We’ve introduced a new pay run experience that’s more intuitive and responsive than ever before, and because it’s built on the same payroll engine you already depend on with OnPay, you won’t sacrifice any of the tools you rely on. In fact, we’ve even added on-the-fly cost details that account for every penny as you go. 

 

Why upgrade?

Improved usability

Now you can pay everyone in even fewer steps. Tab through workers to quickly review everyone on your payroll. View a breakdown of check-by-check details to see each worker’s hours and wages with one click, and even add or reorder pay items to see things your way.

 

Smarter alerts

If you make a mistake entering pay data, we’ve got your back. Improved warnings spot problems before they happen, like workers with missing or incomplete tax forms, or just if someone’s check looks inconsistent with their payroll history.

 

Expandable pay run review

Get a bird’s-eye view of your payroll with expandable columns that give itemized breakdowns of wages, taxes, and more. Summaries for company costs, funds withheld from employee checks, and COVID tax credits show you where every dollar is going.

 

We’re excited to see how our new pay run saves you time, so you can get even more done!

 

What we’ll cover

• Ways to get started
• Selecting an upcoming pay run (Multiple pay schedules)
• Payrun settings and Special pay runs
• Import hours (through integration)
• Starting check #, filter, search, and run totals
• Paying by direct deposit vs paper check
• Selecting employees
• Entering hours and wages
• Override rates and supplemental pay items
• Applying override rates
• Add bonuses, commissions, and tips
• Pay types and recurring amounts
• Holding and overriding voluntary deductions and withholdings
• Reviewing, Submitting, and Cancelling the pay run

 

Ways to get started

You can see recent runs, and start your next scheduled run right from your dashboard.

 

You can also get started in the Payroll menu.

 

Selecting an upcoming pay run (if applicable)

If you have multiple schedules, or if the run has already been processed, you'll see an extra step here called "Select an Upcoming Pay Run".

Need help with multiple schedules, or selecting an upcoming run?

Part 1) Hours

You can think of Hours as being divided into three sections:

1. Payrun settings and progress bar
2. Starting check #, filter, search, run totals, and Import Hours (through integration)
3. Selecting workers, and entering hours and wages

 

When running payroll, you'll generally breeze through the first two sections before approving hours, but we'll cover them thoroughly. 

 

Payrun settings and progress bar 

Information about this run's pay period, check date, and pay schedule appear in the upper right. This is especially helpful for off-cycle, or special pay runs. What's a special pay run? We'll cover that next.

 

Special pay runs

When processing a special pay run, you may need to make changes* to the Pay Run Settings. This could include:

• Pay schedule selection
• Pay period adjustment
• Check date adjustment
• Direct deposit hold
• Employee deductions hold

 

 

Why would I need a special pay run?

 

Special pay run settings

In this panel, you're able to make changes  in the following categories:

• Pay Schedule
• Pay period and check date
• Additional options

 

Pay Schedule

You can browse your existing pay schedules.

 

Pay period and check date

Adjust the pay period and/or check date as needed.*

*This will not affect the pay schedule, or how taxes are calculated.

 

Additional options

If you wish to pay employees by paper check, but they are enrolled in direct deposit, then you'll want to avoid automatically paying those employees by direct deposit. You can also hold all voluntary deductions for this pay run (involuntary deductions, such as garnishments or levies cannot be avoided). These holds can be helpful for bonuses or other payments that should not include deductions, or that you wish to issue in person instead of by direct deposit.

 

Import hours (through integration)

In OnPay, it's easy to quickly add employee hours on the fly, but if you've integrated time tracking software, a button with your time tracking software's logo will appear above your run totals. Use this to import employee timesheets for the pay period. 

 

Starting check #, filter, search, and run totals

If you've written paychecks since the last pay run, whether they be to contractors, vendors, or employees, you can adjust the Starting Check # accordingly for accurate accounting in your company's ledger.

 

Filter Location to run payroll for (or to just select a few employees from) a single work location.

 

You can also search employees by name to include or exclude them them in this run.

 

Run totals will update as you select employees and enter their hours and/or update wages, which we'll cover after direct deposit and paper checks.

 

Direct deposit vs paper check

 

Selecting workers

Uncheck or check the box by any worker name to select which workers are to be included in this pay run. Pay run totals automatically update as you select workers.

 

In the below example, because only Fabian is selected, you see that it says, "Worker (1 of 3 selected)" at the top of the list of workers, and that the run totals in the upper right confirm that only one worker is included in this run. 

 

You can deselect all, to then select only a few workers from a long list.

Tip: If only some workers are to be excluded from a run, you can use name search to find and deselect those employees.

 

Enter hours and wages

Once all workers for this run are selected, you can begin entering their hours. If you use a time-tracking software integration, you can import timesheets. You can also import a CSV file with employee hours. However you choose to enter hours, it's always recommended to double-check worker hours before running payroll.

 

Double-check all imported hours

If you've imported worker hours, and you have no additional pay items to add (like commissions or tips), you can click Next. However, we ALWAYS RECOMMEND you take a few minutes to double-check everyone's hours and pay before processing payroll, even for salary employees, to identify any errors in hours, or unwanted supplemental pay items and overrides.

Skip to Part 2) Review→

 

Override rates and supplemental pay items

In the below example, Katy's wages stand out as unusually high — ten times that of everyone else. To see why, you'll need to edit wages (covered next).

 

Edit wages

Click the pencil () to adjust hours, adjust salary (not recommended), or add and edit other pay items for an employee.

 

Editing wages

Wages for the pay period can be edited for each employee. You can quickly jump to the next (or previous) employee, to edit everyone's wages with fewer clicks.

 

When editing wages, you can:

• Apply override rates
• Preview check
• Add bonuses, commissions, and tips

 

Apply override rates

 

Click the entered rate to change it, or the (X) to cancel it. This change will apply to this and all future runs. This is just one of the ways pay can be added to an employee's paycheck.

 

Instead of the purple override rate, you'll now see the employee's regular salary in blue.

 

Preview check

Click Preview Check to see all wages, withholding taxes, employer taxes, and deductions for an employee.

 

You can quickly browse to the next or previous employee's check preview to keep editing with fewer clicks, or click ^◂Return to go back to "Enter hours and wages".

 

Add bonuses, commissions, and tips

Click Add/Order Pay Rows to add new bonus, commission, or other supplemental pay items. 

 

Click Add Row.

 

Click Choose Pay Item, and select the pay item you'd like to add. Unless you enter a recurring amount (covered next) this will not add any pay to this (or any) pay run. Only the pay item (pay type) will be added, and only for this employee (we'll cover how to add an amount next).

 

 

Click Done when finished adding rows. You may add as many as you need.

 

Pay types and recurring amounts

When adding a pay type to an employee's payroll, the "Recurring Amount" is optional. "Recurring Amount" allows you to decide whether this pay type is always for the same amount (like some commission payments or bonuses), or for a varying amount to be entered on-the-fly, while processing payroll (like tips, advances, or reimbursements). 

 

Adding a pay type with no recurring amount

In the below example, we'll add a bonus pay item with no recurring amount. This pay type will allow bonus pay to be added for this or any other pay run for this employee. During any pay cycle, an amount can be entered here, and it will apply only to that pay run. If this field is left blank, no supplemental amount is paid.

 

Adding a bonus with a recurring amount

This example is the same as before, only this time, a recurring amount is entered. This pay type will allow a fixed amount of supplemental pay to be toggled "on" and "off", and it will apply only to that pay run. 

 

Holding and overriding deductions and withholdings

Open More to hold or override active voluntary deductions (involuntary deductions, such as garnishments or levies cannot be held or overridden). You can also override, add, or make exempt from Federal and State taxes and withholdings. 

Tip: You can also add to the paycheck memo line, which can be helpful for adding a personal message when paying a bonus or gift by printed check.

 

After entering hours and wages, It's time to review this payroll.

Click Next.

 

Part 2) Reviewing payroll

Always review a payroll run before approving it, checking:

1. Company costs and employee withholdings
2. All wages, deductions, withholdings, and taxes itemized by employee and type
3. Errors and warnings
4. Total payroll cost, debit, and direct deposit details

 

Company costs and employee withholdings

Get a detailed overview of all company costs and employee withholdings.

 

All wages, deductions, withholdings, and taxes itemized by employee and type

The pay run report shows all hours and wages by worker. Click column headers to get a closer look at each category. You can also filter by employee name.

 

Errors and warnings

Errors and warnings are triggered automatically based on conditional rules, like if an employee's check is significantly different than usual, or if state required tax information is missing

 

Pay run errors

You will not be able to submit payroll when pay run errors are present. For instance, if an employee's paycheck is for a negative amount, this would need to be corrected before submitting payroll by editing the worker's wages, and making sure all hours (or salaries) have been entered.

 

Warnings

OnPay will also warn you if we see anything unusual about this pay run.

 

Unlike errors, you can still submit payroll when warnings are present. You can even mute warnings, but that doesn't mean they're not very important. 

With more and more employees living or working across state lines, many employers are surprised to learn that they have multi-state tax obligations. Read all warnings carefully before submitting payroll.

 

Total payroll cost, debit, and direct deposit details 

At the bottom of the report are totals for your payroll cost, the payroll amount and debit date, and the direct deposit amount and date.

 

Submitting payroll

After a thorough review of the pay run, click Submit Payroll.

 

Step 3) Confirmation

After you've submitted payroll, you can print paper checks (for any workers who are not paid by direct deposit), view reports, or return to the dashboard.

Note: Paychecks for employees who've enrolled in direct deposit will not print, but you can always view and print all checks from your dashboard.

 

Cancelling the pay run

You can void a run right after you've submitted it, buy clicking "Need to void a pay run?" Pay runs can also be deleted in the dashboard up to 11:30 pm EST on the day before payroll funds have been drafted from your company bank account.

 

For more general information on how the payroll process works, check out our resource center.

 

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