Connect UK Payroll in Bob

Connect UK Payroll and Bob for seamless HR and payroll processes.

Get the most out of Bob

Setting up the integration between Bob and UK Payroll will allow you to automatically sync the following information:

• Personal information
• Salaries and work patterns
• Leave dates, including Maternity/Paternity leave and sick leave
• Variable pay and actual pay information
• Organizational structure
• Documents, including payslips and P45s

Before you begin

Ensure you have restored the UK tax settings category for your employee profiles.

1. Navigate to Bob products > System Settings > Data management > People’s data fields.
2. Restore the archived UK tax settings category in People's data fields and add or remove any columns as necessary. To learn more, see How to use a previously archived item.

   Note: Existing employees’ tax information will automatically appear in their Bob profile.

3. Update any areas in Bob that use UK tax setting details, such as flows, tasks, and reports to ensure the data is being taken from this category.

If you have already set up webhooks, service users, and permissions, see Configure your HiBob integration.

How to set up webhooks

Before you integrate with HiBob, you'll need to set up Webhooks in Bob. To learn more, see Getting started with Webhooks.

1. Log into Bob.
2. From the top left, click Bob products > System Settings.
3. From the Integrations > Webhooks tile, click Manage.
4. Click Add a new subscriber.
5. Enter a Name (i.e. UK Payroll) and enter the following URL: https://payroll-uk.hibob.com/webhooks/hibob-integration.
6. From the Events dropdown menu, check each box next to all events or event groups to subscribe to all events. 
7. In Who to listen for, select all employees who are covered by UK Payroll. Their data will be sent to UK Payroll via the Webhook.
   

   Note: Ensure that you select all relevant employees, even if you have multiple service users that connect to UK Payroll.

8. Click Save. Bob will send a test event to the URL you provided with the "Ping test" string.

How to create a service user

Then, create a Service User in Bob. To learn more, see How to add a service user.

1. Log into Bob.
2. From the top left, click Bob products > System Settings.
3. From the left menu, select Integrations.
4. From the All categories dropdown menu, select Automation.
5. On the Service users tile, click Manage.
6. From the top, click + New service user.
7. Enter a unique name and a display name.

   Tip: Reference UK Payroll in the Service User and permission group names to make it easier to track.

8. Click Next.
9. The new API service user's ID and token will be displayed. Copy these and save them in a file or safe place in your environment.

   Note: You can't access the token again, so you must copy it now. If you lose your token, regenerate it by navigating to Service Users and clicking the three dot menu to the right of the relevant service user. Then, click Refresh token > Refresh.

10. Click Done.

Note: If you create a new service user, disconnect and integrate with HiBob again. Your previous mapping fields and settings will be preserved.

How to add the service user to the permission group

Then, add the service user to the correct permission group. To learn more, see How to add a service user to a permission group.

1. From the top left, click Bob products > System Settings.
2. From the left menu, select Account > Permission groups.
3. Click + Add permission group > Service user.
4. Enter a name for the permission group. You can also enter a description (optional).
5. From the Members dropdown, select your UK Payroll Service user and click Apply.
6. Click Create > Confirm. 
7. In Features, enable the following permissions:
   • People > Directory > View the company's people directory
   • Time off > Settings > See company's time off settings
8. In People's data > Access rights, select the radio button by Select people by condition.
9. Click Edit.
10. Set the condition to Lifecycle status Equals, and select all of the options (Hired, Employed, Terminated, Garden Leave, Leave, Parental Leave). Click Apply.
11. Click Apply.
12. Then, enable the following permissions:
    

    Notes:

    • Ensure that you are in the People's data section.
    • These permission groups are based on the original core Bob sections. If you have renamed any of the sections or sub-sections in your Bob instance, ensure you enable permissions correspondingly.
    • If you use custom fields, make sure you enable their permissions as well.

    Section	Sub-section	Permissions
    Docs	Shared Docs Note: This is the folder where payslips are sent. If this has been renamed in your Bob instance, make sure to enable permissions for the correct folder.	Delete selected employees' docs in the folder Upload selected employees' docs in the folder View selected employees' docs in the folder
    People	Address	View selected employees' Address sections
    	Basic Info	Edit selected employees' Basic Info sections View selected employees' Basic Info section histories View selected employees' Basic Info sections
    	Emergency	View selected employees' Emergency sections
    	Employment	View selected employees' Employment section histories View selected employees' Employment sections
    	Financial	View selected employees' Financial section histories View selected employees' Financial sections
    	Home Note: This section contains gender information. If you have a custom field for legal gender in a different section, make sure to assign permissions to that section.	View selected employees' Home sections
    	Identification	View selected employees' Identification sections
    	Lifecycle	View selected employees' Lifecycle section histories View selected employees' Lifecycle sections
    	Payroll	View selected employees' Payroll section histories View selected employees' Payroll sections
    	Personal	Edit selected employees' Personal sections View selected employees' Personal sections
    	UK tax settings	Edit selected employees' UK tax settings sections View selected employees' UK tax settings section histories View selected employees' UK tax settings sections
    	Work	Edit selected employees' Work sections View selected employees' Work section histories View selected employees' Work sections
    Time off	Balance	See selected people's time off and sick leave balances
    	See who's out today	See who's out today See who's out because of a private policy or policies with a custom name

13. Click Save.

How to connect to Bob in UK Payroll

1. From the left side bar in UK Payroll, navigate to Settings.
2. Under the Integrations heading, select Overview.
3. Click Integrate in the HiBob tile.
4. Enter the ID and Token for your service user and click Integrate.
5. Then, see Configure your HiBob integration.

FAQs

What does ⚡️ mean?
⚡️ is UK Payroll's sync indicator. The lightning symbol highlights the fields that are lined to other systems, such as HiBob or HMRC. It's there to remind you that if you change one of those fields in UK Payroll, it will be overwritten by information from the linked systems when next synced.

If a field doesn't have an integration option or it's set to Do not map, there won't be a sync indicator next to it.

How can I change my HiBob integration settings?
To amend your UK Payroll/HiBob integration settings, navigate to Settings > Integrations > Bob from the left side bar.

How is employee data synced?
Employee data is synced using the Employee ID, which must be the same in UK Payroll and Bob. UK Payroll is then populated with the employee data from HiBob for the defined fields in Mapping.

Note: HiBob is the source of truth for employee data. Mapped fields in UK Payroll will be overwritten with the HiBob value, even if the field in HiBob is null or empty. Multi-list fields can't be mapped and won't appear for selection as UK Payroll fields can only accept one value.

If an employee changes their bank details in Bob after payroll has been confirmed, will the net pay go to the new bank account?
Payment details are locked in for the transfer one day before your scheduled payday. If the employee's new bank details sync to UK Payroll before this day, they will get their salary paid into their new bank account.

Does data still sync from Bob once payroll is confirmed?
No changes can be made if payroll is awaiting approval or confirmation. This means any changes affecting payslip calculations aren't synced, e.g. salaries. Once payroll has been processed and paid, the sync will be re-enabled and salaries will be backdated as appropriate.

Data that does not affect payslip values will sync regardless of payroll status.

Why are employees showing as Pending?
You can check an employee's payroll status by navigating to Employees from the left side bar. Employees will only show as Ready once all the required information has been entered into and synced from Bob. To ensure you have all of the necessary information in Bob, see Ready your employees for payroll.

What if an employee's data is not syncing?
If you've just updated your employee's data in Bob, you may need to wait a short period for it to update. However, if after some time, the data is still not syncing, or if you have paused HiBob syncing, you can pull through an update by syncing individual employees.

1. Navigate to Employees from the left side bar and select the relevant employee.
2. Click Actions > Sync now.

If that still doesn't work, the information may have been entered incorrectly in Bob. For more information on ensuring flawless syncs, see Ready your employees for payroll.

Finally, if you are still having trouble syncing employee data, pause syncing and update UK Payroll directly. However, once the sync does work, the information on UK Payroll will be overwritten with Bob data. Make sure any changes made in UK Payroll are also updated in Bob.

How can I pause syncing?
Yes. If you want to update data directly in UK Payroll, navigate to System Settings > Integrations > Bob and toggle Pause syncing.

You can unpause the sync at any point, but if you don't update the data in HiBob, UK Payroll data will be overwritten with the values from Bob.

Note: If you pause syncing, it will not impact sending payslips to Bob on payday.

How do I re-integrate with Bob?

1. In UK Payroll, navigate to Settings > Integrations > Overview from the left side bar.
2. Click Integrate in the HiBob box.
3. Enter the ID and Token for your chosen Service User and select Integrate.

Why can't I find permissions in Bob?
HiBob allows you to rename sections, so the permissions listed in Bob might not match UK Payroll permission names. Check your Bob set-up to ensure the correct categories are syncing between Bob and UK Payroll. In Bob:

1. Navigate to System Settings.
2. Select Account > Permission Groups from the left side bar.
3. Select the relevant Permission Group and view the features and data that are currently available to the service user group.
4. Rename fields or permissions, if necessary. See How to add a new field or column for detailed instructions.

Can I enable webhooks?
Yes. Webhooks between UK Payroll and Bob, which allows for immediate syncs between the two platforms. If webhooks are not enabled, then data will sync from Bob every 12 hours. See Getting started with APIs and Webhooks for more information.

Can I exclude an employee from a sync?
Yes. See Exclude employees from Bob sync.

Tip: Set up the filters for employees you would like to exclude before saving any initial settings. Otherwise, UK Payroll will import all employees once connected.

Are payroll documents sent to Bob?
Yes. To learn more, see How to configure Documents.