Which wages and days belong in the average?

Start with the specified date

For one statutory holiday, one annual-leave day or one sickness day, use that day as the specified date. For a consecutive group, use its first day. The average uses the twelve calendar months before that month; employment of less than twelve months uses the shorter actual period.

For example, a specified date of 6 October 2026 gives a window of 1 October 2025–30 September 2026. A later original service-start date shortens the window. A renewal date does not by itself prove when service first began.

Source: Labour Department: 12-month average wages and worked examples

Use earnings for the window

The wage definition covers remuneration and relevant allowances; some payments fall outside it. Chapter 3 distinguishes provided food or accommodation, actual expense reimbursements, certain discretionary payments and overtime treatment. Do not copy the whole amount payable on a statement: it can include reimbursements.

Enter actual earnings attributable to the displayed window. If a mid-month payslip crosses its boundary, obtain the in-window amount from the records. Neither the profile salary nor a simple date-based proration establishes that amount.

Source: Labour Department: definition of wages

Exclude qualifying days and their pay together

Qualifying leave paid at less than full wages, or a normal working day on which the employer provided no work and paid less than full wages, needs the relevant period and corresponding pay disregarded together. Full-paid leave stays in the average.

For a qualifying unpaid period, excluded wages can be zero while excluded days are positive. For a qualifying partially paid period, exclude its actual pay as well as its days. Removing days alone would overstate the average.

Source: Labour Department: 12-month average wages and worked examples

A fictional example with traceable arithmetic

Suppose a fictional worker has a 365-day window, HK$180,000 of qualifying earnings including HK$1,000 paid for a qualifying ten-day exclusion. The reference is (180,000 − 1,000) ÷ (365 − 10) = 179,000 ÷ 355, or HK$504.23 for one day when displayed to cents.

Keep the exact fraction for further arithmetic. HelperPay rounds only the displayed one-day reference to cents, half up; the official guide’s dollar-rounded examples do not establish a rounding policy for every payment.

Save a reference without complicating monthly payroll

In Helpers & contracts, the optional Average daily wages panel accepts a total for the whole displayed window and any excluded periods. Incomplete history can be saved with an unavailable result. Each saved reference retains its inputs and calculation; a corrected reference is a new record.

The reference does not post payroll, check all leave eligibility or add a second payment for days already covered by salary. Sickness allowance and other entitlements have their own conditions and payment rules. Keep ordinary monthly pay, the statutory reference and the amount already covered separately.