Processing Payroll

Processing payroll is straightforward with uAttend. Whether you need help running payroll with uAttend for the first time, or just need a refresher, this step-by-step guide walks you through how to process payroll, from reviewing employee hours to confirming and submitting your pay run with confidence. 

With just a few clicks, you can review hours, verify wages, and issue payments to your team. Only the payroll administrator can run payroll in uAttend; this includes reviewing expenses, taxes, and deductions as well as issuing payments.

The information in this article applies to accounts using uAttend Payroll. If you are looking to export time and attendance details for a 3rd party payroll provider, please see our Export Preferences and Pay Period Report articles.

Before You Start

• Ensure all employees are onboarded. All employees should be onboarded before running a payroll. Anyone who is not onboarded will not be paid as a part of the run, even if they have time on their timecard for that pay period. 
• No changes to expense codes or settings can be made once a pay run has been started. You must wait until you have finished processing the pay run to make any edits or delete the pay run and begin a new one after making the needed edits.
• If your account uses expenses, edits made to expenses on a timecard will update once the standard pay run resumes. To collect and organize receipts from your team, it's good practice to develop a standardized form that includes a field for images your staff can use to submit receipts to you.
• All timecard edits must be completed before processing payroll.
• Pay runs can be unlocked, deleted, or resumed from the payroll widget if needed.

Steps to Process Payroll

To begin processing payroll, you can start a standard pay run from:

• The Payroll tab
• The Timecard tab
• The Pay Period Report 

This article will walk through how to begin the process from the Payroll tab.

Step 1: Start a New Pay Run

1. Log in to the uAttend cloud portal as the payroll administrator.
2. Navigate to the Payroll tab.
3. Select the pay period at the top of the Payroll widget.
4. Click Process Payroll.

Note: If your check date is unavailable

If your selected check date is too soon to meet processing timelines, you’ll be prompted to choose one of the following:

• Use the next available check date for direct deposit, or
• Keep the original check date and print paper checks

Printing paper checks requires your own check stock.

Step 2: Review and Update Timecard Hours

Timecard hours and overtime calculations are pulled directly from hourly employee timecards. These values cannot be edited during payroll processing. If changes are needed, exit the pay run and update the employee’s timecard before restarting payroll.

1. Deselect any employees you do not want to include in the pay run.
2. Edit cash and card tips (if enabled) and press Tab on your keyboard to update the fields.
3. Once everything looks good, click Next to move on to reviewing Salary Hours.

Step 3: Review Salary Employee Hours

Salary hours are calculated by converting the employee’s annual salary to an hourly rate based on a 40‑hour workweek and the selected pay period.

If you adjust hours, payroll recalculates pay using this hourly rate. Press Tab after making changes to update the totals.

1. Deselect any salary employees you do not want to include in the pay run. 
2. Adjust benefit hours (sick, vacation, holiday, and other) and regular hours as needed. Press Tab after editing any fields. 
3. Once everything looks good, click Next to move on to reviewing Additional Earnings.

When adding or adjusting benefit hours (holiday, vacation, sick, other), regular hours will adjust accordingly to keep the total hours consistent. If regular hours are adjusted after the benefit hours are adjusted, the total hours will adjust.

Step 4: Review Additional Earnings and Expenses 

1. Click the Filter Pay Codes dropdown to select or deselect specific pay codes. Click Apply to apply any changes. 
2. Select any employees you want to reimburse.
3. Review and update any reimbursements. Press Tab to confirm changes.
4. Once everything looks good, click Next to calculate your payroll details.

Please note, once you click Next you cannot go back to edit or update employee timecards. If you're not quite ready or need to update/adjust information, click Save and Exit to save and come back later. 

When you continue past this step, payroll calculations begin.

This process may take 30 seconds to a few minutes, depending on company size and payroll complexity.

Step 5: Final Review Before Submitting Payroll

On the Review screen, payroll calculations are complete, but payroll has not been submitted yet. You can:

• Review the pay period and check date.
• Review the Cash Required for the pay run. Please note, this amount must be available the day you process.
• Verify employee totals, such as total hours, gross pay, taxes, deductions, etc.
• Adjust the Pay Method as needed per employee.
• Download the Payroll Register using the download link on the top right for a breakdown of taxes and details per person. 

If you notice any errors or need to make changes to earlier steps (timecards, salary hours, earnings),  

Save and Exit vs Submit

• Back returns to previous screens, allowing you to make updates on any of the previous screens.
• Save and Exit lets you pause payroll and return later. When you resume, you’ll continue exactly where you left off.
• Submit finalizes payroll and begins processing. Once submitted, the pay run cannot be edited. Submit payroll by 5:30 PM Eastern Time at least 3 business days before the check date for direct deposit.

If you need to make changes, select Save and Exit and delete the pay run. Then, start over after you've made any needed corrections.

Step 6: Approve and Process the Pay Run

Confirm the funds necessary for the pay run and click Confirm to finalize and process payroll.

Once processed, you will see a confirmation screen displaying: 

• Pay Period and check date
• The total cash required for payroll 
• Payroll Reports download link
• Checks/Paystubs download link

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I need to pay employees sooner than the scheduled check date?

See our article on Expedited Payroll Processing for faster check dates.

Can I process payroll if my check date has passed?

Yes. If you are trying to process payroll after your check date has passed, at the start of the payroll process you will be presented with the option to either use the next available check date for direct deposits or print paper checks. 

What do I do if an employee is not onboarded? Can I still process payroll?

If any employees have not completed their onboarding, they will not be included in the pay run. Check out our article on Employee Self-Onboarding for uAttend Payroll. You can Cancel and complete the employee onboarding before processing payroll or Continue and process a separate special pay run for the employee after they are onboarded. 

How will I know if a payroll was processed successfully?

After confirming, you will see a "Payroll Processed" screen and download options. Additionally, the payroll report and check/paystubs can be found in your Company Documents.

How are paper checks issued?

If you are issuing paper checks, download and print checks using check stock. You can purchase check stock at any major office supply store. uAttend will not mail out paper checks.

Where can I find checks and reports?

After payroll is processed, checks, paystubs, and payroll reports are automatically generated and available to download. You can also access these files anytime from Company Documents.