the selected period and have the Commission or Once-Off Commission item are also excluded.

Are my employees included in the QES data if they are on maternity leave?

Yes, they are included. For an employee to be included in the count for a particular month:

They should have had a payslip during that month; or
Any of the following UIF status codes should have applied to them during that month:
- 9 – Maternity
- 10 – Long-term leave due to illness (still employed)
- 17 – Reduced Working Time
- 18 – Commissioning Parental
- 19 – Parental

Are terminated employees counted in Persons Employed if their last day of service is during the month?

Yes, a terminated employee is counted for the month in which their last day falls, as well as any preceding months in the quarter during which they were still employed.

Can an employee be counted in Persons Employed and Resignations, Transfers, Retrenchments and Dismissals?

Yes, a terminated employee can appear in both Persons Employed and Resignations, Transfers, Retrenchments and Dismissals for the same month — they're independent counts. As an example, a March termination adds 1 to both the March headcount and the March resignations/dismissals figure.