Running payroll on Keka

Monthly payroll processing is vital for organizations as it ensures timely and accurate employee compensation, compliance with legal regulations, and effective financial planning. Beyond avoiding penalties and maintaining trust with employees, consistent payroll handling supports employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention. This regular and reliable process contributes to accurate recordkeeping, facilitates proper deductions and tax submissions, and enables organizations to budget efficiently for payroll-related expenses.

Running payroll on Keka is comprised of 6 major steps that take you through everything from adjusting leave and LOP to overriding statutory component values. 

Let us take a look at the Run Payroll tab and learn how to run your monthly payroll on Keka.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Step 1 - Leave, Attendance & Daily Wages
  • Managing leave applied
  • Managing no attendance days
  • Managing Loss of Pay
  • LOP Reversal from previous months
• Step 2 - New Joinees & Exits
  • New Joinees
  • Employees in Exit Process
  • Full & Final settlements
• Step 3- Bonus, Salary Revisions & Overtime
  • Bonus
  • Salary Revisions
  • Overtime Payment
  • Shift Allowance
• Step 4 - Reimbursements, Adhoc payments, Deductions
  • Salary Component Claims
  • Expenses
  • Adhoc payments
  • Adhoc Deductions
• Step 5 - Salary on Hold & Arrears
  • Salary Processing on hold
  • Salary payout on hold
  • Arrears
• Step 6 - Overrides (PT, ESI, TDS, LWF)
• Finalizing Payroll

Go to the Payroll (1) module, and then click on Run Payroll (2).

In this tab, at the top, you will see the all the months of the current financial year listed at the top with the months for which payroll has already been run marked in Green as Completed (1). You will also see the present month marked in Blue as Current (2) and all future months marked in grey as Upcoming (3).

Below that, you will see the current month and the total employees 

Further down, you will see the six steps (1) involved in running payroll. This what you have to really focus on.

To the right, you will see the Activity (2) feed with a list of all the actions done by all admins within the Run Payroll module. 

In Keka, the payroll finalization process is divided into six steps. Each of these steps are further divided into a number of sub-steps. Now let us take a closer look at each of the six steps involved in the payroll run for any particular pay cycle. To begin the process of running payroll, click on the first step, Leave, Attendance & Daily Wages.

Step 1 - Leave, Attendance & Daily Wages

Managing leave applied

The first step involves taking action on unapproved leave requests for the entire month. On the Leave Applied page, all leave requests applied by employees throughout the month are visible here, including approved and unapproved leave requests. No action needs to be taken for approved leave requests, but action will need to be taken for unapproved leave requests.

You can either approve or reject an unapproved leave request from here under the Actions column.

After clicking on either the Approve or Reject icon, you will be prompted to provide a reason for the action after which you can click on on Confirm.

Once all the leave requests have been actioned and there is no pending action needed to be taken for any employee, then you can click on Save & Continue to move to the next step.

Managing no attendance days

The next step involves taking action for employees with no attendance on certain days throughout the month. You can deduct leave for an employee with no attendance by clicking on the 3 dots under the Actions tab and then clicking on Deduct Leave.

A pop-up window will appear where you will be required to select the leave type to be deducted for the concerned employee after which you can select the amount of leave to be deducted and then click on Confirm.

However, if you choose to skip this step and directly click on Save & Continue, then a pop-up window will appear displaying a warning notice stating that if you skip this step then there might be a mismatch. It is recommended that you action all the days with no attendance logs so that the LOP days are calculated accurately. Click on Save and Continue to move to the next step. 

If the no attendance step is skipped and a manual override of LOP days is done, then the system calculates the LOP days starting from the last day of the month and going backwards from there. This will inevitably cause a mismatch of the actual dates of the LOP to the dates automatically calculated by the system by doing an override. Therefore, it is recommended that you take action against all days with no attendance logs individually from the No Attendance step itself.

Managing Loss of Pay

In the next step, you will see the LOP summary page, where the LOP (Loss Of Pay) days for each employee for the entire month will be visible. Here, you can make changes to the system-calculated LOP days by typing in the number of days that you want to mark as LOP days under the LOP Adjustment tab.

You also have the option to add a comment next to each employee after making any change.

Once you have made all the necessary adjustments, you can click on Save & Continue.

LOP Reversal from previous months

The last step of LOP Reversal allows you to make changes to past LOP days incurred by employees in previous months. 

You can add employees manually along with the number of days for which the LOP needs to be reversed or import an LOP reversal Excel sheet in order to take bulk action.

Once you have made the necessary changes, click on Save & Close to save your changes and mark this step as complete.

Step 2 - New Joinees & Exits

The second step of running payroll involves taking action on pay actions for new joiners and also processing the Full & Final settlement for exiting/exited employees. Click on the New Joinees and Exits from the list of steps under Run payroll. 

New Joinees

In the first step, New Joinees, you will find the list of new joinees that have joined your organization in the last month. You can take pay action against each of these new joinees according to your need. You have five possible pay actions - 

Hold salary processing this month - This means that the salary payout is not being processed for the current month and is being held to be paid out in the future.

Process as salary - This implies that the salary is to be processed as per the normal routine.

Void salary processing - This means that the salary will not be processed now or in the future.

Hold salary payout this month - This implies that the salary will be processed but not paid out and can be paid sometime in the future.

Void salary payout - This means that the salary will be processed, but never paid out to the employee.

Already paid - Select this if you have already made the payment to the employee outside of the Keka payroll.

Next to each employee’s name on the left side, you will see an arrow (1), if you click on it additional information will be displayed to you, like the particular employee’s regular salary, his working days for the month, and the salary to be paid for this month.

After taking the necessary pay action you also have the option to add a comment against each employee.

Once you are done you can click on Save & Continue (2) to move to the next step.

Employees in Exit Process

On the next step of Employee in Exit Process, you will be able to see all employees who are in the process of leaving the organization and are currently in the exit process.

Here, you can click on the downward arrow next to the employee’s name to reveal details and also allow you to set the required Pay Action along with a comment if required.

After you have made the necessary changes, click on the Save & Continue button to move to the next step.

Full & Final settlements

In the final step of Full & Final Settlement, you will see all the employees in the organization who have been relieved but whose full and final settlement has not yet been done.

Under Actions, you can click on the Click here button to take you to the Full and Final settlement page where you can take the appropriate steps to complete the F&F of the given employee.

Once you have completed the Full & Final settlement of the employee, you will see the Status change from Approved to Finalized for the given employee and you can view the Settled Amount for the particular employee.

Once you have taken action for all employees, click on Save & Close to save your progress and move to the next step.

Step 3- Bonus, Salary Revisions & Overtime

This section is where you configure all the pertinent details related to bonuses, salary revisions, overtime payments and shift allowances. Click on the Bonus, Salary Revisions & Overtime tab from the Run Payroll section.

Bonus

You will be on the Bonus screen. Here, you will see the list of employees for whom bonus payout is due in the current pay cycle. Under Pay Actions, you will find the list of possible actions that you can select to proceed. 

You can select Pay from the drop down if you wish to pay this bonus in this pay cycle. If you wish to hold the bonus payment until another cycle, Select On Hold. You can also choose to void the bonus payment and remove it permanently by choosing the Void option. 

Here you will see extra options of Pay Outside Keka Payroll and Partially Pay.

Pay Outside Keka Payroll - This implies that the employee has already been paid this amount and does not need to be paid while running payroll on kea for the current pay cycle.

Partially Pay - This gives the option to partially pay the bonus amount. Reasons for partial pay could vary from level of employee performance to 

Additionally, you also have the option to add comments for actions for each employee.

Once done, you can click on Save & Continue to move to the next step.

Salary Revisions

On the next sub-step of Salary Revision you will see all employees within the organisation for whom a salary change is effective from the current pay cycle. On this screen you will be able to see details such as the old salary, the new salary, and the percentage change in salary.

You have the options to Hold or Pay the revised salary.

For employees whose salary is already on hold from a previous pay cycle, you will have the options to Continue to Hold or Release the salary.

You have the option to add a comment next to each action as well.

If the salary is put on hold then the amount due will be displayed as arrears in the next pay cycle.

Once you are done taking the necessary actions for all employees, click on Save & Continue to go to the next sub-step.

Overtime Payment

On the next sub-step of Overtime Payment you will all employees with Overtime payments due to be paid in the current month. You can enter an adjusted amount if you wish to pay a different amount from the calculated amount.

Under Pay Action you can select whether to Pay, Void or mark it as Paid Outside Keka Payroll.

Once you have taken the necessary actions for all employees in this step, click on Save & Continue to move to the next sub-step.

Shift Allowance

Under Shift Allowance, you will see all employees who are due to be paid shift allowance this month. You can enter an adjusted amount (1) if you wish to pay a different amount from the calculated amount.

Under Pay Action (2) you can select whether to Pay, Hold, Void or mark it as Paid Outside Keka Payroll.

Once you have taken the necessary actions for all employees in this step, click on Save & Close (3) to finish this step.

This completes the third step in the running payroll process. Time to go to the 4th step,

Step 4 - Reimbursements, Adhoc payments, Deductions

This step is where you deal with any reimbursement claims, adhoc payments or deductions that are in effect during this pay cycle.

Salary Component Claims

The first sub-step is regarding salary component claims. Here, you can view all the salary component claims made by the employees that are to be paid out this pay cycle. You can review the claims by clicking on the Review Claim hyperlink in the Actions column.

A new window will open up where you can view details of the claim and you have the option to edit the payable amount, set the payout month and add a comment (1).

On the left side you will be able to view any attachments if added to support the claim by the given employee.

You can either approve or reject the claim by clicking on the respective buttons (2).

After making all the necessary changes, click on Save & Continue to move to the next sub-step.

If you do not make any change to the salary component claims for employees, then they will be approved by default.

Expenses

On the next sub-step of Expenses, you will see employees with Cash Advance Requests. You will have the option to approve or reject the advance request under Actions column.

Below, you will see all employees with Advance Settlements and Expense Claims to be Paid. Here, you have the option to either approve, reject, or edit the requests under Actions column.

To know more about expenses and advance requests click here.

Adhoc payments

The next step is all about adhoc payments. You can find any such payment requests that have already been made here. You can also add a new adhoc payment from this screen or import the data to process adhoc payments.

To add an ad-hoc payment, click on the Add Employee button on this screen. 

This will prompt you to search for an employee to add ad-hoc payments for. Select the employee. You will see a row with the selected employee details added. You can add an Ad-hoc payment type, enter the Amount to be paid out, and any Comments to specify why the payment is being made.  

If you want to add more ad-hoc payments, click on Add Employee again and repeat the steps above. You could also import adhoc payments in bulk through an excel file import. Click on Import Adhoc Payments to get a template which can be used to import multiple ad-hoc payments at once. 

Once you have added all the ad-hoc payments, click on Save and Continue to move to the next step, ad-hoc deductions. 

Adhoc Deductions

Adhoc deductions are one-time deductions that maybe made from an employee's salary. These deductions can be added when you are running payroll for a particular month. On the Adhoc Deductions sub-step, click on Add Employee to add an adhoc deduction.

Select the employee by searching for them. A row will be added with the employee details. Select the Adhoc Deduction Type from the pre-configured deductions. Also enter the amount to be deducted and also add any additional comments you may have about the deduction.

You can add ad hoc deductions in bulk using an Excel file, too. Click on Import Adhoc Deductions to do this. 

Download the excel template and then enter the information regarding the adhoc deductions in this file. Upload the file using the Upload Excel File button to import adhoc deductions in bulk. 

Once you have added all the adhoc deductions, click on Save and Close to complete this step. 

Step 5 - Salary on Hold & Arrears

In the fifth step of six-step payroll process, you will specifically deal with scenarios where salary disbursements need to be paused due to various reasons like employee absences or disciplinary actions.

Salary Processing on hold

The first tab under this step is 'Salary Processing on Hold,' which is an option for employers to hold the salary processing of employees who may be absconding or on uninformed leave. This feature ensures that payroll is accurate and that only eligible employees receive their salaries. If the employee salary processing is kept on hold and the employee will not appear in pay register but no salary components will have any values and they will not be included for statutory contribution/deduction calculation .

On this, you'll see the list of employees currently on hold & it will also display any employees who have been kept on hold in the previous months. You can add new employees to this list by clicking + Add Employee(1) or import multiple holds via Import Processing on Holds(2). Here's what you can do:

• Add an Employee Manually: Click on '+ Add Employee,' search the employee and select the employee. For each listed employee, you can choose to continue holding the salary, process it as usual, or void the salary(3) processing based on updated information or decisions and you can add comments(4) for internal records. You can also click on the Trash can(5) icon if you would like to remove any employee is currently on Hold.
  
  

• Bulk Import Holds: If you have multiple employees whose salaries need to be put on hold, use the 'Import Processing on Holds' feature to upload the details in bulk, saving time and ensuring no one is missed. To initiate the import, you'll begin by downloading(1) predefined Excel template. Once you have filled out the template with the required information, save the Excel file and upload(2) it back into the Keka system.
  
  

• The Excel template consists of several columns, including 'Employee Number,' 'Employee Name,' 'Pay Action,' and 'Comment.' In these columns employee number and Pay action are mandatory fields. The dropdown menu in pay action column lets you select the appropriate action for each employee's salary—whether to 'Hold salary processing this month' or 'Void salary processing.'

Salary payout on hold

In the Salary on Hold & Arrears process, the 'Salary Payout on Hold' is a critical step which allows for flexibility in managing payroll under special circumstances without disrupting the overall processing cycle. This functionality is designed for scenarios where an employee's payout needs to be temporarily suspended due to reasons such as notice period service, extended uninformed leave, or pending disciplinary resolutions.  The salary of such employees will be processed, i.e. they will be included for statutory contribution/deduction calculation and only the payout of salary will be put on hold. You can decide to payout this salary anytime in future.

Similar to the Salary Processing on hold section, On accessing this section, you will see a list of employees whose salary payouts are currently on hold. You can add new employees to this list by clicking + Add Employee(1) or import multiple holds via Import Payouts on Holds(2)

• Add an Employee Manually: Click on + Add Employee  search the employee and select the employee. For each listed employee, you can choose to continue hold salary payout for this month, void salary payout or already paid(3) processing based on updated information or decisions and you can add comments(4) for internal records. You can also click on the Trash can(5) icon if you would like to remove any employee is currently on Hold

• Bulk Import Holds: If you have multiple employees whose salary payout need to be put on hold, use the 'Import Payout on Holds' feature to upload the details in bulk, saving time. Similar to the salary processing on hold section to initiate the import, you'll begin by downloading(1) predefined Excel template. Once you have filled out the template with the required information, save the Excel file and upload(2) it back into the Keka system

Arrears

Arrears can arise from various situations, such as retrospective pay increases, salary revisions, or leave without pay (LOP) reversals. In Keka's payroll system, this section automatically displays arrears for the selected pay period.

Key Points About Arrears:

1. Automatic Calculation:

   • The system automatically calculates arrears based on pre-set parameters and historical data.
   • Changes in salary, unpaid leaves, or any other adjustments that affect the pay are taken into account.

2. Non-Override Policy:

   • Arrears amounts are not subject to manual override to maintain accuracy and compliance.
   • The integrity of payroll calculations is preserved by the system's automatic arrears computation.

Detailed Breakup:

• By selecting an employee's arrears entry, you can access a detailed breakup.
• The breakup includes various pay components like basic pay, HRA, travel reimbursements, and special allowances.
• This detailed view ensures transparency and allows for easy verification of arrears calculations.

1. The arrears tab will list employees with arrears alongside the total amount due(1) and the reasons(2) for the arrears. To view a detailed breakdown of an employee’s arrears, click on their entry(3). A detailed list(4) will appear, showing how much is due for each pay component. Review the amounts and reasons to ensure they align with your records and expectations.

Step 6 - Overrides (PT, ESI, TDS, LWF)

The final step in Keka's payroll process is managing Overrides. This step is about adjusting statutory deductions like Professional Tax (PT), Employee State Insurance (ESI), Tax Deducted at Source (TDS), and Labour Welfare Fund (LWF) for specific cases that deviate from the standard calculations.

In each override section, you can Add employees(1) individually to adjust their specific statutory contribution amounts.

Each employee's override entry specifies:

• Gross Salary(2): The total salary before deductions.
• Regular Amount(3): The standard deduction amount.
• Override Amount(4): The adjusted deduction amount for the month.
• Comment(5): Notes or explanations for the override, providing context for audit trails and records.
• Override Month(6): The month in which the deductions are overridden
  
  

These override functions in Keka's payroll system empower HR managers to account for exceptional circumstances, ensuring each employee's payroll is accurate and in line with the company's policies and legal requirements. Repeat the same steps to override deductions across all the tabs in this step. Once you are done making the necessary changes, click on Save and Close to finish the process of running payroll on your Keka HR Portal. 

Note - You can start with any of the six steps, however, it is recommended that you follow the order in which the six steps are presented in this article.

It is not compulsory to go through all the six steps in one go. Once you complete all the sub-steps under each of the six steps, your progress will then be saved and the particular step(s) will be marked as completed with a tick mark and you can come back later to complete the rest.

Finalizing Payroll

Once you are done with the 6 steps described above, you can now preview your payroll run to see if there are any errors. To preview run payroll, click on the Preview Run Payroll button.

This will perform a preview run for the payroll and show you if there are any errors in the process. You can go back to the necessary sections to fix these errors. 

You can also choose to review the payroll data of all of the individual employees. To do this, click on the Review All Employees button. 

This allows you to take a look at the pay details of each employee and ensure that the amounts are correctly calculated. You can cross-reference this with any manual copies or calculations you may have with you to ensure that everything is correctly mapped. 

Once you are done with the preview run and the review, you are now ready to finalize the payroll for the month. 

Click on Finalize Payroll to run the payroll for the month. 

On the confirmation window, click on Finalize Payroll. 

This will finalize the payroll and generate pay registers for each employees. 

To know more on how to check the Pay Register, click here.

To know Manage Payments click here.