Lesson 2 – Control Flow for HR & Payroll Automation

Welcome back to Python from 0 to Hero! In the previous lesson, we learned how to set up Python, wrote our first script, and got a glimpse of Python’s simplicity. Now, it’s time to dive into something more powerful: control flow.

Control flow statements allow you to make decisions in your code and repeat actions based on conditions. In the context of HR and Payroll, this is extremely useful for tasks like:

• Determining tax brackets based on salary.
• Applying overtime pay for hours worked beyond the standard workweek.
• Handling different employee categories (e.g., full-time vs. part-time).

In this lesson, we’ll cover:

1. If/Else statements.
2. For and While loops.
3. Writing a script to calculate overtime pay and deductions.

Let’s get started!

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1. If/Else Statements in HR Scenarios

The if, elif (else if), and else statements let you make decisions in your code. You’ll often need these to apply different rules depending on employee categories, salaries, or work hours.

Example: Applying Tax Brackets Based on Salary

Let’s say your company has the following tax brackets:

• No tax for salaries below $2,000.
• 10% tax for salaries between $2,000 and $5,000.
• 20% tax for salaries above $5,000.

Here’s how you would handle this with an if/else statement in Python:

# Employee's gross salary
gross_salary = float(input("Enter the employee's gross salary: "))

# Apply tax based on salary
if gross_salary < 2000:
    tax = 0
elif 2000 <= gross_salary <= 5000:
    tax = gross_salary * 0.10
else:
    tax = gross_salary * 0.20

# Display the calculated tax
print(f"The tax for a salary of ${gross_salary:.2f} is ${tax:.2f}.")

How It Works:

• Python checks the first condition (gross_salary < 2000).
• If it’s True, the program applies a tax of 0.
• If it’s False, it checks the next condition (2000 <= gross_salary <= 5000), and so on.
• This allows for flexible decision-making based on employee data.

Try it yourself! You’ll see that Python correctly applies the tax rate based on the salary you input.

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2. Loops for Repetitive Payroll Tasks

Sometimes, you need to perform a task multiple times, like calculating payroll for a list of employees. In such cases, loops are your friend.

Python has two main types of loops: for loops and while loops. Let’s see how they work in real HR scenarios.

For Loops: Processing Multiple Employees

Imagine you need to calculate the net salary for multiple employees in one go. You have a list of gross salaries, and you want to apply a 10% tax to each.

Here’s how you can do it with a for loop:

# List of employee salaries
salaries = [2500, 1800, 6000, 3200]

# Loop through each salary
for salary in salaries:
    # Apply a 10% tax
    tax = salary * 0.10
    net_salary = salary - tax

    # Display the net salary for each employee
    print(f"Gross Salary: ${salary:.2f}, Net Salary: ${net_salary:.2f}")

How It Works:

• The for loop iterates over each salary in the salaries list.
• For each salary, it calculates the tax and net salary, then prints the result.

This is useful when you have a bulk list of employee salaries and need to process them automatically.

While Loops: Repeating a Task Until a Condition is Met

While loops are useful when you don’t know in advance how many times a loop should run. For example, let’s say you want to calculate overtime pay, but you’ll keep asking for hours worked until the user enters a valid value.

# Ask for hours worked
hours_worked = float(input("Enter the hours worked: "))

# Repeat until a valid number of hours is entered
while hours_worked < 0:
    print("Hours worked cannot be negative. Please try again.")
    hours_worked = float(input("Enter the hours worked: "))

print(f"Hours worked: {hours_worked}")

How It Works:

• The while loop keeps running as long as hours_worked is less than 0.
• As soon as a valid number is entered, the loop exits, and the program continues.

This is helpful for tasks like validating data or processing overtime hours only when they exceed a threshold.

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3. Example: Overtime Pay and Deduction Script

Let’s bring everything together by writing a script that calculates:

1. The employee’s gross salary based on hours worked.
2. Overtime pay for hours beyond 40 per week.
3. Deductions (like tax or benefits) based on the salary.

We’ll assume the employee’s regular working hours are 40 per week, with overtime paid at 1.5x the hourly rate.

Full Script: Overtime and Deduction Calculation

# Ask for employee details
hourly_wage = float(input("Enter the employee's hourly wage: "))
hours_worked = float(input("Enter the total hours worked in the week: "))

# Calculate regular and overtime pay
if hours_worked > 40:
    overtime_hours = hours_worked - 40
    regular_hours = 40
else:
    overtime_hours = 0
    regular_hours = hours_worked

# Calculate total pay
regular_pay = regular_hours * hourly_wage
overtime_pay = overtime_hours * hourly_wage * 1.5
gross_salary = regular_pay + overtime_pay

# Deduct 10% tax
tax = gross_salary * 0.10
net_salary = gross_salary - tax

# Display the results
print(f"Regular Pay: ${regular_pay:.2f}")
print(f"Overtime Pay: ${overtime_pay:.2f}")
print(f"Gross Salary: ${gross_salary:.2f}")
print(f"Tax Deduction: ${tax:.2f}")
print(f"Net Salary: ${net_salary:.2f}")

Script Breakdown:

1. The script asks for the hourly wage and hours worked.
2. It calculates regular pay for up to 40 hours and applies the overtime rate of 1.5x for hours beyond that.
3. It applies a 10% tax deduction to the total gross salary.
4. Finally, it prints the regular pay, overtime pay, gross salary, tax, and net salary.

Example Output:

Enter the employee's hourly wage: 20
Enter the total hours worked in the week: 45
Regular Pay: $800.00
Overtime Pay: $150.00
Gross Salary: $950.00
Tax Deduction: $95.00
Net Salary: $855.00

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Conclusion

In this second lesson, we covered:

• Using if/else statements to make decisions in your code, like applying tax brackets based on salary.
• Using for and while loops to process multiple employees or repeat tasks until a condition is met.
• Writing a script to calculate overtime pay and deductions based on hours worked.

These control flow concepts are the backbone of writing more intelligent, automated scripts for HR and payroll tasks. In the next lesson, we’ll explore how to work with data structures (like lists and dictionaries) to manage employee information efficiently.

If you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to drop a comment! Stay tuned for more, and keep practicing your Python skills!