# Running payroll

A payroll run produces the **Payroll Register**: one record per employee for a pay period, with gross
pay, deductions, net pay, and a status showing how far the run has progressed. This page follows a run
from starting it to its approval.

What you see depends on your permissions. A person who can only view payroll sees the list and the run
screens but none of the buttons below; the buttons appear for people who are allowed to start, change or
validate runs. The person who submits a run cannot be the person who approves it.

## Before you begin

Every employee you expect to be paid needs an **Active** contract covering the pay period (a Draft contract
is not included) — see [Contracts](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/payroll/page/contracts). Payroll uses the contract's wage and dates; it
does not ask you to re-enter pay information at run time. Pay for the month also follows each person's
validated attendance and approved leave for the month's working days.

## Start a run

1. Go to **Payroll → Payroll Operations → Payroll Register**. The list shows every run, newest first, with
   the number of runs at the top. A company with no runs shows "No payroll register runs yet."
2. Select **Start a new run**. The button is shown to people allowed to add payroll runs.
3. Choose the month and year and select **Start run**. BlueOneHR calculates every employee's pay for the
   month and saves it as a **Draft**. Nothing is paid until the run is approved.

![The Payroll Register list: five runs from April through August 2026, each with employee count, gross, net, and an Approved status badge](https://docs.blueonehr.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-10/KZcpayroll-running-payroll-register.png)

## Review the run

Select a run to open it. The header shows the month and who ran it and when. A progress indicator shows
**Draft**, **Pending Approval** and **Approved** (a rejected run shows **Rejected** at the last step).
Four tiles summarise the run: **Gross Payout**, **Deductions**, **Net Payout** and **Blocked, bank details**
(a count of employees whose payment is held up by their bank details; it is a number, not a link). The
table below lists each employee with department, gross, deduction and net pay and a status.

While the run is a **Draft** (or was **Rejected**), people allowed to change runs also see:

- **Regenerate**, which recalculates the same month, for example after you correct a contract or an
  attendance record.
- **Submit for approval**.

## Validate before you submit

Select **Run validation** (it reads **Re-run validation** once a validation exists). The checks list their
findings by severity: **Critical**, **Warning** and **Information**. Select **View exceptions** to see them.

- A **Critical** finding that can stop the run (for example a missing PAN) must be **resolved** before the
  run can be submitted. Choose **Resolve** and record a written note; the note is required, the finding is
  not deleted, and who decided and when is kept. **Waive** (acknowledge) marks a finding as seen but does
  **not** unblock a critical one. **Resolve all** and **Waive all** act on every open finding of one rule at once.
- While a blocking critical is unresolved the run screen says so and **Submit for approval** is refused.
- A missing bank account is also shown as Critical, but it does not stop the run from being submitted.
  It is a block on paying that person.

## Submit and approve

1. Select **Submit for approval**. The run becomes **Pending Approval**. A company must have at least one
   payroll approver other than the person who submitted, or the submission is refused with a message saying so.
2. A different person with approval rights opens **Approvals** in the sidebar, chooses **Approve** or
   **Reject**, and may add a comment. The person who submitted the run cannot approve it.
3. **Approved** runs confirm their payslips. A **Rejected** run goes back to being editable: correct what
   is wrong, **Regenerate** if needed, and submit again.

## What happens next

An approved run's figures become the basis for **payslips** — see [Payslips](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/payroll/page/payslips). The
**Payslips** screen has its own **Generate payslips** button and lets you filter payslips by status.
The run stays in the Payroll Register as the record of what was paid for that month. Paying employees is a
separate step on the payout page, which in a workspace without a payment provider connected runs against a
mock and moves no money.

## Notes

- **Allowances**, **Deductions**, **Bonus**, and **Full & Final Settlements** are managed as their own
  screens under Payroll Operations. They feed into a run rather than being entered as part of running it.
- An **Approved** run cannot be regenerated or resubmitted.

## Troubleshooting

**I cannot see Start a new run, Regenerate or Submit for approval.** These buttons are shown only to people
whose role allows them, and Regenerate and Submit only appear while the run is a Draft or Rejected. Ask
your BlueOneHR administrator which payroll permissions your role has.

**Submit for approval says it needs an approver.** Your company has no payroll approver other than you. Ask
your administrator to add one.

**A run's totals look wrong.** Check contract status, attendance and any allowances or deductions recorded
for the affected employees, then **Regenerate** the draft — see [Contracts](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/payroll/page/contracts).

**The "Blocked, bank details" tile shows a number above zero.** Those employees' bank details need
attention before they can be paid. The run screen does not list which employees are counted, so check the
bank details held for your employees.

## Not confirmed

These points have not been checked against a live workspace for this page, and it does not claim them:

- Whether a run can be exported for bank payment, and how.
- What a rejected run's comment looks like to the person who submitted it.

## Related

- [How payroll works](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/payroll/page/how-payroll-works)
- [Contracts](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/payroll/page/contracts)
- [Payslips](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/payroll/page/payslips)
- [A first payroll run, reviewed and approved by someone else](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/enterprise/page/a-first-payroll-run-reviewed-and-approved-by-someone-else)