Xero updates NZ Payroll feature

Xero has announced several changes to its Payroll feature to help businesses process leave requests from their employees.

The changes include setting up Payroll to show annual leave an employee can take in advance of becoming entitled to it, as well as automatically calculating annual leave entitlement when a new employee is set up in the system, or when changes to an existing employee's working hours are made.

According to Xero, the biggest addition in the update is that a business can now set up an employee's annual leave balance to display the amount of leave they can take in advance.

An employee who previously had no leave in their balance, for instance, might now have some leave available — this is their 'leave available to take in advance.'

The new feature is enabled by default for all new employees, and can be switched on for existing employees.

Once the feature is enabled, employee' annual leave balances will show on their payslips in the employee portal and Xero Me mobile app. Only Payroll admins will now see holiday pay balance in dollars when this option is turned on.

Automatic calculation of hours accrued annually

Employers will no longer have to manually enter hours accrued annually for employees. It's automatically calculated based on their weekly hours multiplied by half their holiday pay percentage.

For employees who aren't subject to the Holidays Act — such as business owners who pay themselves — businesses can set the holiday pay percentage to zero and they won't accrue annual leave.