For Admins, Managers, and payroll users: Use this article to review staff timesheets, check overtime, and sync approved timesheets to payroll.
Staff members should use the View Your Timesheet article to check their own hours or report an issue.
Open Timesheets
Go to Finance > Timesheets.
Use this page to review staff timesheets before syncing them to Xero Payroll.
On this page, you can:
Search for staff
Select a Pay Calendar
Review a locked Pay period
Check staff hours and overtime
Export timesheets as PDF
Sync selected staff or all staff to Xero
Select the Pay Calendar
Use the Pay Calendar dropdown to choose the pay calendar you want to review.
Example:
Casual Staff Payroll
The selected pay calendar controls which staff and pay periods appear.
Only staff linked to a Xero employee and assigned to the selected pay calendar will be shown.
Select the Pay period
Use the arrows beside Pay period to move between available pay periods.
The pay period is locked to the selected pay calendar to keep finance syncing aligned.
Example:
21 June 2026 → 27 June 2026
The helper text below the pay period shows the timezone being used.
Example:
Showing timesheet pay periods, dates and shifts in Australia/Darwin time. Your local timezone is Asia/Manila.
This means the timesheet dates follow the pay calendar timezone, not necessarily your local timezone.
Review the Xero synced staff notice
A notice appears above the staff table:
Only Xero synced staff are shown
This means the page only lists staff who are linked to a Xero employee in the connected Xero account.
If a staff member is missing, check that they are linked in Staff Mapping and assigned to the selected pay calendar.
Review staff timesheet totals
Review each staff member in the table.
The table shows:
Name
Role
Status
Shifts
Overtime
Paid Leave
AL Penalty
Hours
Total Hours
Check that the totals match the roster before syncing.
Example:
Staff | Role | Shifts | Hours | Total Hours |
Emily Carter | FT | 5 | 39.50h | 39.50h |
Daniel Brooks | Casual | 5 | 48.00h | 48.00h |
If overtime appears, review the expanded timesheet to see which days created overtime.
Expand a staff timesheet
Click the arrow on the right side of a staff row to expand the timesheet.
The expanded view shows the daily breakdown, including:
Date
Day number in the pay period
Ordinary hours
Saturday or Sunday hours
Overtime
Overtime+
Breaks
Daily total
Pay Cycle Total
Use this view to confirm the timesheet is correct before syncing.
Understand overtime
Overtime is calculated based on the staff member’s employment setup, rostered shifts, and pay rules.
For example, if the ordinary weekly threshold is 38 hours, a staff member with 40 hours may show some hours as Overtime.
In the expanded view, overtime appears in red so it is easier to review.
If overtime is not expected, check:
Shift start and finish times
Break duration
Staff role and employment type
Shift pay rate mapping
Total weekly hours
Export the timesheet as PDF
Click Export PDF to download a timesheet report.
You can choose:
Summary PDF, one row per staff member
Detailed PDF, daily breakdown per staff
Use Summary PDF for a quick overview.
Use Detailed PDF when you need to review daily hours, overtime, breaks, and staff-level detail.
Sync selected staff
Tick the checkbox beside the staff member you want to sync.
Click Sync Selected.
Use this option when you only want to sync specific staff members.
This is recommended when testing or when some staff still need corrections.
Sync all staff
Click Sync All to sync every staff member shown for the selected pay calendar and pay period.
Before using Sync All, make sure all staff rows have been reviewed and are ready.
If one staff member has an issue, the sync may be partially completed.
Confirm the timesheet sync
After clicking Sync Selected or Sync All, a confirmation modal appears.
Review the message, then click Sync to continue.
Click Cancel if you need to check the timesheet again.
Check the sync result
After syncing, a confirmation message appears.
Successful sync message:
Timesheets synced
Review any highlighted rows and fix the issue before retrying.
Confirm the timesheet in Xero
After a successful sync, go to Xero > Payroll > Timesheets.
Check that the synced timesheet appears in Xero.
The Xero timesheet should show:
Staff name
Pay period
Status, such as Draft
Total hours
Example:
Staff | Period | Status | Hours |
Daniel Brooks | Week ending 25 Jul 2026 | Draft | 37.50 |
Important Notes
Only Xero synced staff appear on the Timesheets page.
The selected Pay Calendar controls which staff and pay periods appear.
The Pay period is locked to the selected pay calendar.
Timesheet dates use the pay calendar timezone.
Use Sync Selected when testing or syncing one staff member.
Use Sync All only when all visible staff are ready.
Review overtime before syncing.
Review exported PDFs before final payroll approval if needed.
Timesheets synced to Xero usually appear as Draft in Xero.
Troubleshooting
Staff member is missing from Timesheets
Check that the staff member is:
Active
Assigned to the selected Pay Calendar
Linked to a Xero employee
Rostered inside the selected pay period
If the staff member is still missing, review their setup in Staff Mapping.
Error: Missing Xero shift pay rate mapping
This means a rostered shift uses a pay rate that has not been mapped to a Xero earnings pay item.
Fix:
Review the staff member’s expanded timesheet.
Identify the pay line, such as Ordinary, Saturday, Overtime, or Overtime+.
Map the matching pay rate in Shift Pay Rates.
Return to Timesheets and click Retry.
Error: Employee has no ordinary earnings rate assigned
This means the staff member’s Xero employee profile is incomplete.
Fix this in Xero:
Go to Xero > Payroll > Employees.
Open the employee.
Go to Employment.
Set an Ordinary earnings rate.
Save the employee.
Return to Diversity Sync’d and retry the sync.
Error: Missing Xero allowance mapping
This means the shift has an allowance value, but the allowance is not mapped to Xero.
Fix:
Open the related roster shift.
Check the Allowance tab.
Set unused allowances to 0, or map the allowance to a Xero pay item.
Return to Timesheets and retry the sync.
Partially synced message appears
This means some staff synced successfully, but one or more staff failed.
Fix:
Check the highlighted failed staff row.
Read the error message.
Correct the missing setup.
Click Retry for that staff member.
Overtime appears unexpectedly
Expand the staff member’s timesheet and review the daily breakdown.
Common causes include:
Weekly hours exceeded the ordinary threshold
Breaks were not added
Shift times were longer than expected
The staff member’s role or employment type uses overtime rules
Adjust the roster if needed, then refresh the timesheet.