Paying instructors per class through payroll
How a studio can pay employed instructors for the classes they taught each period as a variable input on the regular pay run, approved by a second person.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Fitness businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Studios rarely pay instructors a flat salary. A spin instructor might teach a handful of early classes one week and twice as many the next, when a colleague is away. A yoga teacher might take a regular evening slot plus the occasional weekend workshop. Pay follows the timetable, and the timetable changes every week.
Many studios handle this with a spreadsheet, a WhatsApp message to the owner and a bank transfer, then wonder at year-end why the payroll figures do not match what was paid. If your instructors are employees, the class pay belongs in payroll, alongside everything else they earn. This article shows how to do that in Achekam without running a separate payroll each time.
Employee or contractor: settle that first
Before anything else, be clear about how each instructor is engaged. Some studios employ their instructors; others engage them as independent contractors who invoice for their classes. The difference affects tax, statutory deductions and the instructor's rights, and the rules differ between South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. Your accountant should confirm the position for each person.
Everything below is for instructors who are employees on your payroll. A contractor's invoice is a supplier bill, not a payslip.
Class pay as a variable input
Achekam runs payroll under South African, Nigerian or Kenyan rules, chosen when the studio sets itself up as an employer. Each pay period has variable inputs: overtime, commission, allowances, reimbursements and unpaid leave are entered for that period on top of the employee's standing pay.
Class pay fits that pattern. Payroll works from the amount you enter, so the count comes from you: take the period's register of classes taught, multiply by the agreed rate per class, and enter the result as that period's variable input for the instructor. Agree with your accountant which kind of input it should be, so it is taxed and reported correctly, and then use the same one every period. South African studios can read how PAYE must be deducted in SARS's Guide for Employers in respect of Employees' Tax, which carries the individual tax tables, rebates and thresholds announced in the 2026 Budget.
Here is a worked example in words. An instructor is employed on a small retainer plus an agreed rate per class. In the period just ended, the timetable shows they taught their regular classes plus two extra covering for a colleague. The studio manager counts the classes from the register, works out the class pay at the agreed rate, and enters it as the instructor's variable input for the period. The retainer stays as standing pay. The payslip then shows both, and the tax on the total is calculated on the run.
No separate bonus or correction run
Studios sometimes find a mistake after the fact: a class left off the count, or an end-of-year thank-you for instructors who covered the busy season. Achekam has no separate bonus run, correction run or final-settlement run. All of these go in as variable inputs on the next regular run.
That keeps things simple. A missed class from last period is added to this period's input with a note of what it is for. A year-end bonus goes on the run that includes the date you want to pay it. The instructor gets one payslip per period that tells the whole story.
Weekly, fortnightly or monthly
Pay runs can be monthly, fortnightly or weekly. Instructors on class pay may prefer a shorter cycle, because their income moves with the timetable and they would rather not wait a month for an extra class. Choose a frequency the studio can actually keep up with: a weekly run means counting classes and preparing a run every week.
Two people for every run
A pay run is approved by someone other than the person who prepared it. Nobody can approve a run that pays themselves, and once a run is approved it is never recalculated. In practice, a studio needs at least two people in payroll roles: for example, the studio manager prepares and the owner approves. If the owner also teaches classes and is paid through payroll, someone else must approve any run that pays the owner.
That second pair of eyes is where wrong class counts get caught. The approver should glance at each instructor's variable input against the timetable before approving.
Payslips, payment and the books
When a run is approved, payslips are produced as PDFs with the studio's logo and details. They can be downloaded or e-mailed one per person, and an employer setting sends them automatically on approval, with a delivery log. Instructors see exactly which class pay they received, which heads off most queries.
The approved run posts to the studio's ledger as a wages journal, with amounts owed to the tax authority and funds shown as liabilities. Each approved run also has a payment schedule you can download as a CSV. Marking it paid only records the fact: Achekam moves no money, so the studio still pays through its bank.
- South Africa: a wages file can be produced for the bank, in FNB's import layout or a column-mapped CSV for Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank or another bank.
- Nigeria and Kenya: no bank-file layout for a Nigerian or Kenyan bank ships, so payments are made from the schedule.
A routine for each pay period
- Close the class register for the period.
- Count classes per instructor, including cover classes.
- Enter each instructor's class pay as their variable input.
- Add any corrections from the previous period, with a note.
- Have the second person check and approve the run.
- Pay from the schedule or bank file, then mark the run paid.
Getting started
Write down each instructor's employment basis and rate per class, confirm the input type with your accountant, and run one period in parallel with your old method to compare. For the money coming in at the front desk, see members paying by QR code and collecting membership fees without debit orders.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
