Every time a new payroll opens, Freedom fills in a pay line for each person who should be paid — so you're reviewing a nearly-finished payroll instead of typing everyone in by hand.
A few terms
Pay schedule — how often a group of people get paid (weekly, every two weeks, twice a month, and so on). Each payroll runs for one pay schedule at a time.
Pay period — the stretch of time a paycheck covers (for example, the two weeks leading up to payday).
Work location — the address where an employee works. Freedom uses it to apply the right state and local taxes. Each employee must have one primary work location.
When does autogeneration run?
Autogeneration runs once a day, early in the morning. On the first day of a new pay period, it opens the draft payroll for that pay schedule and fills in everyone who's eligible.
After that, it runs again every day and keeps the draft up to date — adding anyone who becomes eligible and syncing work locations — right up until you run payroll. It won't create a brand-new payroll on payday itself; if a period's payday is today and no payroll exists yet, you'll need to start that one manually.
So on a normal day, you open payroll and most of the work is already done for you.
Do I need to assign people to a pay schedule?
Yes. Only people assigned to a pay schedule get filled in. Assign each employee and contractor to a pay schedule for them to get autogenerated on payrolls.
If someone isn't on any pay schedule, autogeneration has no payroll to put them on, so they won't show up automatically — no matter what else is set up correctly. If you notice someone missing, check their pay schedule assignment first.
Who gets an autogenerated pay line?
We fill in an employee only when everything below is true. If any one is missing, we leave them off (you can still add them by hand):
They're on the pay schedule you're running.
They're employed for the whole pay period. Their start date is on or before the period begins, and they aren't already set to leave before it ends. (This is judged at the moment autogeneration adds them — see "What if someone leaves after they've been added?" below for what happens if you set a termination date later.)
They have pay set up — a salary, or an hourly rate with weekly hours entered. Autogeneration uses those weekly hours to work out the paycheck.
They have a main work location set.
They have direct deposit set up — a bank account on file, with direct deposit set as their preferred payment method.
We fill in a contractor when:
They're on the pay schedule you're running, and
They're employed for the whole pay period (same as above), and
They're set up for a fixed amount each pay period (the same dollar amount every time), and
They have direct deposit set up.
Note: Contractors don't need a work location — we fill them in either way.
Who doesn't get one?
Someone is skipped whenever one of the requirements above isn't met at the time we create the payroll, for example:
They're not assigned to the pay schedule.
They weren't employed for the whole period — they started partway through, or their termination date falls before the period ends. We don't fill in a partial paycheck; add these people by hand if they're owed pay.
Direct deposit isn't set up yet.
Their pay setup isn't clear — no active pay rate, or more than one, so we can't tell which to use.
No main work location (employees only).
A contractor who isn't on a fixed per-period amount — for example, one you pay a different amount each time. Only fixed, same-every-time pay gets filled in automatically.
Being skipped just means it isn't done for you — you can always add the pay line yourself.
Why isn't someone showing up on the payroll?
Run through this checklist - all need to be true:
Are they assigned to the pay schedule you're running?
Were they employed for the whole pay period? Someone who starts partway through, or whose termination date is before the period ends, isn't added. Add them by hand if they're owed pay.
Is their direct deposit set up?
Do they have compensation set up — a salary, or an hourly rate with regular weekly hours?
Employees: is a main work location set?
Did you already remove their line by hand? If you deleted their pay line on this payroll, autogeneration won't add it back — that's on purpose, so it doesn't undo your change.
Has autogeneration run since you fixed the above? It runs once a day, so a change you make today shows up on tomorrow morning's run. And once payday arrives — or once you've run the payroll — autogeneration stops adding people, so you'll need to add them manually.
If all of these check out and they're still missing, reach out to support.
Which changes are picked up automatically?
As long as you haven't run the payroll yet, each daily run handles two kinds of changes for you:
People who become eligible get added. If someone qualifies after the payroll first opened — you assign them to the pay schedule after previously being unassigned (transferring from a different pay schedule is handled differently), they turn on their direct deposit, or you add their pay rate — we add them on the next daily run. Two catches: the payroll still has to be in a draft status, and you can't have already edited, added, or removed that person's line by hand (we never override something you've touched).
Work-location changes get synced. If you change someone's main work location, the location on their pay line updates to match, so their taxes stay correct.
Which changes are NOT picked up automatically?
Autogeneration captures a person's details the moment it adds them, and after that it leaves their pay line alone (the one exception is work location). So these are not reflected on a payroll that's already been filled in:
A change to how much they're paid.
A change to their pay rate.
A change to their weekly hours.
Being reassigned to a different pay schedule.
For the first three, the hours and amount stay at whatever they were when the line was first filled in.
Here's why that matters. Say someone's pay line is filled in based on a 40-hour week. Later, before running payroll, you change them to a 20-hour week. The payroll you already have still shows the original 40-hour amount — and it will pay that amount unless you fix it.
When someone is reassigned to a new pay schedule, their pay line on the old schedule stays where it is, and we do not automatically add a line for them on the new schedule. Move them by hand on both payrolls if needed.
What if someone leaves after they've been added?
Autogeneration never takes someone off a payroll it already put them on. If you set a termination date after their line has been filled in — even one that falls in the middle of the pay period — they stay on the payroll. If they shouldn't be paid this run, remove their line by hand.
How do I fix a pay line that's incorrect?
Open the payroll, and either edit that person's pay line directly, or delete it and add it back — adding it back re-fills it using their current pay setup. When you change someone's pay, we also remind you to check any payrolls you haven't run yet.
Note: Anything you've already edited or added by hand stays exactly as you left it — autogeneration won't touch your changes.
How are the hours calculated?
For salaried and hourly employees, the hours on each paycheck are their normal weekly hours multiplied by how many weeks the paycheck covers. So for someone with a 40-hour week:
Paid every week — 40 hours per paycheck
Paid every 2 weeks — 80 hours per paycheck
Paid twice a month — 86.67 hours per paycheck
Paid once a month — 173.33 hours per paycheck
Paid once a quarter — 520 hours per paycheck
Paid once a year — 2,080 hours per paycheck
Twice-a-month and monthly aren't exactly two or four weeks, so the hours land on an in-between number — that's expected.
Note: Contractors don't use hours at all. They're filled in with their fixed per-period amount, taken straight from how you set up their pay.
If someone's hours don't look right it is probably due to having their hours on their compensation info changed midway through the pay period.