What's covered in this guide?
Check payroll readiness
The Central Pay Validation Report (Reports -> Compliance -> Central Pay Validation Report) is a helpful tool to check if there are any issues that should be corrected before running payroll. You can select Configure Checks to determine which validations should block actions, simply be a warning, or disabled entirely.
The Central Pay Validation Report covers the entire suite of validations. If you want a more targeted report, The Individual Pay Validation Report (Reports -> Compliance -> Individual Pay Validation Report) can be targeted for specific checks. It also includes a pre-built US Payroll Readiness option that already includes all the validations that will affect payroll from being run, like missing W-4s or I-9s.
See the Payroll Reporting help guide for more information on payroll reports.
Finalize timesheets in Workforce
At the end of each pay cycle, ensure all timesheets for the period are finalized. This includes:
Approving timesheets
Approving or declining time off requests
Correcting any necessary pay validation errors & warnings
Once timesheets have been finalized, navigate to the Timesheets tab and click the Preview Export button.
Review any export errors or warnings, confirm total hours and wages, and click the Create Pay Run button.
Once successful, you’ll see a confirmation screen, and can navigate to Workforce Payroll. If there are any errors, the screen will list out what went wrong/needs to be fixed.
Post a pay run
When you have clicked the link to the pay run, you will see a draft pay run summary that includes:
Total Payroll
Net Pay
Employee Taxes
Employer Taxes
Withdrawal Amount
As well as individual pay stub information for each employee.
Note: Before posting the pay run, you can check the Timesheet vs. Pay Stub Comparison Report to ensure the costs on your timesheet match what's in your pay run. See the Payroll Reporting help guide for more information on the report.
Enter the correct payment date. See the Payment Dates and Deadlines help guide for more information on what payment dates you can select.
Review details of the pay run including earnings and taxes
Correct any errors that may display (e.g. missing bank details)
If paying staff for the first time, double check all their information is correct
Mark any individual pay stubs as manual payments outside the system (See the relevant help guide for more information)
Click the Post Pay Run button once finalized
Important Note: Kotapay customers need to download and submit the NACH file to Kotapay after posting the pay run. See the Kotapay help guide for more information.
Email pay stubs
Once a pay run has been posted, the option to Email Pay Stubs will become available.
Clicking this button will send an electronic copy of an employee’s pay stub to the email listed on their profile in Workforce.
Once pay stubs have been sent, a confirmation message will appear at the top of the pay run.
Note that pay stubs will always show up in the employee’s mobile app on the payment date, whether or not you emailed them to the employee.
FAQs
Why is an employee missing from my pay run?
Why is an employee missing from my pay run?
Check these, in order:
They’re on a different pay group. A pay run only includes employees on that pay run’s pay group, for example Weekly or Bi-Weekly. Open their staff profile, go to Pay Conditions > Pay Configuration and check Pay group for next clock in.
Their timesheet wasn’t approved or exported. Hours only reach payroll from approved timesheets. Approve the timesheet. If there’s no draft pay run for this pay group yet, go to Timesheets > Preview Export and click Create Pay Run. If the draft pay run is already open, open the employee’s timesheet and use Export to... to add it to that draft.
They’re salaried but have no salary template. Salary is only added automatically if the employee has a salary template under Autopaid Salary Earnings on their staff profile’s Payroll tab, and only on In Cycle pay runs.
Their employment dates don’t cover the pay period, or their profile is inactive.
They’ve already been paid in another pay run for the same period.
They’re a 1099 contractor. Contractors aren’t included in employee (W-2) pay runs. They’re paid in contractor pay runs.
Why can’t I add an employee to my pay run?
Why can’t I add an employee to my pay run?
On a draft pay run, Add employee only lists active employees who are on the same pay group as the pay run, and who aren’t on it already. 1099 contractors aren’t listed. You also need permission to edit that employee. If they’re not in the list, check their Pay group for next clock in.
Adding someone this way gives them an empty pay stub, or their salary if they’re salaried on an In Cycle pay run. Their timesheet hours aren’t brought across. For hourly staff, approve their timesheet and use Export to... on the timesheet instead.
Why is the Create Pay Run button greyed out?
Why is the Create Pay Run button greyed out?
If you hover over it and see Draft pay run exists, there’s already a draft pay run for that pay group. It may be for an earlier pay period. The Preview Export page names it and has a View Pay Run link. Post or delete that draft, then export again.
Why do only a few employees show when I run weekly payroll?
Why do only a few employees show when I run weekly payroll?
Each pay run is for one pay group. Only employees on the Weekly pay group appear in a weekly pay run. Employees on Bi-Weekly, Twice per Month or Monthly pay groups appear in those pay runs instead. Check an employee’s pay group in their staff profile under Pay Conditions > Pay Configuration > Pay group for next clock in.
My employee has weekly timesheets but they should be bi-weekly. How do I change it?
My employee has weekly timesheets but they should be bi-weekly. How do I change it?
The timesheet period comes from the employee’s pay group:
Open their staff profile and go to Pay Conditions > Pay Configuration
Change Pay group for next clock in to the right pay group
Click Update Employee Details
Timesheets that already exist stay on the old pay group. New timesheets use the new pay group from their next clock-in on or after its start date. Pay runs use the new pay group straight away, so a salaried employee won’t be paid automatically in the old pay group’s next pay run.
If you can’t see Pay group for next clock in, your organisation only has one pay group. You also need permission to edit the employee’s wages. You can’t change a pay group’s frequency once it’s in use. To use a different frequency, an Admin or Payroll Officer creates a new pay group in Settings > Timesheets > Manage pay periods, then moves employees onto it.
It won’t let me post the pay run because of errors for some employees. What do I do?
It won’t let me post the pay run because of errors for some employees. What do I do?
The pay run shows There are unresolved errors for those employees. Click each employee to see what’s missing, then fix it on their profile. Common errors are:
no W-4 form
no Social Security number (employees can’t be paid once they’re more than 30 days past their start date without one)
no home address or date of birth
no ACH (bank) details
no default payroll team
If you need to pay everyone else now, open that employee’s pay stub on the draft pay run, click Actions > Delete pay stub, then post the rest. Once their details are fixed, pay them in another pay run. In an out-of-cycle pay run their salary and timesheet hours aren’t added automatically, so you’ll need to add their pay to the pay stub yourself.
Can I revert a posted pay run to draft?
Can I revert a posted pay run to draft?
Usually, until funds are sent. Open the pay run and click Actions > Revert to draft. You can revert until 6 p.m. Eastern Time on the processing day. After that, funds are submitted to the bank, the pay run shows Payment file submitted, and Revert to draft no longer appears. You also can’t revert if the pay run has an outstanding NSF (the funding withdrawal failed for non-sufficient funds), if there’s another draft pay run for the same pay group, or while pay stubs are being emailed. If you can’t revert and something on the pay run is wrong, contact Workforce.com support.