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Payroll needs a legal name, people need a preferred name.
It's not that hard, but Xero Dev Management is not that smart (apparently). Maybe they should outsource so they get better outcomes.

I have several non binary employees who have a preferred name to their legal name. I want them to be able to that name recognised when they log a timesheet or leave.

This is something that is needed for UK payroll asap. It is especially problematic not to have a 'preferred name' field for many reasons. Please add this, Xero.

Absolutely! Especially for international employees who have a local name and their birth/legal name.

Employee details should include a 'Known As' field.

Please can you have a 'known as' box in the employee name details. So many people don't use their given first name day to day. E.g. workers from other countries, (e.g. China, Hong Kong, (who often choose to use an anglicised name), and others that use a shortened version of their name which does not begin with the same letter as their first name, (e.g. Catherine & Kate, Rebecca & Becky), or those who go by their second name.

Basically, this simple addition would save so much time searching for people in payroll, where the user basically has to know and remember to look for the individuals official names (which have to be used for HMRC purposes) in the employee list.
Not having this feature could easily lead to errors in adjusting the wrong (but similarly surnamed) employee.

I have found this thread by searching how to add a preferred name, as honestly I assumed it would already be an option. It is essential for a lot of staff members, it's an equality issue for us as an employer, and it appears that it would be a relatively easy fix for Xero - please could you implement this?

This would be very useful not only for trans and gender diverse people but for anyone who uses multiple names.

In today's gender diverse and non-binary climate, it is critical that employers are able to be sensitive to the needs of their employees especially when it comes to chosen vs legal name. A preferred name option that displays on payslips/dropdowns and employee communication is an easy way to honour employees chosen name and identity. I would love to see this implemented as an effective way for Xero to become more inclusive and sensitive to this issue. Thanks!

It is not uncommon for staff to use name(s) that differ from their legal name, and to not want their legal name to be displayed. This is especially critical for trans and gender diverse staff, particularly when their name is being displayed in fields seen by other staff such as the pick list for leave approvers.

For trans or non-binary employees this is a critical feature that should be there. Why is there an option to choose a non-binary employee, but then no option to use their preferred name instead of their given names?

(also useful when you have people who are in the process of changing their name, but the official paperwork hasn't finished going through yet, or they haven't got everyone to register the change yet - goodness knows, my super fund was in my birthname long after my marriage, because getting paperwork certified during Covid lockdowns was... problematic... and I have qualms about sending copies of ID using insecure methods like email)

We have someone who goes by their middle name instead of by their first name. Having a 'preferred name' field that is displayed in preference to first name (where appropriate) would allow this person to have their legal name on all the legal stuff and their preferred name on everything where that's more appropriate. This is also useful when you have several people with the same first name but different nicknames - think Dave, Davey, Davo, and David, instead of David x 4!

I would like to suggest adding the facility to assign a preferred name to an employee.

We have several staff members who either use their middle name or an alternative name, not their official legal name. It feels as though the legal name needs to be input into Xero (to ensure it is correct for generating documents such as P60s & P45s). But for everyday purposes, it would be extremely helpful to have the preferred name as an option.

Would really appreciate if this functionality could be added to Xero Payroll.

An option to include employees' full names on payslips would be most helpful, especially when payslips can be used for identification purposes.

We have an employee who has, and is only known by, a preferred name - her middle name.
This is not uncommon.
Will this be added to the employee details facility?

Hi,

We have a few employees in our organisation that have an official Chinese name, but also a Western name that they se day to day and are know by..

So all their ID is in their official / original name - and this is what the ATO and Super funds know them by - yet everyone else, including peers and external clients will know and refer to them in their chosen western names.

This presents several issues within Xero:
- when we enter them in Xero in the employee details tab by their name in use, the Super fund rejects our payment to their fund.
- when we enter them in Xero under their official name, Projects/ time entries and invoicing has them under their official name that clients don't know them as.
- it also complicates things for us internally when compiling employee details for reports and payroll etc, in that those official names aren't familiar to anyone..

this original vs western name issues needs to be resolved!!...

Perhaps by having an "official name" field in the employee details tab, so that the ATO and Super Funds can be satisfied, and yet employees can be known to us and clients (in time entries and invoices!) under their name in use.

Thanks.