Payroll readiness: preparing cleaner workforce inputs.

What readiness means

Payroll readiness is an operational state, not a legal one. It means the workforce inputs going into a payroll process — hours, leave, allowances and adjustments — have been reviewed and approved, so the downstream calculation starts from clean data.

Where the inputs come from

• Scheduled shifts and the approved changes to them
• Attendance events reconciled with the schedule
• Leave requests with agreed balances and dates
• Overtime, unsocial-hours or role-based rules that need authorisation
• Allowance inputs recorded against the person, not the payslip

Readiness checklist

Use this checklist at the end of each pay period.

Schedule and attendance

• Every published shift has been worked, cancelled or reassigned
• Missing clock events are resolved or explained
• Late arrivals and early leavings are approved or flagged
• Approved extensions and shift changes are recorded

Leave and absences

• Approved leave overlapping shifts is reflected in hours
• Unpaid or unauthorised absences are marked
• Public holidays and rest days are treated per policy

Overtime and allowances

• Overtime is authorised by the right manager
• Role-based or unsocial-hours rules are applied consistently
• Fixed allowances and adjustments are recorded

Handoff

• Approved hours are locked from further edits
• The downstream payroll destination is agreed
• A snapshot is stored for audit

The downstream handoff

The Workforce OS does not run payroll. It prepares a clean, approved input that a payroll team or platform can consume — reducing the volume of back-and-forth once the cycle starts.