AU Payroll - Ability for Business Owner/Payroll Manager to view & complete draft timesheets
We want to be able to open and complete the employees draft timesheet, if it has already been started. We have enough to do without starting again from scratch what the employee may have already done but just not clicked the submit button.
It is idiotic that, as the owner and payroll manager, that we cannot see an employee's draft timesheets.
As the business owner and Payroll Admin, we should:
- not have compromise our recordkeeping by putting hours directly into the pay slip.
- not have to rely on our employees being available to correct the timesheet at any point in time; and
- certainly not have to rely on Xero Support to correct anything (simply because they will never be able to correct it in a timely fashion when we need them to - not their fault, just reality.)
What we should be able to do, is see any and all draft timesheets, regardless of who created them and alter them as necessary without having to mess around, wait on support or interrupt our employees during their down time.
As an employer, the absolute least we can do it make sure that our employees are paid correctly, on time and with the minimum of fuss.

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Pamela Anderson commented
My client is looking at going outside Xero to keep track of his employees hours on different jobs. Now that says a lot as he is a BIG fan
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Beechwood Farm commented
Bugga!! I have this same issue.
I sent a message to Support and they have given me the run around.I was encouraged to change to Xero from Quickbooks as the accounting functions were easier and faster, which meant less time doing admin.
However!!!! Xeros payroll does my head in. Trying to keep track of Employees hours is ridiculous. I'm not saying staff are logging more hours than worked, but I have no way of checking details. We have 3 different locations staff can start their workday from, so sometimes I believe the start or end times are incorrect.
Xero this needs to be sorted!!!
Seriously, the fees I pay for your product should allow you to enable this feature.
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Keith Maclaughlin commented
It would seem silly to write the same thing as MANY have written before. I can only assume Xero is not interested in resolving the issue of not being able to view a draft time sheet opened by an employee.
In todays world of programming and technology it is pretty ordinary
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Belynda Redding commented
Agreed, we have encountered an issue (known issue for a few years) where an employee is unable to select the current pay period for the timesheet function. As a business owner and payroll officer I have no way of accessing any potential "draft" timesheet that is causing the issue. Only response to this issue is a generic either they have a "draft in their app" or basically nothing can be done. I know as a business they have a lot of moving wheels so to say. But this is a pretty big glitch that is negatively impacting businesses.
Won't be able to start this employee on the Xero Me system until the next pay, not the end of the world but what if this happens again?
Very inconvenient
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Jim Morris commented
The only time they comment is to offer up useless suggestions, totally miss the point of what we are asking for or to tell us to make a (this) suggestion in the ideas/feedback forum for new or additional features...
The most infuriating part is that they don't have to add anything! All the necessary systems are already in place and they just need to turn on the right switch so we can see draft timesheets!
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Ravi Sood commented
It is strange no comments from Xero on such a long outstanding issue
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Jim Morris commented
I'm normally all for automating things but, in this instance, it could potentially cause more issues than it solves.
The main solve here is easy - Xero giving us, payroll managers and owners, the ability to see and edit draft timesheets...It's been an ongoing request/issue for literal years now and, given the recent sub increase (now $99/month), I think this is the least they can do.
If I'm going to have to pay more each month, I'd much rather have added functionality rather than pretty accounting reports that I don't even use in the first place!
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Magz O'Donovan commented
100% agree. Not being able to see who has a timesheet sitting in draft is a big problem for our payroll admin team and creates unrest in the staff when they don't get paid because they forgot one step in their timesheet.
Could "submit" be automated so that when the payroll week end clicks over the timesheet auto-submits to draft on Monday or whatever the payroll week end is set at?
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Jim Morris commented
Yeah, not happy to fix such a simple problem that would alleviate so much hassle for us...but certainly happy enough to up the price again (to nearly $100/month now for a Premium 10 sub!).
If I even used much of the vaunted added functionality they've put into Xero, I wouldn't be so annoyed...but I simply don't use much more than I did when we got it nearly 9 years ago - which, incidentally, has been the length of time this issue has been a thorn in my side!
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Tara Younger commented
I had high hopes of being able to contain a small basic payroll to Xero without the need for manual records or an add on product. This one issue has foiled that as I now have a couple of employees with draft timesheets they cannot delete, so the hours records for those time periods are now incomplete. Don't even get me started on the state of the ugly timesheet reports. What is the point of the report if we can't even align it to the payroll calendar!
We know this has been raised many many more times than 32 and goes back as a frustration for many years. So I'm sure this is a duplicated product idea, a good way to dilute the actual importance of the issue.
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Richard Angus commented
I 1000% agree. Who pays for the subscription? The owners and the payroll staff/person hold all the responsibility. I am pretty shocked that this is still an issue after so many years
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VJ Boland commented
Our whole payroll held up for a day (ok became, 1st morning job to last minute as leaving for week job) after employee took ALL DAY to resubmit despite numerous requests. This is unacceptable to all as I should have been able to make the change necessary to complete the payrun. Please Xero let those holding all of the responsibility make the changes on timesheets as those not in payroll, often don't get the importance and impact of their actions on the wider workforce. I also wear about 20 hats of which payroll is one so it is imperative that it is timely and not having to wait for others.
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Jim Morris commented
Nope, sorry Renee, that still misses the whole point of what we are trying to achieve. As the owner/payroll manager, I should not need to wait for the employee to press submit in the first place. I also should not need them to resubmit if it needs to be reverted. I should be able to see the draft, edit the draft and submit it for them if necessary.
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Renee Hall commented
I have seen Xero make changes to their timesheets and have done a brief test. An employee can now submit a timesheet for approval and the administrator/approver/finance officer can edit and correct anything prior to approval. Once approved it can either be edited or pushed back to draft and the employee will have to re-submit. This is so far a better option.
Suggest others give it a try too!
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Jade Lindsay commented
As a payroll officer, I should have the ability to view and/or edit a draft timesheet for all employees. This would make the payroll process easier and less time consuming when approving timesheets. Xero should include this feature in the next update.
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Linda Minogue commented
Totally agree. As the owner of a business I find this extremely frustrasting and such a waste of my time having to request an employee resubmit their timesheet.
This has the potential to hold up the whole pay run! -
Helen Ricketts commented
It is such a waste of time chasing employees to resubmit their timesheets if an error is found and it is reverted to draft. Provided there is an audit trail for who has changed/approved the timesheet there should be no problem adding this functionality.
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Ellie McDonald commented
It’s critical payroll admin have the capability to do this. It’s a ridiculous waste of time to chase our employees to do book work.
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strider duerinckx commented
Quickbooks allows employers to revert to draft, see the timesheet and amend if required.
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Jim Morris commented
We want to be able to open and complete the employees timesheet, if it has already been started. I have enough to do without starting again from scratch what the employee may have already done but just not clicked the submit button.
It is idiotic that, as the owner and payroll manager, that I cannot see an employee's draft timesheets.
We have been asking for this sort of functionality for years! Xero keeps ignoring us or offering up completely useless alternatives because they don't appear to understand what it is like being the business owner/pay roll admin...ironic, isn't it?