Can I set up an employee to pay him by the piece instead of by the hour in quickbooks online? If so, I would like to know how.

It's nice to see you here, Mary.

I'll provide information on how you can pay your employees by piece instead of hour in QuickBooks Online (QBO) Payroll.

The available pay types in QBO Payroll are Salary, Hourly, and Commission-based. To pay your employees by piece, you can set up them as commission-based. 

However, you'll need to manually calculate the amount of the commission and multiply it by the piece to get their total pay. Then, enter them in their paycheck. You can follow the detailed instructions below:

1. Go to the Payroll tab and select Employees.
2. Click the Add an employee.
3. Enter the employee's First and Last name. Then, their Email and Hire date.
4. Let your employee enter their info by ticking the provided box below or ignore it and place their info yourself.
5. Once done, click the Add employee.
6. Choose the employee you'll add the pay type from the Employee lists.
7. Enter their Personal info, Employment details, Tax withholding, Payment method, Deductions, and Contributions.
8. In the Pay type section, select the Commission only from the Set Employee Type tab.
9. Then, enter the commission's name in the provided field since this will show in the employee's paycheck.
10. Enter the necessary info, then click on Save.

Check out this article for more information: Add or change pay types.

You can also read this article to edit employee information: Edit or change employee info in payroll.

Once done, run a payroll and enter the total commission you manually calculated below the column name you set for that pay. Feel free to read this article: Create and run your payroll.

I'll also add this article to learn how you can assign pay schedules for a particular employee: Set up and manage payroll schedules.

If you have additional questions about managing your employee's pay, click the Reply button below. We'll be willing to help. Keep safe, and have a good one.