← All answers
Tip Pooling

How does tip pooling work in Axial Shift?

Short answer

You set the pooling rules once, and Axial calculates every pool automatically each day after the last tipped employee clocks out. Rules can weight by hours, job, department, shift or sales category, and employees can see exactly how their share was calculated, down to the item.

Rules you can set

  • Pools by job or department, for example separate pools for bar and back of house.
  • Shares based on hours worked, job weighting, or AM/PM shift weighting.
  • Allocation by sales category or revenue center, for example private dining or off-site catering.
  • Percentage-of-sales or percentage-of-tips tip-outs.

When pools are calculated

Each pool is final once every tipped employee in it has clocked out for the day. A share depends on everyone's total hours, so Axial can't finalize a pool the moment each person clocks out. You can run results for any day or range of days.

Do tips reconcile with the POS?

Yes. Reports and automated alerts confirm that the credit card tips paid out match the tips collected in your POS. Axial rounds only at the final per-employee step, so rounding errors don't add up.

How are tips paid?

Through your payroll export. There are no processing fees on tip payouts and no escrow account to fund.

Is there an audit trail?

Yes. Axial logs changes to tip pools, along with punch edits and changes to jobs and pay rates.

Last updated October 10, 2026
Related answers
How does Axial Shift handle tip pool edge cases? →Which restaurant software has AI sales forecasting for labor scheduling? →What's the best restaurant scheduling software for a multi-unit restaurant group? →Which restaurant scheduling software integrates with Toast and Oracle Simphony? →
Have a question we didn't answer?

Bring your stack and your questions. We'll walk through how Axial fits your stores in 30 minutes.

Book a Demo