What Plane prepares for you
As a pay period approaches, Plane automatically creates payroll items for every worker assigned to the schedule. Each item includes:- Earnings—base salary or hourly wages, calculated for the pay period. If a worker’s compensation changed mid-period, Plane prorates the amounts.
- Additional pay—bonuses, commissions, overtime, reimbursements, and other one-time or recurring changes that apply to this period.
- Deductions and benefits—for employees, Plane includes tax withholding, benefit deductions, and employer contributions.
- Net pay—the final amount the worker will receive after all calculations.
The review screen
When you navigate to an upcoming payroll run, the review screen shows:- Run summary—total payroll amount, number of workers, payday, and the approval deadline.
- Worker breakdown—each worker’s earnings, deductions, and net pay. You can expand any worker to see the full detail.
- Changes since last run—Plane highlights what is different from the previous pay period. New hires, compensation changes, added reimbursements, and terminated workers are all surfaced so you do not need to compare line by line.
- Blockers—any issues that prevent the payroll from running. These appear at the top of the screen with clear descriptions and actions to resolve them.
Blockers and how to resolve them
A blocker is an issue that prevents a payroll item (or the entire run) from being processed. Plane categorizes blockers by their cause:- Worker issues—a worker is missing a bank account, has incomplete tax setup, or lacks a required workplace address. These need to be resolved on the worker’s profile.
- Organization issues—your company’s tax registrations, filing authorizations, or payroll configuration is incomplete. These are resolved in your organization settings.
- Payroll issues—the run itself has a validation error from the payroll provider, such as a net pay split configuration issue or a missing employee detail.
- Blocking—these prevent the affected item from being approved. You must resolve them or skip the worker.
- Non-blocking—these are warnings or notices. The payroll can still run, but you should be aware of the issue.
Approving payroll
Once you have reviewed the run and resolved any blockers, you approve the payroll. Approval can happen at two levels:Approve the entire run
Click Approve on the payroll run to approve all eligible items at once. Items with unresolved blockers are excluded—they remain in a blocked state until the issue is fixed.Approve individual workers
You can also approve workers one by one. This is useful when most of the payroll is ready but a few items need more time. Approved items move forward immediately; unapproved items stay in their current state.Approving a payroll item is a high-trust action. Plane records who approved each item and when, creating an audit trail for every run.
Skipping a worker
If a worker should not be included in this payroll run—for example, they are on unpaid leave or their onboarding is not complete—you can skip them. Skipping removes the worker from the current run without affecting future runs. Skipped items are clearly marked in the payroll history. You can unskip a worker before the cut-off deadline if the situation changes.What happens after approval
Once items are approved, the payroll moves through execution automatically:Batching
Plane groups approved items into a payroll batch based on their schedule, pay period, and provider. Items that share the same parameters are processed together.
Funding
A charge is created against your company’s funding source to cover the payroll. If you fund via bank transfer (ACH), the charge is initiated and takes a few business days to settle. If you fund from a Plane balance, settlement is immediate.
Processing
Plane submits the payroll to the appropriate provider for each worker. For US W-2 employees, this goes through the domestic payroll provider. For international employees, it goes through the employer of record. For contractors, Plane handles the payment directly.
Payment delivery
Individual payments are created and routed to each worker’s bank account. Currency conversion happens automatically for cross-border payments. You can track each payment’s status in the dashboard.
Payroll statuses
Each payroll run and each individual payroll item has a status. Understanding these helps you interpret what you see on the dashboard. Payroll run statuses:| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Payroll items are being prepared. Not yet ready for review. |
| Pending | Ready for your review and approval. |
| Blocked | One or more items have blockers that prevent approval. |
| Processing | Approved and being executed. Payments are in flight. |
| Paid | All payments completed successfully. |
| Failed | One or more payments failed. Action needed. |
| Void | The run was cancelled after processing. |
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being prepared by Plane. |
| Pending | Approved and waiting for the batch to process. |
| Blocked | Has an unresolved issue preventing approval. |
| Overdue | Passed the approval deadline without being approved. |
| Skipped | Excluded from this run by an admin. |
| Processing | Submitted to the provider. |
| Paid | Payment delivered to the worker. |
| Failed | Payment failed. May be retried. |
Viewing payroll history
Past payroll runs are available in the dashboard under the payroll section. You can filter by schedule, date range, or status. Each historical run shows:- The full list of workers included and their individual statuses
- Total amounts in both source and destination currencies
- The timeline of the run (when it was prepared, approved, and completed)
- Any issues that occurred during processing
The approval deadline
Every payroll run has a cut-off date—the latest point at which items can be approved in time for the scheduled payday. Plane calculates this based on:- The payday on the schedule
- The processing time required by the payroll provider
- The settlement time for your funding source (bank transfers take longer than balance funding)
Can I undo an approval?
Can I undo an approval?
Yes. Before the payroll is submitted for processing, you can cancel the approval on individual items, returning them to draft status. Once the run moves to processing, approvals cannot be reversed—the payments are already in flight.
Who can approve payroll?
Who can approve payroll?
Payroll approval is restricted to workspace admins and users with payroll approval permissions. Plane records the approver on each item for audit purposes.
What if a payment fails after the run is complete?
What if a payment fails after the run is complete?
Failed payments are flagged on the dashboard. You can retry the payment or cancel it. The rest of the payroll run is unaffected. See Payments for more on handling failed payments.
How do I see what changed between runs?
How do I see what changed between runs?
The payroll review screen highlights changes since the last run. This includes new workers, compensation changes, added reimbursements, and terminated workers. You can also compare runs side by side using the payroll history view.