Pay periods

A pay period is the range of dates an employee is paid for. You create a period, calculate it, review the figures, approve it and finalise it in the wizard, which locks and closes it. You can export the figures once the period is calculated. Payroll admins do this work on the Payroll tab of the Admin Hub, where the side menu entry Payroll Management leads.

Before you start: the Timeclock & Payroll module must be on for your organisation, and your employees, rule groups and pay schedules should be set up before the first period. The Payroll tab is open to the Administrator, Timeclock Admin and Payroll Admin roles. The older stand-alone Payroll Management page (/timeclock/payroll), not the sidebar entry of the same name, is open to the Administrator and Payroll Admin roles.

Two places to manage periods

• The Payroll tab of the Admin Hub. It has every action in this page. Its sub-tabs are Periods, Calculations, Summary and Accrual Tracking. Calculations and Summary stay disabled until you choose View on a period.
• The stand-alone Payroll Management page. It is not the sidebar entry of the same name. It opens from the address /timeclock/payroll, or from the back arrow of the payroll pages that open by address. No menu links to it. It has fewer actions: it can create a period, calculate a draft, approve, export and open the wizard, but it cannot close, unlock, reopen or delete a period. Its Calculate and Recalculate keep rows an accountant edited without asking, and skip the warning for old periods; use the Admin Hub to replace edited rows. Its header buttons open Employees, Schedules and Rule Groups; the Schedules button opens Employee schedules, not pay schedules.

Create a period

1. On the Payroll tab, choose New Period. If there are no periods, choose Create First Period.
2. In Create Payroll Period, enter a Period Name, such as December 2024 - Week 1.
3. Set Start Date and End Date. The period includes the whole of the end date. The dates start as the current week.
4. Choose a Period Type: Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Semi-Monthly or Monthly.
5. Choose Create Period. The new period has the status Draft.

A period whose dates overlap another period is refused, and the message names the other period. A period whose end date is before its start date is refused too. The periods you create are separate from pay schedules, so a pay schedule does not create periods for you.

Statuses and what each allows

The period cards are listed with the latest start date first. Wizard opens the payroll wizard for the period; see The payroll wizard. A period normally ends as Closed: finalise it in the wizard, which locks and closes it. A period that already holds the Paid status shows Close.

Calculate and recalculate

1. On the card, choose Calculate. For a period that was calculated before, the button reads Recalculate.
2. If the period ended more than 20 days ago, you are asked to confirm first. A recalculation uses today's rates, rules, holiday calendar and punches, not what was paid.
3. If some rows carry saved edits from an accountant, you are asked two questions. The first asks whether to recalculate at all. The second asks whether to replace the edited rows: OK replaces them, and the edits are lost apart from the accountant change log; Cancel keeps them exactly as saved and recalculates only the other employees.
4. Read the message that follows. It gives the number of employees calculated, the number of edited rows kept, and a warning if the period overlaps another period or if punches sit unpaid in the days just before it.

A period that is Exported, Paid, Closed or locked cannot be recalculated; the message says to reopen or unlock it first. The card offers Reopen and Unlock as the table shows, so it offers neither for an Exported period. The Recalculate button can still be shown on an Exported period. After a calculation the period is Calculated and the rates of any currency other than USD are saved with it. How pay is calculated explains each figure.

Approve, reopen and export

1. On a Calculated period, choose Approve and confirm. The status becomes Approved.
2. To correct an Approved period, choose Reopen. You must enter a reason. The period returns to Calculated.
3. To export, choose Export on the card. The browser downloads a CSV file named Payroll, the period name and the date. The file holds a payroll summary for each employee, totals by currency, an hours breakdown and a rule breakdown.

Exporting from the card always sets the status to Exported, even on a Paid or Closed period. The Export button on the Calculations sub-tab downloads the table you see and leaves the status alone. The stand-alone Payroll Management page offers Export on Calculated and Approved periods only.

Export from the card only after you approve and when the figures are final. An Exported period cannot be approved or recalculated, and its card offers no Reopen or Unlock. You can still finalise it in the wizard. To download the figures without changing the status, use Export on the Calculations sub-tab.

Close, unlock, reopen and delete

• Close appears on a Paid period. After you confirm, the period is Closed.
• Unlock appears on a locked or closed period. Enter a reason, which is kept for the audit trail, and confirm. The period returns to Calculated and can be changed again.
• Reopen appears on a Paid or Closed period and on an Approved one. Enter a reason. The period returns to Calculated and its approval, payment, closing and export marks are cleared.
• Delete removes the period together with its calculations and paystubs. You confirm first, and a locked or closed period asks for a second confirmation. A period that is not locked or closed cannot be deleted once its paystubs have been distributed; the message gives the number of paystubs. A deleted period cannot be restored.

Read the calculations and the summary

Choose View on a period. The Calculations sub-tab lists one row for each employee with these columns:

Totals follow for each currency. Recalculate and Export are at the top.

The Summary sub-tab has one card for each currency with the number of employees and the Total Hours, Gross Pay, Total Deductions, Net Pay, Employer Costs and Burdened Cost. Below the cards, Exchange Rates at Calculation Time compares the rate saved at the calculation, At Calculation, with today's rate, Current. The stand-alone Payroll Management page shows a single Hours column and no exchange rates.

Track accruals

The Accrual Tracking sub-tab lists every accrual balance, such as Prima or severance, that payroll has built up for your employees. A balance exists only after a period has been calculated for employees whose rule group has accrual rules. The tab carries a badge with the number of payouts due.

1. Choose Group by Employee or Group by Rule to group the rows, and Refresh to reload them.
2. Read the totals above the table: Total Employees, Active Accruals, a balance for each currency and Due This Month.
3. Read each row: Current Balance, + Interest, = Total, Per Period, Next Payout, Periods Left, Projected at Payout, Payout Amount and Status. A status of Due Now means the payout month is this month, Soon means two periods or fewer remain, and Accruing means neither.
4. Under Payouts Due This Month, choose Process for one payout, or Process Due Payouts for all of them.

Processing a payout takes the payout amount off the balance, resets the accrued interest and adds the amount to the payout totals. The payout amount is the balance times the payout percentage of the rule. See Time-off balances, accruals and bulk changes for how balances are kept.

Related pages

• The payroll wizard: the five steps for one period.
• Giving your accountant access: let an accountant review a period.
• Timeclock reports and exports: time and attendance reports.
• Payroll projections: what payroll will cost before it is run.
• Time-off balances, accruals and bulk changes: balances and payouts.