Set up tip pooling
About tip distribution
You can use tip pooling to equally divide each credit card tip across all tip-eligible team members clocked in at the time of the transaction.
Square offers four types of tip distribution:
Tip directly: Transaction tips are attributed to the team member who collected the tip.
Pool tips per transaction: Transaction tips are split equally among all tip-eligible team members clocked in at the time of the transaction. This distribution method works best if you want to reward your team based on the tips earned during their specific shift.
Pool tips by hours worked: Transaction tips from sales are split among tip-eligible team members based on their hours worked. You can specify whether to split tips based on a 24-hour workday or across a 7-day workweek. Splitting tips by workday works best if you want to reward team members who may not work their entire shift interacting with customers; splitting tips across a workweek better accounts for tip variability across a wider time frame.
Pool tips by percentages: Tips are split by a user-defined percentage at the end of each workday or workweek among tip-eligible jobs. Tip-eligible team members with the same job will receive tips based on hours worked, and tip percentage amounts assigned to each job must add up to 100%.
Before you begin
Before setting up tip pooling, check that each team member has the appropriate tip eligibility settings in their profile. For example, if you don’t want a manager to receive tips, you’ll need to toggle off Tip eligible in their team member profile through your Square Dashboard. Learn how to Add and manage team members.
You can adjust tip pooling settings from your Square Dashboard.
Set your tip distribution method
After confirming that you applied tip pooling eligibility to all of your team members, you can turn on tip pooling. You can also require team members to declare cash tips when clocking out or switching roles at a point of sale or on the Square Team app.
Sign in to your Square Dashboard and select Staff > Shifts > Settings.
Select Tips.
Select your Distribution method.
Select a Time frame, if applicable.
For Apply to, select the locations where you want the tip distribution to apply and an effective date, if applicable.
If you want tips received when no one is clocked in to equally distribute among all tip-eligible team members who clocked in on that workday, toggle on Distribute unattributed tips equally.
If you want tip-eligible team members to input their cash tips from the shift report or when they clock out, toggle on Declare cash tips and select the locations to apply the feature.
Select Save.