🔓 Access level in Planday: Administrator, HR manager.
🌐 Subscription plan: All
✅ Required steps: How to set and update your employees’ hourly wages & How to set and update an employee’s fixed salary.
ℹ️ Important read: How to make a report using Payroll export.
Note:
For the Sage 50 payroll export, go to Set up Sage 50 payroll (formatted export).
If you’re using one of the following payroll integrations:
Xero payroll: Go to Xero payroll integration (UK).
QuickBooks: Go to QuickBooks online integration - Setup guide with Planday.
Payroll exports formats
PDF format
How to exclude certain hours from the total working hours in the payroll export?
How to exclude certain hours from the total working hours in the payroll export?
To exclude specific hours from the total working hours in the payroll export:
Create a shift type by going to Settings > Schedule > Shift types.
In the shift type’s settings, untick the option “Count hours in payroll report”.
This will ensure the hours appear in the payroll export but are not included in the total working hours.
If you don’t want the hours that pay 0 to show in the payroll report, you can follow these steps:
Go to Settings > Payroll > General.
Under the “Zero-shifts” section, untick “Zero-shifts in PDF” and “Zero-shifts in file” (CSV and Excel).
Wage is showing 0
Wage is showing 0
To resolve this, check the following:
The employee’s wage is not set to 0. Go to People > Employees > Click on the employee’s name and check the wage.
The valid date of the employee’s wage. Follow these steps:
Go to People > Employees.
Edit the relevant employee(s).
Go to their Employment tab > Employee groups > Click the pen icon to edit.
Check the previously added rates by selecting the 'Wage history' tab. Then select the 'Details' tab and make any necessary changes. Make sure you overwrite past data.
Learn more about changing the valid date of an hourly wage.
Excel or CSV formats
Why is the hourly wage different from the one set in the employee’s profile?
Why is the hourly wage different from the one set in the employee’s profile?
There could be a couple of reasons for this.
Paid breaks: If there are paid breaks in the pay period and you have the Excel data field “Total worked hours (excl. breaks)”, Planday adjusts the hourly rate to ensure accurate payroll calculations.
For example, if an employee’s hourly wage is £10, and they worked 15 hours (excluding breaks) with a 30-minute paid break, the hourly rate might appear as £10.33 because 15 * £10.33 = £155 (the total wage).
To view the employee’s actual hourly wage (as set in their profile), select the Excel data field “Avg. hourly wage”. To do this, go to Settings > Payroll > Prints > Create and add the “Avg. hourly wage” field.
Change of wage mid pay period: It could be that the employee’s wage was changed during the pay period. To check this,
Go to People > Employees.
Edit the relevant employee(s).
Go to their Employment tab > Employee groups > Click the pen icon to edit.
Check the previously added rates by selecting the 'Wage history' tab.
Different employee groups with different hourly rates: It could be that the employee has shifts in two different employee groups that pay differently. To resolve this, you can either:
Go to Settings > Payroll > General > Shift Grouping and tick the option Group by Wage.
Or assign a Salary code to each of your Employee groups by going to People > Employee groups. Learn more about this here. Make sure to assign a different salary code for each of your employee groups.
Wage is showing zero
Wage is showing zero
To resolve this, check the following:
The employee’s wage is not set to 0. Go to People > Employees > Click on the employee’s name and check the wage.
The valid date of the employee’s wage. Follow these steps:
Go to People > Employees.
Edit the relevant employee(s).
Go to their Employment tab > Employee groups > Click the pen icon to edit.
Check the previously added rates by selecting the 'Wage history' tab. Then select the 'Details' tab and make any necessary changes. Make sure you overwrite past data.
Learn more about changing the valid date of an hourly wage.
My employees belong to 2 different employee groups and all of their hours show in one line. How can their hours show in a separate line for each employee group?
My employees belong to 2 different employee groups and all of their hours show in one line. How can their hours show in a separate line for each employee group?
If an employee works in different Employee groups and you want their hours displayed on separate lines, you have 2 options:
Option 1:
Go to Settings > Payroll > General > Shift Grouping and tick the option Group by Wage.
Option 2:
Assign a Salary code to each of your Employee group by going to People > Employee groups. Learn more about this here.
Add the data field “Salary code” in the payroll prints by going to Settings > Payroll > Prints > Create.
Optionally, add the data field Employee group name to better identify groups or job roles.
This will ensure the hours for each employee group are shown on separate lines in the payroll report.
An example of an Excel file with the hours per Employee group and the hours per Supplement will look like this:
How to display non-regular hours on separate lines in the export?
How to display non-regular hours on separate lines in the export?
To show hours like “Sick” or “Training/Induction” (marked with a shift type) on separate lines from regular hours in the payroll export:
Go to Settings > Schedule > Shift types.
Edit the relevant shift types.
Assign a salary code to them. Learn more here.
I don’t want some hours to show at all in my payroll export as I won’t be sending them over to my payroll system. How can I do this?
I don’t want some hours to show at all in my payroll export as I won’t be sending them over to my payroll system. How can I do this?
If you don’t want some hours to show nor be included in the working hours in your Excel or CSV payroll export, follow these steps:
Assign a salary code to the shift type used for these hours in Planday.
Go to Settings > Payroll > Prints > Ignore salary codes and enter the salary code of the shift type you want to exclude.
Sage 50 format
You can find answers about the Sage 50 payroll report in Set up Sage 50 payroll (formatted export).
Running payroll
Where can I change the default start date of my payroll export interval?
Where can I change the default start date of my payroll export interval?
You can change the default start date of your payroll export interval under Settings > Payroll > General. This date will automatically appear when you generate a payroll export under Payroll > Payroll Export.
Note: This date will also be the start date of the payroll period employees see when viewing their hours in the app, under "Your hours".
Why can’t I export a payroll export?
Why can’t I export a payroll export?
Here are some things to check:
Bespoke payroll export: If you’re exporting a bespoke payroll export, ensure the payroll period isn’t locked. You can’t export a bespoke payroll export if your payroll period is locked.
Employee wages: Check that all your employees have a wage rate (0 or higher) and a wage type assigned. When you pull out the payroll report for all shifts, Planday throws an error listing which employees are missing a wage type and/or a wage rate.
You can update those wages under People > Employee groups.
Browser settings:
Disable any browser software that might block essential Planday cookies.
Make sure Planday is allowed to use cookies.
Delete your browser's cache to prevent any outdated data from affecting your report generation.
If you have loading issues while exporting payroll, the reason may be disruptive data saved in your cookies and cache on your computer. See How to clear your browser data and history.
If the issue persists, you can reach out to our Support team.
How can I export a payroll report for a week, from Monday to Sunday?
How can I export a payroll report for a week, from Monday to Sunday?
If you want to export a payroll report for a week, from Monday to Sunday, you would need to adjust the start and end dates in the Date interval.
Why does an employee still appear in the payroll export of a department after they have been removed from it?
Why does an employee still appear in the payroll export of a department after they have been removed from it?
A salaried or an hourly employee may still appear in a department's payroll export after being removed if they have remaining assigned shifts in that department.
How can I include the correct employees based on their pay periods in the export?
How can I include the correct employees based on their pay periods in the export?
Some of your employees may be paid on a weekly or on a bi-weekly basis. If you want to include the correct employees based on their pay periods, you would need to do the following:
Assign a pay period to your employees in their profile under the employment tab.
When you export a payroll report, choose the pay periods you need.
Learn more about pay periods in How to set a pay period.
Some of our staff are salaried and some are paid hourly. How would I set up the dates if our salaried staff’s payroll hours run on different pay cycles?
Some of our staff are salaried and some are paid hourly. How would I set up the dates if our salaried staff’s payroll hours run on different pay cycles?
If your salaried employees and your hourly employees have different pay cycles, for example from 26th - 25th of the month for your salaried employees and from 17th - 16th of the month for your hourly employees, you would need to run two reports separately.
Salaried employees in payroll exports
Salary is showing 0 in the export
Salary is showing 0 in the export
There are a few things your can check:
Check the valid date of the employee’s salary. To do this, follow these steps:
Go to People > Employees.
Edit the relevant employee(s).
Go to their Employment tab > Salary > Edit salary.
Change the Valid date if needed.
Check that your payroll settings include salaries. To do this, follow these steps:
Go to Settings > Payroll > General.
Under “Standard settings for payroll reports”, check that “Show salaries" is ticked.
Why is the salary of one employee included in the payroll export of multiple departments?
Why is the salary of one employee included in the payroll export of multiple departments?
If a salaried employee works across several departments, their salary will show in the payroll export of each of these departments.
Holiday in payroll exports
Holiday is showing twice in the Excel payroll export, but it should only show once
Holiday is showing twice in the Excel payroll export, but it should only show once
If holidays are showing twice, it’s likely because of overlapping holiday shift types and holiday requests. To fix this:
Apply a salary code to the holiday shift type, under Settings > Schedule > Shift types.
Go to Settings > Payroll > Prints > Ignore salary codes and enter the holiday shift type's salary code.
Note: This applies only to CSV and Excel formats, not PDF.
I’d like to know who my leavers are within the pay period so I can pay their remaining holiday balance. How do I find out?
I’d like to know who my leavers are within the pay period so I can pay their remaining holiday balance. How do I find out?
To find out the leavers during the pay period, you can export an employee changes report.
To do so,
Go to People > Employees > Tools.
Click on Export data and under “Employee changes”, click on Create report.
Tick Include deactivated employees and adjust the period to match the pay period.
I’ve deactivated an employee and I must pay their remaining holiday balance. How do I do that?
I’ve deactivated an employee and I must pay their remaining holiday balance. How do I do that?
You can export a leave account report. To do this, follow these steps:
Go to Schedule > Leave accounts (or Absence accounts).
Set the period from the start of the accrual period to the employee’s deactivation date.
Click “Filters” and select the holiday account.
Click “Export”.
The final column “Leave pay - at the end day of the period” filter in the export shows the amount to pay.
To get an accurate figure, deny future holiday requests. To do so, follow these steps:
Go to Schedule > Leave requests (or Absence requests).
Adjust the period filter and select statuses “Approved” and “Pending”.
Find the leave requests, edit them and click “Deny”.
Note: Planday doesn’t add the final holiday pay to the payroll export so you’ll need to add this number to your excel or csv payroll export if you need this.
Create a Text field under Settings > Payroll > Prints > Create.
Call it “Final leave pay” for example.
Once you’ve exported the report, add the final holiday pay you got from your holiday report to your payroll report.
Deactivated employees in payroll exports
How can I include deactivated employees in the payroll export?
How can I include deactivated employees in the payroll export?
To include deactivated employees in the payroll export:
Go to Payroll > Payroll export.
Click on Custom selection of employees (1) and select Deactivated employees (2).
All my deactivated employees don’t show in the filters. Why?
All my deactivated employees don’t show in the filters. Why?
If all deactivated employees don’t appear in the filters, it could be due to a specific setting in Planday. You can reach out to our Support team who can help you with this issue.
Visibility of payroll data
How can my HR admins who only have access to one department only see payroll data for one department?
How can my HR admins who only have access to one department only see payroll data for one department?
If you want HR admins who are restricted to one or several department(s) to only be able to export payroll data for the department(s) they manage, you would need to reach out to our Support team who will help you with your request.
Why isn’t it possible for my HR admin to select deactivated employees when they export a payroll report?
Why isn’t it possible for my HR admin to select deactivated employees when they export a payroll report?
If your HR admin can’t select deactivated employees when they export a payroll report, it may be because they only have access to certain departments. When employees are deactivated, they lose their connection to a department.
See related articles:
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