How to run and export a payroll

Each pay period, you create a payroll for one of your payroll entities, check the figures for every worker in it, and then export the result for payment.

The one thing to know before you start: exporting locks the payroll. Everything else can be changed and saved as often as you like, but the export is final.

Before you begin

You will need a user access level that allows you to work with payroll.
Your payroll entities need to be set up first, with the right workers assigned to them. See How to set up and manage payroll entities if you have not done this yet.
Check your entity's member list before you create the payroll. Adding a worker afterwards is more work than adding them beforehand.

The payroll screen

Select Payroll in the left-hand menu.

Payrolls you have in progress appear under Draft Payrolls. Each card shows:

The entity the payroll belongs to
The pay period it covers
The date it was created
Who created it

Select VIEW PAYROLL on a card to open it.

To narrow the view down, use Select Payroll Entity to focus on a single entity, or the All Payrolls dropdown to filter by state.

Tip: With several draft payrolls on screen at once, it is easy to open the wrong week. Check the pay period on the card before you select VIEW PAYROLL.

Creating a payroll

Select CREATE PAYROLL.
Choose the entity from Select Payroll Entity.
Choose the pay period from Select Period. The options available come from the schedule set on that entity.
Select CREATE PAYROLL.

The payroll opens ready for you to work through, with the entity name and pay period shown at the top so you can confirm you are in the right place.

Working through the figures

The payroll view is a wide table with one row per worker. Each worker's reference number, name and pay type appear on the left, and the columns are grouped into sections:

General Pay — basic hours and cost, plus bank holiday and special holiday hours and costs
Sleep In Pay — hours and costs for sleep-in shifts
Leaves — paid leave and accrued leave, in both hours and cost
Additions — bonuses, expense claims, pay adjustments and anything else owed
Deductions — pay adjustments, student loans and other deductions
Statutory Deductions — PAYE (tax), NI contribution and pension contribution

Total Gross Pay and Total Net Pay are calculated for you as you go.

Because the table is so wide, each group can be collapsed or expanded using the + and − buttons along the top. A collapsed group becomes a narrow coloured band, so you can open just the sections you are working on and keep the totals in view.

Two other controls make checking much easier:

Search by employee name — jump straight to one worker
Show zero rates / Hide zero rates — show or hide rows and entries with zero hours and zero rates

Where an entity has a lot of members, use the page numbers at the bottom to move through the list.

Enter or amend any figures that need adjusting, then select UPDATE to save your changes. Hours and costs drawn from completed jobs are filled in for you.

Tip: Hide zero rates while you check the payroll. It leaves only the workers with something to be paid, which is usually a much shorter list. Select UPDATE after each section rather than leaving everything to the end.

Exporting the payroll

When you are satisfied the figures are correct, select GENERATE EXPORT.

A warning appears first, because this step is final. Once you generate the export:

The payroll is locked and cannot be exported again
No new jobs can be added to it
No further changes can be made within it

You can still download the exported file and edit it outside the platform if you need to.

Select GENERATE EXPORT to confirm, or GO BACK TO EDITING if you want to check anything first.

Please note: There is no way to unlock a payroll once it has been exported. Take a moment to check your totals, and if in any doubt, go back to editing.

If something looks wrong

If a worker's hours do not match what they worked, check the underlying jobs and timesheets for that period before adjusting the figure by hand — the payroll draws its hours from completed jobs.

If a worker is missing entirely, check they are assigned to the entity.

If you cannot put something right, or a payroll has been locked with incorrect figures, please contact our Support Team with the entity name and the pay period, and we will help you resolve it.