Xero is a cloud-based accounting software platform, which among other things, offers payroll services which can be integrated with your Workforce.com account.
Xero Requirements
In order to integrate Workforce.com with Xero you will need to have an existing Xero account.
Check the following in Xero first to ensure your account is setup correctly:
1. Your user account must be set as Payroll administrator.
Go to Settings > General Settings > Users, choose your name, ensure the Payroll Admin box is ticked.
2. Ensure your Xero organisation is activated for Payroll.
You can check by going to Payroll > Overview:
Setup Payroll
Payroll Accounts, Pay Calendars, Tax Information, Workplace Pension & Employees
Employees have been added to Xero with a Phone Number and Email
This is so the employee details can be imported into Workforce.com
Pay Calendars
Confirm that employees have been assigned a Pay Calendar in Xero. This can be found in Xero on their profile in the Employment tab under Payroll Calendar:
Ensure the Pay Calendar in Xero matches your Pay Period in Workforce.com, (e.g they are both weekly and start on a Monday)
If your pay-groups in Workforce.com do not match exactly those in Xero, remember you can use the Export Custom Date Range function.
Connect your Xero account to Workforce.com
Log into your Workforce account through https://my.workforce.com/
In order to integrate your Xero account with Workforce.com go to Main Menu > Integrations > Payroll Integrations:
On the Payroll Integration Page, click 'New Payroll Integration':
On the Payroll Integration Page, select Xero UK:
Authorise your Xero Account with Workforce.com
If you're currently signed into Xero, you will be prompted to select the account you wish to integrate and authorise the integration.
If you're currently not signed in, you will need to enter your Xero username and password.
After logging in Xero and allowing the integration with Workforce.com, the following screen will show.
Configure Xero as a Payroll Integration.
Select 'Edit Integration' for configuration options:
Who the integration applies to:
All staff by selecting Everyone
Default Locations by selecting a Location (if you haven't set this up yet you can come back into here later). This is commonly used if you have more than one Xero account connected to your Workforce.com account and, require to map a Workforce 'Location' to a specific Xero account.
Xero Settings: here you can specify Tracking Category details.
Automatically Import New Staff Profiles You can select how you want Workforce.com to handle new staff. If you have enabled to Automatically import new staff profiles, when you add a new employee to Xero, Workforce.com will automatically import this within the hour. Only new employees will be imported and existing profiles updated.
If you make any changes remember to click Save at the bottom.
Importing Employees from Xero
When you first start using Workforce.com, you can do a bulk import of your staff from Xero. To do this, go to Workforce > Staff and click on Add Staff:
In the pop-up window, at the bottom select Import from > Xero UK:
Click on the Xero Organisation name to select the Integration.
Next, you'll see a bar loading to show your staff are being imported, depending on the amount of staff you have this can take a few minutes!
Once the import has finished, you'll see a list of your staff that have been imported into Workforce.com. If there are any staff in the list that shouldn't have been imported to Workforce.com, select 'Don't Import' next to their name and they won't be imported, otherwise if it's all correct just click Complete Staff Import at the bottom:
What if no staff were imported?
If no staff were imported into Workforce, check their details in Xero to ensure:
They exist as an employee in Xero
They have a current start date
They do not have a finish date
Once Staff are Imported:
Your employees from Xero will now display under Workforce > Staff.
Going forward, when you have a new employee you have the following options:
If 'automatically import new staff' is enabled
Add the employee to Xero, and if you have enabled to in your configuration settings, Workforce.com will automatically import this employee within the hour.
2. If 'automatically import new staff' is disabled
Add the employee to Xero and you can force an import to happen manually by going to Workforce > Staff > Add Staff > Import from Xero.
Note: Only new staff will be imported and existing staff updated.
3. Use Employee Onboarding:
Employee Onboarding allows users to send an invitation and Onboarding form to employees to fill (via app or web). A profile for the employee will be created and Onboarding details will be collected once the form is completed. Once completed, Workforce will send the following information to Xero:
Employee name, email address and phone number
Employee address
Employee gender
Employee title
Bank Details (Account number, Sort Code, Account Name)
The remainder of the profile in Xero can be completed using the details provided on the Workforce Onboarding form.
Does employee information sync between Workforce and Xero?
Yes, some information will automatically sync between the two systems:
Xero to Workforce
Updating a phone number in Xero syncs to Workforce
Updating an employees start date in Xero syncs to Workforce (if the Employment Start Date field in Workforce is blank)
Workforce to Xero
Updating a phone number in Workforce syncs to Xero
Once you're finished adding staff, we suggest checking out the following guides to continue configuring your Workforce account: Adding Locations & Teams, Welcome Staff or Build your first Schedule.
Exporting Timesheets from Workforce.com
Exporting Timesheets from Workforce to Xero can be done in a few simple steps!
Workforce/Xero pre-export checklist. Data that doesn’t match in both systems will affect payroll export.
All staff details need to match in both systems:
Full name
Email address
Phone number
Employee number(Xero) / Payroll Id (Workforce)
Employee start dates
What else to check:
Make sure Xero is connected in Workforce
Make sure the Workforce app is connected to Xero under connected apps.
Make sure the staff are in both systems
Make sure earnings rules and leave are connected to Xero (matching export names with Pay items in Xero)
Deactivated staff in both systems are not linked (‘’Unlink Workforce profile)
Make sure that staff and earnings rules are on Custom Payroll Setup (Industry Award) (encouraged to assign it in bulk)
Once Timesheets in Workforce are approved and ready to export, go to Timesheets > Weekly/Fortnightly/Monthly (choose the pay period you wish to export for):
Approved Timesheets will display in green:
For any timesheets that are not green, you will be required to approve these prior to export. To approve unapproved Timesheets, select the employee's name to go into their Timesheet to check for any shifts you haven't approved.
When you're ready to export, click the green Preview & Export button in the top right corner to go through to the Export Preview:
Workforce will notify you of any conflicts or issues that need to be remedied for a successful export.
Once all Timesheets are reviewed and correct, click the green Export to Payroll Software button:
Timesheet data will proceed to export to Xero. Depending on how many timesheets are exporting, this can take a minute or so. Workforce will advise upon a successful export and notify if there are any errors.
If you didn't have any errors, you can go to Xero and go to Payroll > Pay Runs and process as normal.