Set Up a New Person for uAttend Payroll

If you are using uAttend Payroll and have hired someone new, there are a few required steps to ensure they are set up correctly and paid on time. 

This article walks through the full process, including:

• Adding the person to your uAttend account 
• Starting payroll onboarding
• Tracking onboarding progress
• Completing the final payroll setup steps

This article only applies to accounts that are already using uAttend Payroll. If your account has not yet been onboarded for payroll, complete that process first.

See Getting Started with uAttend Payroll for more information.

Step 1: Determine the Profile Type

Before you can pay someone through uAttend Payroll, the person must have an active profile in your uAttend account. Start by opening the People tab, filtering to include Active and Archived profiles, and searching for the person. 

If the person does not have a profile in your uAttend account, you must add them to the account.

When adding a new person, choose the profile type based on their account-level permissions. The profile type determines both account-level permissions and how payroll and time tracking work.

Administrators & Supervisors

• Do not count toward your plan’s active employee limit
• Are always salaried
• Cannot clock in or use timecards
• Administrators have full access to all employees, departments, and account-level settings, including billing
• Supervisors only have access to the employees and departments within their responsible departments 

For more detail, see Setting Up Salaried Employees for uAttend Payroll.

Employees

• Can be hourly or salaried
• Count toward your plan's active employee limit
• Can punch and track time using timecards

When a Person Needs More than One Profile

A supervisor or administrator profile can be used for payroll processing if the person is paid a salary and does not need to use timecards. 

If someone needs to manage people and track time or be paid hourly, you must create two profiles for the same person: 

• One supervisor/administrator profile
• One employee profile. 

If a person needs both an employee profile and supervisor or administrator access, only one profile should be set up for payroll - the Employee profile.

Each profile must have a unique first and last name combination. If the person has or will have multiple profiles (such as a supervisor profile for management and an employee profile for time tracking), the two profiles cannot have the same name. The profile used to process payroll should use the employee’s legal name.

Example:

	First Name	Last Name	Username	Email
Employee Profile	Mary	Smith	MSmith	[e-mail]
Supervisor Profile	Super Mary	Smith	SupMSmith	[e-mail]

Avoiding Duplicate Profiles

If the person previously worked for you or was added by another admin or supervisor, they may already have a profile. Duplicate profiles can cause payroll and reporting issues.

Before adding a new person, check all profiles - including archived profiles - in the People tab to confirm they do not already exist.

Step 2: Add the Person to uAttend 

If the person is not in the account, use the Add Person wizard to create their profile.

During this process, you will:

• Select whether to enable payment through uAttend Payroll
• Choose whether the person will self‑onboard for payroll 
• Enter the person's pay rate 
• Select their exemption status 

For step-by-step instructions, see:

• Add a New Employee
• Add a New Supervisor
• Add a New Administrator

Selecting How Payroll Onboarding Will Be Completed

When adding the person to your account, select the best payroll onboarding method for your team. Once the profile is added to the account, onboarding follows the option you selected.

Employee Self-Onboarding (Most Common)

If you selected that the employee will self-onboard, the employee must have an email address on file to self‑onboard. uAttend sends the employee a secure email with a link to enter the necessary information.

During self‑onboarding, the employee enters:

• Personal details such as their address
• Federal and state tax information
• Direct deposit details or check preference

Employee self‑onboarding usually takes 10–20 minutes to complete after the onboarding email is received.

For more details on what employees see and complete, refer to Employee Self‑Onboarding for uAttend Payroll.

Manual Onboarding (Admin-Completed)

If you selected No when asked “Will this person self‑onboard for payroll?”, you (as the payroll admin) will complete the onboarding process on the employee’s behalf using the employee setup form.

Step 3: Send the Self-Onboarding Email or Complete the Employee Setup Form

If the employee is self-boarding:

After the person is added, you can send the onboarding email immediately using the Send Now button. If you choose Send Later, the email can be sent from:

• The Payroll Onboarding Status widget in the Payroll tab, or
• The employee's profile in the People tab

If you will be manually onboarding:

After adding the person to your uAttend account, complete the employee setup form you received when first setting up payroll. You must include all necessary details, such as the employee's address and tax details. 

If you don’t have access to the employee setup form, reach out to our support team for assistance.

Step 4: Monitor Payroll Onboarding Status

As employees complete onboarding, you can track their progress from the Payroll Onboarding Status widget on your payroll dashboard.

The widget shows whether:

• The payroll self-onboarding email has been sent to the employee 
• Onboarding is in progress
• Onboarding has not been started 

Select an employee’s name to open their profile and take action if needed. Once all employees are fully onboarded, the widget automatically disappears from the Payroll tab.

See: Track Employee Payroll Onboarding Status with the Onboarding Widget

Step 5: Final Review

Once the employee finishes onboarding, allow up to three business days for uAttend to fully finalize the employee’s setup. Once they are ready to process through payroll, they will no longer appear in the Payroll Onboarding Status widget. 

Review their profile before running payroll. From the Job and Pay section of their profile, confirm their tax information and any deductions, such as benefits or garnishments, are set up correctly.

Before processing payroll, verify:

• Job and pay details are correct
• Direct deposit or check preference is accurate
• The employee appears correctly in payroll runs

Estimated Timeline for Payroll Setup

The timeline below shows how long each step typically takes from start to finish.

Step	Typical Time
Add person & set pay	5-10 minutes
Start onboarding	1-2 minutes
Employee self-onboarding	10-20 minutes
Payroll system processing	Up to 3 business days