Payroll processing
Manual payroll processing is a relic of the past. Today, businesses demand efficient, accurate, and automated solutions. Workpay offers a comprehensive payroll system designed to simplify your HR processes.
With your preconfigured settings as guided here, you're ready to start optimizing your payroll. Easily manage employee salary rates, establish allowances and deductions, and effortlessly generate payrolls. Experience the power of automation and focus on what truly matters – growing your business.
To run payroll successfully, here are some tips that outline the process:
- Review Payroll Settings: Verify and adjust payroll settings to ensure accuracy and compliance as guided here.
- Prepare Employee Data: Gather and update employee information, including allowances, deductions, and benefits.
- Generate Payroll: The system automatically calculates and displays payroll data based on the prepared information.
- Review and Verify: Carefully examine the generated payroll data for accuracy and make any necessary adjustments.
- Reprocess Payroll: If changes are made, click on the Reprocess button to re-run the payroll calculations to reflect the updated information.
- Approve Payroll: Authorize the release of payments to employees.
- Pay Employees: Initiate the payment process, either through direct deposit or other methods.
- Generate Reports: Access various payroll reports as needed for analysis or compliance purposes.
a. Salary Rates:
To manage employee salary rates, log in to your account and navigate to Payroll > Salary Rates.
The screen below will be displayed:
Salary Rates allows you to manage employee salaries. You can view individual employee salaries and also review those that need to be reviewed.
You can view salary rates for different employee types and employees in different countries(where the company has multiple entities)
Note: Employee types are created and managed from the employee module.
To view specific salary rates, you can use the highlighted filters below:
To select a specific country or employee type, use the corresponding dropdown.
The screen below shows salary rates for casual employee type in Kenya after utilizing the filter:
You can also search for the salary rate of a specific employee by typing in their name or employee number on the search bar:
To review salary rates for an employee, click on the Review button corresponding to the employee as shown below:
The screen below will be displayed:
Here, you can edit:
- Salary reference: You can determine whether the salary rate reference is the Basic or consolidated salary
- Payment policy: this dropdown helps you determine whether the employee is paid on employee basis, per project or per product
- Attendance policy: here you determine how the working hours are set for the employee. See more below:
- Effective from: this refers to the date the new salary rate settings take effect on the employee’s payroll.
- Salary currency: refers to the currency in which the employee is to receive their salary
- Basic salary: This is the employee’s base salary without considering allowances and deductions
- Daily rate: This is automatically calculated by the system based on the number of working days in the month.
- Hourly rate: This is determined by the number of hours set and the daily rate. It is also automatically generated.
(Working days are determined by the employer’s policies/ preference)
At the bottom, there are two toggles, where you can set different working hours across the week and also where you can determine whether the daily rate would depend on a specific month.
(It is advised to have this specific toggle on if you wish to maintain the same basic salary across all months. Once the toggle is off, it means that the daily rate will remain constant for all months and therefore change the basic salary on months with more days than others.
Once done reviewing the salary rate for the employee, click on Save Changes to update the information:
Our system also enables you to also review salary rates of multiple employees simultaneously, if you intend for them to have similar salary rates.
These employees have to be in the same entity(Country)
To batch review salary rates, select the specific employees and click on Batch Actions then select Review selected.
The screen below will be displayed:
The process is similar to reviewing individual salary rates.
To review the salary values of the selected employees, turn the highlighted toggle on and proceed.
Note that this means all the selected employees will have the same salary values once this change is saved.
If you intend to have different salary values for different employees, keep the toggle off, and edit the salary values of the employees one at a time.
The other elements can, however, be updated in batch.
Click on Save Changes to update the salary rates. This will update the salary information of all the selected employees.
To Bulk upload salary rates, click on the Upload Salaries button.
The screen below will appear:
- Download template here: This template guides the user on how to input employee salary information and it is ideally downloaded, filled with the the salary rates, then uploaded into the system by clicking on Browse files
- Browse Files section: This enables you to browse for the salary rates file you need to upload.
- Once all the information required is properly input, and the file is uploaded, click on Import. The uploaded file will automatically be added onto the existing employee salary rate information
You can also view the salary history of a specific employee. To view salary history, select View Salary History as shown below:
The screen below will be displayed:
Search for a specific employee name or number on the search bar as shown above and all the salary history information related to the employee will be displayed.
To view salary histories for employees in a specific country or salary histories for a specific month and year, use the filters highlighted below, within the Salary History page:
You can also delete an erroneous salary history record by clicking on the Delete highlighted above
b. Allowances
This submodule allows you to assign allowances to employees based on your company policy. The allowances are automatically consolidated with the basic pay and other aspects involved in computing an employee’s pay.
Let us first go through the allowance settings
To access the allowance settings, navigate to Payroll > Allowances. The screen below will be displayed. Select Allowance settings on the top right of the screen:
The screen below will be displayed, showing existing allowance categories
Here you can view and manage(create, edit and delete) allowance categories.
To view allowances in specific Employment types and country, use the highlighted filters below. Click on the dropdowns and select the specific employment type and/or country.
You can search for existing allowance categories by typing the category name on the search bar highlighted above on the right of the screen.
To create an allowance category, click on the Add Category button.
The screen below will be displayed:
- Name: This refers to the name of the allowance category being created
- Country: Refers to the country in which the allowance will take effect( in the case where a company has different entities)
- Employment type: this refers to the employment type in which the allowance will be applicable
- Taxation: Here we indicate whether an allowance is taxable, partially taxable or tax exempted
- Value type refers to whether the allowance is a specific amount or a percentage of the basic pay.
Note:
When the allowance is marked as a reimbursement, (on the highlighted check box above) it can only be a cash type allowance. It cannot be non cash.
To edit an existing allowance, click on the vertical ellipses on the corresponding allowance category and select Edit
The screen below will be displayed:
Make the edits and click on Submit. This updates the allowance category information and replaces the information that existed prior to the edit.
To delete an existing category, click on the vertical ellipses on the corresponding allowance category and select Delete
The screen below will be displayed:
Click on Submit to confirm your deletion action
With the allowance settings in place, we can proceed to the rest of the allowances feature.
To view allowances for different employees, navigate to Payroll > Allowances. Allowances for different employees will be displayed as shown below
To view allowances specific to full time employees or contractors, click on either of the highlighted tabs at the top of the screen as shown above.
You can also see allowances of employees specific to a country, frequency of payment and month/ year.
The screen below shows allowance information for full time employees in Kenya who are paid on a bi- weekly basis for the month of July 2024
To edit different types of allowances for an employee, click on the edit icon under the specific allowance category to be edited, as shown below:
The screen above indicates that the specific allowance being edited is an employee’s meal allowance.
Once you click on the edit icon, the screen below will be displayed:
Edit the details you need to edit and click on Save to update the allowance data
You can also search for allowances related to a specific employee through the search bar highlighted below:
You can key in the employee’s name or employee number.
c. Deductions
This submodule allows you to assign deductions to employees based on your company policy and statutory policies in the country. The deductions are automatically consolidated with the basic pay and other aspects involved in computing an employee’s pay.
Let us first go through the deduction settings
To access the deduction settings, navigate to Payroll > Deductions. The screen below will be displayed. Select Deduction settings on the top right of the screen:
The screen below will be displayed, showing existing deduction categories
Here you can view and manage(create, edit and delete) deduction categories.
To view deduction categories in specific Employment types and country, use the highlighted filters below. Click on the dropdowns and select the specific employment type and/or country.
You can search for existing deduction categories by typing the category name on the search bar highlighted above on the right of the screen.
To create a deduction category, click on the Add Category button.
The screen below will be displayed:
- Name: This refers to the name of the deduction category being created
- Country: Refers to the country in which the deduction will take effect( in the case where a company has different entities)
- Employment type: this refers to the employment type in which the deduction will be applicable
- Tax effect: Here we indicate whether the deduction takes effect before or after taxation
- Value type refers to whether the deduction is a specific amount or a percentage of the basic pay.
To edit an existing deduction category, click on the vertical ellipses on the corresponding deduction category and select Edit
The screen below will be displayed:
Make the edits and click on Submit. This updates the deduction category information and replaces the information that existed prior to the edit.
To delete an existing category, click on the vertical ellipses on the corresponding allowance category and select Delete
The screen below will be displayed:
Click on Submit to confirm your deletion action
With the deduction settings in place, we can proceed to the rest of the deductions feature.
To view deductions for different employees, navigate to Payroll > Deductions. Deductions for different employees will be displayed as shown below
To view deductions specific to full time employees or contractors, click on either of the highlighted tabs at the top of the screen as shown above.
You can also see deductions of employees specific to a country, frequency of payment and month/ year.
The screen below shows deduction information for full time employees in Kenya who are paid on a weekly basis for the month of August 2024 (Week 1)
To edit different types of deductions for an employee, click on the edit icon under the specific deduction category to be edited, as shown below:
The screen above indicates that the specific deduction being edited is an employee’s absence pay
Once you click on the edit icon, the screen below will be displayed:
Edit the details you need to edit and click on Save to update the allowance data
You can also search for deductions related to a specific employee through the search bar highlighted below:
You can key in the employee’s name or employee number.
d. Payroll data
Payroll data contains all the allowances, deductions and benefits information of employees.. This is computed together with the basic salary and used to run payroll.
To view Payroll data, navigate to Payroll > Run Payroll. The screen below is displayed:
Select View Payroll Data as highlighted above:
The screen below is displayed:
To view payroll data specific to full time employees or contractors, click on either of the highlighted tabs at the top of the screen as shown above.
You can also see payroll data of employees specific to a country, frequency of payment and month/ year. There is a provision to select employees from the dropdown.
The screen below shows payroll data for full time employees in Kenya who are paid on a monthly basis for the month of August 2024
You can also search for payroll data related to a specific employee through the search bar highlighted below:
You can key in the employee’s name or employee number.
In cases where you have employee payroll data outside the system, you can bulk import the data. To do a bulk import, click on Bulk import on the top right of the screen:
The screen below will be displayed:
Fill in the information required:
Here you get to input the following information:
- Effective month/ year: this refers to the month and year where the imported payroll data will take effect/ be run as part of the payroll.
- Employment type: this refers to whether the employee(s) is full time or a contractor
- Country: refers to where the employees are stationed
- Browse Files section: This enables you to browse for the payroll data file you need to upload
- Generate template: This template guides the user on how to input employee payroll data and it is ideally downloaded, filled with the payroll data, then uploaded into the system by clicking on Browse files
- Once all the information required is properly input, and the file is uploaded, click on Save. The uploaded file will automatically be added onto the existing payroll data.
To View initiated payroll payments click on View Initiated payments as shown below:
This will redirect you to the payroll payments page shown below:
The list displayed above is of pending payroll payments that need to be made.
To queue a payroll report for export, use the highlighted filters to specify the details of your payroll report, then select Queue for Export
The screen below will be displayed:
Click on Export to confirm your action. This will have the specific report you have requested prepared and readied for download.
Note: If you click on the highlighted checkbox, the salary values specified will be rounded off to the nearest whole number in the case where there are decimals
To view the reports queued for export, click on View queued reports as displayed below:
The screen below will be displayed:
Only the payroll reports with the status Completed can be downloaded.
To download a payroll report, click on the vertical ellipses and select more specifics of the report being downloaded.
To access previous payrolls, click on Go to previous payrolls
This enables you to access and action payrolls from the previous year and beyond that (if they exist in the Workpay system)
Different actions can be done on a specific record. Click on the vertical ellipses corresponding to the record. The screen below will be displayed:
To see more information on a specific period’s payroll click on the + sign on the record:
The screen below will be displayed:
e. Running payroll
Running a payroll entails calculating employee earnings, deducting taxes and other contributions, and distributing the net pay. This process involves gathering employee data, calculating wages and salaries, determining deductions, and finally, disbursing the remaining amount to employees. Additionally, generating comprehensive reports is a crucial component of payroll management.
Accurate and timely payroll processing is essential for maintaining employee satisfaction, ensuring legal compliance, and supporting effective financial management.
Running your payroll on Workpay is very simple and straightforward. Our payroll feature facilitates the running of payrolls for different countries, putting into consideration the policies governing allowances, deductions and benefits in the different countries.
You can view payroll information for different countries (if you have entities in different countries) depending on the specifics that you would like to view. This is enabled by the filter option:
To view specific payroll information, use the filters highlighted below:
You can choose to view and action payrolls of a specific country, payment frequency, month/ year, payroll status, branches, One third rule, project and departments
The example below shows payroll information for the contractor type of employees in Kenya who are paid monthly for the month of July 2024, and are pending payment. They are also in the head office branch, meet the one third rule, and are in the client installation project.
The above filters have been applied for the payroll information below to be displayed.
Note: You can use all filters if you need to or just some of them, depending on the payroll information you would like to view.
You can also search for a specific employee’s payroll information by searching using the employee name or employee number:
The screen below shows payroll information for a specific employee:
Scroll towards the right to see all the payroll information pertaining to the employee, as shown below:
Here you can also see the status of the payroll, whether it has been paid and also whether it has been approved or not (highlighted above).
There also are the vertical ellipses that facilitate further action on the payroll information. When you click on the vertical ellipses (three dots), you have the options to view the payslip, convert to draft, mark as paid or pay.
The first process in running a payroll involves verifying the payroll data, which can be done by accessing the payroll information as we have seen above.
This information is automatically generated by the system every payroll period (Monthly, bi-weekly, weekly) based on the employee reimbursement information in the system.
Once the payroll data is verified, the admin proceeds to approve the payroll and then pays.
Approving a payroll
Approving a payroll involves verifying the accuracy of calculated wages, deductions, and net pay before authorizing the release of funds to employees.
Approving a payroll is crucial to prevent errors, maintain financial control, and ensure legal compliance.
You can approve payroll for one employee and also approve in batch for a number of employees.
To approve an employee’s payroll, navigate to Payroll > Run Payroll and search for the employee’s name. Specify the country and type of employee (Full time or contractor) to make the search easier.
Scroll all the way to the right to approve, after reviewing the employee’s payroll information, as shown below. You should be able to see the payroll status once you have scrolled to the very end.
Click on the vertical ellipses (three dots)of the corresponding payroll entry as indicated above.
The screen below will be displayed:
Click on Approve to confirm your action.
Once an entry has been approved, the status of the payroll changes to ‘Approved’ and you have the options to view the payslip, convert to draft (in case you need to make further changes on the entry), mark as paid, in the case where a payment has been made offline, and also to pay through the system.
To initiate a payment through the system, select Pay.
The screen below will be displayed:
Confirm your action by clicking on Pay.
You will be redirected to the payroll payment screen (shown below) where you will proceed with the payment process.
You can also approve payroll entries in bulk.
To approve bulk entries, navigate to Payroll > Run Payroll
Select the entries you would like to approve by clicking on the corresponding checkboxes as shown below, then select Approve as highlighted below:
You are given the option to approve the specific selected payroll entries or to approve all the entries in that month’s payroll. If you select the second option, this means that the payroll entries that you had not initially selected will be approved as well.
Once you have clicked on approve, the screen below will be displayed for you to confirm your action:
The status of the selected entries will change to Approved
Note:
- Approving a payroll is the last action that happens before the payment of the payroll.
- Once a payroll is approved, changes made to it afterwards will not reflect in that particular month’s payroll.
- Approved payroll entries make up the approved payroll reports because only approved payrolls will be fetched as reports.
- When payrolls are approved, the following items are also updated
- The status of existing loan amortizations are updated from pending to paid and loan balance is reduced.
- The status of existing paid leaves are updated from pending to complete
- Existing EWA and salary advances are statuses are also updated( this is not visible on the interface but is updated in the background)
Converting Payroll to draft:
For you to effect change on a payroll entry, you have to convert the payroll to draft, put in the changes then reprocess the payroll.
To convert a payroll entry to draft, navigate to Payroll > Run Payroll and search for the employee’s name. Specify the country and type of employee (Full time or contractor) to make the search easier.
Scroll all the way to the right to convert the entry to draft, after reviewing the employee’s payroll information, as shown below. You should be able to see the payroll status once you have scrolled to the very end.
Click on the vertical ellipses (three dots)of the corresponding payroll entry as indicated above, and select convert to draft
The screen below will be displayed:
Click on Convert to confirm your action.
Converting to draft, is essentially canceling a payroll and this means the payroll status is updated from approved to draft. The statuses of loan amortizations, paid leaves , EWA and salary advances are also updated back to the status they were BEFORE the payroll was approved.
You can use the quick actions highlighted below to mark a payroll as paid or unmark a payroll as paid
Simply select the entry you would like to mark as paid or unpaid and select the action.
f. Payslips
Payslips are detailed documents provided to employees outlining their earnings and deductions for a specific pay period. They usually include gross pay, deductions such as taxes and benefits, and the resulting net pay
Payslips serve as official records of earnings, deductions, and net pay. They are crucial for employees to understand their income, track deductions, and verify the accuracy of their pay.
Viewing FT and Contractor Payslips
To view Full Time and Contractor payslips, navigate to Payroll > Payslips. The screen below will be displayed:
Specify the type of employee on the top section by indicating whether they are a full time employee or contractor
Proceed to indicate the month/year of the payslips you would like to view by clicking on the calendar icon. The screen below will be displayed:
Select the period and proceed.
Also indicate the country by selecting the country on the dropdown as shown below:
Employee payslips that meet the criteria will be displayed.
At this point you can search for the specific payslip you would like to view by entering the employee’s name or employee number on the search bar as below:
To view the employee’s payslip,scroll to the far right and click on the vertical ellipses, then select the view option as highlighted above.
The payslip will be displayed as shown below, with an option to Download the payslip
You can also do some bulk actions on the payslips: You can email all employees their payslips, and you can also download all employee payslips in bulk.
To email all employees their payslips, select the Email Employees Payslips option highlighted below:
The screen below is displayed, proceed to confirm your action by selecting Submit
All employees will have their payslips emailed to them, on the email addresses registered in the system.
To download all the employee payslips, select Download All Payslips
The screen below is displayed. Confirm your action by selecting Submit
All the payslips will be downloaded. This could come in handy where the Admin is the only one with access to the system and they need to share the payslips with each employee.
Access historical payslips( Starting from the previous year)
You can also access payslips from the previous year and beyond, given that they were generated through the Workpay system.
To access them select the Go To Previous Payslips option on the top right of the screen as shown below:
The screen below will be displayed:
Specify the month and year of the payslips you would like to view
On the search bar, you can search for the specific payslip you would like to view. Search by employee name or employee number.
Once you have accessed the payslip record, click on the vertical ellipses as highlighted above and select to view, email or download the payslip.
To go back to current payslips, select Go To Current Payslips (top right corner of screen)
g. P9 forms
A P9 form is a tax certificate issued by an employer to an employee in Kenya. It summarizes the employee's earnings, deductions, and tax charged for the entire tax year.
P9 forms are crucial for Kenyan taxpayers as they are used to file annual income tax returns with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). The information contained in the P9 form helps individuals calculate their tax liability, claim reliefs, and determine if they are eligible for a tax refund. It's essential for accurate tax compliance and avoiding penalties.
Accessing P9 forms:
To access P9 forms, navigate to Payroll >P9 forms. The screen below will be displayed:
Select the year on the dropdown indicated above
To search for a specific P9 form, enter the name of the employee/ employee number on the search bar as shown below:
Once you have identified the P9 form, click on the corresponding vertical ellipses as highlighted above, and choose the option to Email employee their P9 form, Email yourself or download the form.
Employee side
Our employee portal provides employees with self-service access to payroll-related information. A core feature is the ability for employees to view their payslips, which detail their earnings, deductions, and net pay for each pay period.
Additionally, the portal allows employees to access their P9 forms, essential documents for tax filing purposes. This self-service approach empowers employees to independently manage their payroll information
Viewing Payslips
To view your payslip, log in to the system and navigate to Payslips as shown below:
Specify the period (month/year) of payslip you would like to access using the Month/ year filter as shown below. Example below shows a June 2024 Payslip record:
Click on the calendar icon shown and select the month you would like to view data for.
The calendar below will be displayed, proceed to select the month:
The payslip for the previous month will be displayed as shown below:
You can scroll all the way to the right as you look through the different components of the payslip and at the very end your net pay is indicated.
To further action the payslip, click on the vertical ellipses highlighted above. You will have the option to view or email the payslip.
To view the payslip, select the view option. The payslip will be displayed as shown below:
At the bottom right corner, there is an option to download the payslip.
To email the payslip to yourself, select the email option. The screen below will be displayed:
Click on Submit to confirm your action. The email will then be sent to your email address shortly.
You can also access your payslips from the year before and beyond, if they were done on Workpay.
To do this, click on Go To Previous Payslips
The screen below will be displayed:
Here you can click on the vertical ellipses to either view or download the payslip you need.
To navigate back to current payslips, click on Go To Current Payslips
Viewing P9 forms
P9 forms are very important to employees in Kenya as they use them in confirming and filing their returns annually.
To access your P9 form navigate to P9 Forms as shown below:
You can choose the year through the Year dropdown on the top left side of the screen, this gives you access to P9 forms that were generated for other years, as long as the payroll was run on Workpay.
You can also download or email yourself a P9 form by clicking on the vertical ellipses highlighted on the right end of the screen.
The information in the P9 forms is accurate and essential in your tax compliance process as your file your returns.