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How to Update an Employee’s Current Status

In this article:

Understanding Employee Statuses

Additional statuses and effective dates are coming soon payroll customers!

Each employee status reflects their employment standing and affects whether they appear on the payroll screen (step one of payroll):

  • Active: The employee is currently working and included in payroll.
  • Inactive: The employee is not currently working but is still on file (e.g., seasonal or furloughed).
    • New hires with are “inactive” until the effective hire date (or first payroll date if paying before a the hire date). 
    • Inactive employees are not included when running payroll past the “Final Payroll Date” set.
  • Leave of Absence: (Coming soon for payroll customers!) The employee is on approved leave and temporarily not working. Employees on Leave of Absence are included when running payroll unless a “Final Payroll Date” set.
  • Terminated: (Coming soon for payroll customers!) The employee is no longer employed and is excluded from payroll. This can be due to the employee quitting or being fired. Terminated employees are not included in payroll past the “Final Payroll Date”set. 

Types of Employment Status Updates

When managing employee statuses you have the flexibility to record different types of updates depending on the timing:

  1. Current Status Updates – Use this when the change is happening today. This immediately updates the employee’s current status in the system. For example, an employee changed from Active to Leave of Absence effective today. Learn how to update a current status.
  2. Future Status Updates (Pending Status) – (Coming soon for payroll customers!) Use this when you have changes that will take place in the future on a specific date. For example, a new hire who starts next week, or an employee who will be leaving at the end of the month. Check out our help article, “Using Pending Employee Statuses,” for more info.
  3. Past Status History Entries –(Coming soon for payroll customers!) Use this if you would like to record previous employment status changes. This is helpful if you are just starting to record employment statuses, or are coming from a different software.  Adding a status history doesn’t affect the current status, and is stored in the Status History section of the employee “Work Info” section on the employee record. See “How to Use and Update Employee Status History” to update prior employment statuses for your employees. 

How to Update an Employee’s Current Status

There are two ways to update or edit an employee’s current status effective today:

  1. From the employee list:
    1. Payroll > Employees > Employee List
    2. Click the dropdown by the employee’s name in the status column
    3. Select the Status from the dropdown list: Active, Inactive, Leave of Absence Coming soon! , or Terminated.
    4. Enter the Effective Date of the status change. (Coming soon for payroll customers!)
      • If you enter a future date, it will display as a Pending Status. 
    5. If updating the employee status to Inactive, Leave of Absence, or Terminated, enter the Final Pay date (Optional). 
    6. Enter a Reason (optional)
    7. Enter any Comments (optional)
    8. Click Save.
  2. From the employee record
    1. Payroll > Employees > Employee List > {select Employee’s Name} > Employee Info
    2. Click the ‘Edit’ option next to the Employee’s name
    3.  Find the “Status” section.
    4.  Click the “Edit” icon in the current status row.
    5. Select the Status from the dropdown list: Active, Inactive, Leave of Absence, or Terminated.
    6. Enter the “Hire date” if this is a new employee, or the Effective Date if changing a status.
      • When changing an employee status, you won’t be able to enter a future date—only today or a date in the past. If you want to enter a future date status change, use the +Add a Pending Status link. Check out our help article, Using Pending Employee Statuses to learn more.
    7. Enter payroll effective dates (Coming soon for payroll customers!)
      • (Optional) If adding a New Hire and you want to pay the employee before the hire date, click the “Pay this employee before the Hire Date” box, and enter a “Payroll Start Date.” 
      • (Optional) If updating the employee status to Inactive, Leave of Absence, or Terminated, enter the Final Pay Date. 
    8. Enter a Reason (Optional)
    9. Enter any Comments (Optional)
    10. Click Save.

Understand how rehire dates work

If you rehire an employee, the rehire date will be shown on the Employee Info tab under the status section. The original hire date will remain in the Status History section.

Several reports include both the Hire Date and a Rehire Date (if there is one). The Hire Date in the reports will be the value of the first “Hire Date” field on the employee’s record. The Rehire Date will be the most recent effective date associated with an “Active Status” in the Status History section.

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