Building a Pay Run
The four-step pay run editor — Setup, People, Pay items, Review.
+ New on the pay schedules list, New pay schedule on the People overview, or Edit on a draft opens the pay run editor at /people/pay-runs/new (or /people/pay-runs/:id/edit). It is one page with four steps. Back and Next sit in a footer that stays with you; Save as draft appears on the last step.
Step 1 — Setup
Two cards: the run's details, and where its pay items come from.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Subject | What this run is called — "August 2026 Monthly". Shown everywhere the run appears. |
| Period start / Period end | The period the pay covers. |
| Pay date | When people are paid. Proposed as five days after the period end. This date orders payment history and decides which previous run each person is compared against. |
| Frequency | Monthly, Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly, or Annual. |
| Split | One pay run for everyone, one per location, or one per department. |
Choosing "one pay run per department" means the editor creates one run per department when you save — each with its own subject suffix, its own people and its own total. The Review step shows exactly how many runs will be created and what each one totals before you commit, and the button reads Save N drafts.
Where the run starts from
| Source | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Start fresh | Build from the pay items already on each employee's record. This is the normal choice. |
| From existing | Copy the people and pay items from one or more previous runs. Pick the runs and they are loaded as the starting point; the first one’s dates become the defaults. |
| From active pay items | Available only where your business uses the active pay-item source. It seeds the run from the currently active item set. |
Step 2 — People
The whole employee register in one table, with a checkbox per person.
| Column | Notes |
|---|---|
| Employee | Name and number. |
| Department / Location | Also the two filters above the table. |
| Days | Editable only when the run carries daily items — otherwise the column is not shown. |
| Items | How many pay items this person carries on this run, with added, removed and edited counts beside it. |
| Net | What this person nets on the run as it currently stands. |
Search, a department filter and a location filter narrow the list. Select all applies to everyone matching the current filters, not just the visible page. Import days brings day counts in from a spreadsheet when you run daily payroll.
If someone is missing here, they are either inactive, terminated, or were never created. Add or reactivate them from the register first — see The employee register.
Step 3 — Pay items
Every pay item on the run in one table — type, name, period, how many people carry it, and its total across the run — with four bulk tools above it: Add pay item, Update from CSV, Remove items and Changes. Tapping an item opens a sheet with a row per person, where you can set one person's amount or count, or drop the item for them alone.
An item's amount can be a fixed number, a percentage of another item, a rate that varies by department, location, position or grade, a tax rule, or a per-person figure from a file.
This step has enough in it to be worth its own page: see Pay items on a run and Calculated pay items.
Everything on this step changes this run only. To change what someone is paid going forward, edit their record instead.
Step 4 — Review
The figures before you commit: people, gross, deductions, tax and net, plus the split preview if you chose one, the breakdown by item, and a table of every employee with their own gross, deductions, tax and net. Anyone netting zero or less is badged No pay.
A zero or negative net is almost always a data problem — a deduction larger than the salary, or a missing rate. It is much cheaper to fix here than after posting. People with zero gross pay are left off the saved pay run, and the Review step says so.
Export CSV takes the whole review out to a spreadsheet. Save as draft creates the run (or the runs, if you split).
Saving
The run is created with status Draft. Nothing is posted and nothing is owed yet.
Where the run is checked against the last one — see Reviewing a pay run.
Posting is a separate, deliberate action on the workspace.
While you are building a new run the editor keeps your work locally, so closing the tab by accident does not cost you the setup. Saving as a draft is still what makes it real.