Available for the following Payroll plan: Free Payroll, Core Payroll
Available for the following user access level: Admin
Setting up and maintaining accurate pay schedules helps ensure your employees are paid correctly and on time while keeping you compliant with your payroll obligations.
This article explains how to create and manage pay schedules in the Payroll platform, automate pay runs, and include terminated employees so their final payments are processed correctly. You can also pause, resume or stop automations, and edit or delete schedules as needed.
Important
Any changes made to your pay schedules will need syncing over to your HR classic platform. To read further details on how to undertake this, refer to this article.
Getting started
- On the main menu, click Business.
- On the submenu, click Payroll Settings.
- Under Pay Run Settings, click Pay Schedules.
- Click the Add button.
- Complete the following fields:
- Name
(The pay schedule name, along with the Employing Entity and date, will appear in the ABA bank file name downloaded from your platform. Avoid special characters and keep it short (248 characters max).) - Frequency
- Weekly
- Fortnightly
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Monthly
(Monthly Payment Mode appears when you select Monthly. It calculates an average number of hours per month for employees with advanced standard hours set up, instead of paying hours based on the number of days in each month.)
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Included employees
Important
In the Included employees field, if you select Employees with this pay schedule as their default, your pay runs will include an Include terminated employees checkbox.
Ticking this checkbox when creating a pay run allows you to include employees who have a termination date within the selected pay period.
- Pay run warnings (Refer to this article's Further information section for details on pay run warnings.)
- PAYG payments:
- Account name
- BSB
- Account number
- Reference
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- Click the Save button.
- On the main menu, click Business.
- On the submenu, click Payroll Settings.
- Under Pay Run Settings, click Pay Schedules.
- Click the pay schedule that needs to be automated.
- Under Pay run automation, click the button.
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Complete the required fields on the Auto Pay Schedule Details page.
Important
Select the Include terminated employees checkbox to automatically include employees who ended employment during the selected pay period. This ensures their final pay is processed.
Otherwise, leave the checkbox unticked to include only active employees.
- Click the Next button.
- Set the required Warnings and Notifications that need to be enabled. (Refer to this article's Further information section for details on pay run warnings.)
- Click the Next button.
- In the Finalise pay run field, select the required checkbox.
- Click the Next button.
- Click the Complete button.
- Click the Save button.
Managing data
- On the main menu, click Business.
- On the submenu, click Payroll Settings.
- Under Pay Run Settings, click Pay Schedules.
- Click the pay schedule that needs to be edited.
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Make the required changes in the field(s) you need to edit.
Helpful Hint
To include terminated employees in future pay runs, click the drop-down button in the Included employees field and select Employees with this pay schedule as their default.
This will ensure the Include terminated employees checkbox appears in future pay runs for your selected schedule.
- Click the Save button.
To update an individual employee's pay schedule:
- Go to the Employee's Pay Default Screen.
- Select the employee whose pay schedule needs to be changed.
- Choose the desired pay schedule from the dropdown or list.
- Save the changes.
Important: When changing an employee's pay schedule, remember that the first pay run after the change may require manual adjustments. This is because the pay run will apply to the full period, which might include a period already paid under the previous schedule. Only the first month/week will require these manual amendments.
Syncing with the HR Platform: Any changes made to pay schedules need to be synced with your HR platform. Refer to the article: How do I update pay schedules via the HR platform? for detailed instructions on syncing.
Helpful Hint
Before changing your pay frequency, check whether any Award or Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) restrictions apply. You may also wish to seek advice from your external HR legal advisor or Fair Work regarding how to manage the change with your employees. Refer to the Consultation and cooperation in the workplace best practice guide on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.
The first step is to create the new pay schedule in Payroll. If you have Employment Hero HR, this will automatically sync back to HR and be available to assign to your employees.
HR platform changes
If your organisation uses both the HR and Payroll platforms, certain changes must be made in each platform separately.
To update employee records in the HR platform:
- Export your employee data.
- Keep a copy of the original file before making any changes.
- Make the required changes in the copied file.
- Import the updated employee data.
Refer to the support article: How do I import employees via CSV via the HR platform? for detailed instructions.
The following items will need to be updated in the HR platform:
- Pay Details (salaried employees) — Review how each salaried employee's pay is configured (e.g. annual, monthly). If a change is needed, add a new salary record effective from the start date of the first pay run under the new frequency, once the last pay run under the old frequency has been finalised.
- Bank Details (employees with split payments) — If any employees have fixed-amount bank splits (rather than percentage-based), these may need to be adjusted to reflect the new pay frequency.
Refer to the support article: How do I import employees via CSV via the HR platform?
Payroll platform changes
Deductions
- Child Support Deductions / Garnishees — Contact Services Australia to update the pay cycle frequency. New letters will be issued, and deduction amounts and protected earnings amounts will need to be updated to match the new pay frequency.
- Salary Sacrifice to Super — Check with affected employees whether their ongoing deduction amount needs to change (for example, a $40 monthly contribution may become $20 per fortnight). If you are running an interim payroll to bridge the change in pay period, discuss with employees how salary sacrifice will be treated in that pay run.
- Ongoing Tax Adjustments — If employees have requested an additional tax withholding amount, contact them to confirm whether this should also be updated. Note: this does not apply to STSL calculations or withholding variations issued by the ATO.
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Deductions to third-party providers — Contact each relevant provider to confirm the change in pay frequency. New deduction amounts may be issued, and you will need to report these updated amounts to the providers. This includes:
- Novated leases
- Salary packaging arrangements
- Workplace giving
Allowances
Review any fixed allowances paid each pay run (such as a car allowance) and convert them to the new frequency. For example, a car allowance of $120.00 per month would become $55.39 per fortnight.
Instructions for updating payrun inclusions
- Export current pay run inclusions using the Monthly Payrun Inclusion Report.
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Export a file template by going to Payroll Settings to help with importing employee deductions in bulk.
- Make the necessary changes to the file.
- Import the updated employee changes.
Refer to the support articles: Data Extracts and Importing Employee Deductions in Bulk.
Updating employee details
Note: The following steps apply to changes made in the Payroll platform only, not changes made in HR.
- Export the Employee Details Report.
- Keep a copy of the original data before making any changes.
- Make the required changes in the copied file.
- Import the updated employee data.
Refer to the support article: Employee Import via Excel/CSV.
Additional considerations
- Bank Account Splits — If employees split their pay across more than one bank account using fixed amounts, discuss with them whether those amounts need to change once the pay frequency is updated.
- Overtime — If there is an interim period during the pay cycle change, consider how to treat any applicable overtime to ensure employees are not disadvantaged.
- Salaried employees — Check how your system handles salaried or autopay employees under the new frequency. For example, a full-time employee may move from 164.67 hours per month to 76 hours per fortnight.
- Rulesets — Review any monthly or salaried rulesets that need to be converted to the new frequency, or move employees to the correct ruleset. If a new ruleset is required, a copy of the existing ruleset can be created so changes are made to the copy rather than the original. Refer to the support article: Pay Condition Rules.
- Rosters — If your organisation uses rosters, review whether any roster configurations need to be updated to reflect the new pay frequency.
- Tasks — Review any pay run tasks that may need to be amended. Refer to the Tasks Report for a full list.
- Leave Allowance Templates (LATs) — Review any monthly LATs and either convert them to the new frequency or move employees to the appropriate LAT.
- Report Packs — Update any report packs to reflect the new pay frequency. Refer to the support article: Report Packs — Editing and/or Deleting.
Disclaimer
The information provided is general in nature and is not intended to substitute for professional advice. If you are unsure about how this applies to your specific situation, we recommend seeking professional advice for any company or industry-specific requirements.
Removing data
Further information
| ABA details missing | The platform displays this warning when there are no bank account details provided for a pay run and the platform therefore can not generate an ABA file. |
| BPAY details missing | The platform displays this warning when there are no business BPAY file details provided, but employees have BPAY accounts set up ready for processing in the pay run. The platform can not generate a BPAY file until you have added these details. |
| Employee with negative earnings amount | The platform displays this warning when the net payment amount for an employee is less than 0. |
| Employee with unpaid earnings | The platform displays this warning when an employee has an earnings line with hours applied, but the total value of the earnings line is 0. This usually shows there's an error with the employee's rate of pay. |
| Employee with birthday | The platform displays this warning when an employee has a birthday during the pay run period and therefore may need to have their rate of pay reviewed. |
| Employee with work anniversary | The platform displays this warning when the anniversary of the employees start date occurs during the pay run period and therefore may need to have their rate of pay reviewed |
| Employee taking more leave than they have accrued | The platform displays this warning when an employee is attempting to take more leave than they have accrued. |
| Pro rata earnings within the period for new or terminated employees | The platform displays this warning when an employee, set up with default standard hours, has either started employment or terminated employment mid-pay period and so the system calculated pro rata hours. This warning acts as a reminder to check that the platform has correctly calculated the employee's pro rata hours. |
| Previously terminated employee | The platform displays this warning when an inactive employee, who has a previous termination, appears in the pay run. |
| Terminated employee with outstanding recurring expenses | The platform displays this warning when a previously terminated employee, owed an expense reimbursement amount from their expense pay run inclusion, appears in the pay run. |
| Employee with expired qualification | The platform displays this warning when an employee's qualification has expired within the pay run period. |
| Employee with duplicate earnings lines | The platform displays this warning when there is more than one earnings line associated with the same timesheet line that contains the same units, pay rate, total earnings and note. |
| Employee expense without a tax code selected | The platform displays this warning when applying an expense request in a pay run and it the request does not contain a tax code. This is only applicable where a connection between the business and an online journal service exists and has synced their tax codes against the expense categories. |
| Employee has reached their leave cap | The platform displays this warning for any employee whose leave entitlements have reached the maximum accrual for the year. |
| Pending leave requests | The platform displays this warning when an employee has submitted a leave request pertaining to any dates within that pay period, that need approval still. The platform can not apply pending leave requests into a pay run, so the system does not automatically apply pending leave requests to an automated pay run. |
| Leave request extends past pay run dates | The platform displays this warning when an employee's leave request spans multiple pay periods. This warning is important as it highlights only a portion of the leave request needs to be applied in the current pay run. |
| Leave request ends before pay run dates | The platform displays this warning when an employee's leave request dates back in the past and is therefore relevant to previous pay periods. |
| Incomplete pay run tasks | The platform displays this warning when tasks created for the pay run in question need completing. |
| Pending Expense Requests | The platform displays this warning when an employee has submitted an expense request pertaining to the pay period that still needs to be approved. The platform does not process pending expense requests in the pay run unless approved. The platform does not automatically apply pending expense requests to an automated pay run. |