Preparation · Before Staff
Before your first payroll
Confirm your business details, choose the dates you will pay for, and gather your employee records. You will use these in each stage of the guide.
For business owners and the people preparing payroll. The owner handles business and payroll settings; other team members can gather the records and agree on the work.
1. Confirm who will do the work
Sign in to your Timekeep account. If you handle everything yourself, follow the owner’s steps below. If you work with a team, agree on who prepares staff records, schedules, attendance, and payroll, and who checks each stage.
Only the owner can change business and payroll settings. Owners and managers can create and run payroll. A staff record does not give an employee access to the dashboard.
If a page or action is missing, ask the owner to check your role in Users. A manager can prepare payroll but still needs the owner to review Payroll Settings.
Write down a preparer and reviewer for each stage. Ask schedule owners to confirm work hours, and ask your payroll reviewer to check rates and deductions. Agree on how they will hand over their checks; assigning responsibilities does not change anyone’s access in Timekeep.
2. Check your business details
As the owner, open Settings and review the business name, email, address, and TIN. Correct details that do not match your business records and save your changes.
If you can see your profile but no business settings, ask the owner to make this check. You do not need to change your password or employee portal address to prepare payroll.
Open Settings (opens in a new tab)3. Decide your first pay period
A pay period is the date range covered by a payroll. A payday is when you pay your staff. Write down both so you do not mistake the payment date for the last workday covered.
The New Payroll form offers these periods. You will create the payroll later, after checking staff, schedules, and attendance.
- Semi-monthly
- Choose 1st Cutoff or 2nd Cutoff and check Start Date and End Date. For example, a business might pay for September 1–15 in its first cutoff. Use your agreed dates, not this example as a rule.
- Weekly
- The period covers seven days. Its start date must match Week starts on in Payroll Settings; Timekeep sets the end date six days later. If the week starts on Monday, September 7–13, 2026 is one such period.
Keep a list of the employees you intend to include and their pay frequencies. Check that their records match the period you will use.
4. Review payroll settings with the owner
Open Payroll Settings. Compare the settings with your agreed pay and attendance policies before recording the first period.
- A full day is: check whether your business uses 8 hours (DOLE) or Scheduled hours.
- Week starts on: check the start day if you pay weekly.
- SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG: check which semi-monthly cutoff takes these deductions. This setting does not change withholding tax.
- Grace period: check the allowance for lateness in the Time tracking section.
Do not change a setting just to match this guide. If a policy is unclear, resolve it with the person responsible for payroll before proceeding.
Open Payroll Settings (opens in a new tab)5. Gather your records
Keep these ready for the next stages. You do not need to enter everything on this page.
- Employee names, positions, branches, salary types, agreed rates, and pay frequencies.
- Employee tax and government membership details from your records, for checking payroll information.
- Expected workdays, shift times, and rest days for the first period.
- Attendance records if the period has already started, plus approved leave and overtime that affect it.
- Allowances, deductions, and loan arrangements that apply to this payroll.
For a new period, decide how staff will record attendance. If you plan to use a kiosk, have a device ready for the attendance setup stage.
Ready to add your staff?
Move on when you can confirm all four:
- The owner has checked the business and payroll settings.
- You know the dates and employees your first payroll will cover.
- Your staff records and work schedules are ready.
- The people preparing and reviewing the work have the access they need.
If anything is missing, gather it or ask the owner before moving on. You have not created a payroll yet; the next step is to add and check your staff.