Note that to use this integration, your company must have a legal entity based in UK. 🇬🇧

This article explains how to prepare and set up the integration with Xero Payroll. To learn how to use integration, refer to our article Use the Xero Integration.

Overview

What is Xero?

Xero is a leading cloud-based accounting software, which includes payroll services. With the HMRC-recognized Xero Payroll, companies can administer their payroll processes effectively.

What is the scope of the integration?

You can sync the following data with the Xero integration:

Employee data (personal data, employment data, national insurance data)
Creation of an employee in Xero from Personio via the integration
Fixed salaries
Salary & Compensations (one-time and recurring compensations)
Payment method information
Personio time off to Xero Leave (paid vacation, unpaid vacation, sick leave)

The following sync of data is not supported:

The sync of bonus payouts
The sync of hourly workers
Terminating employment
The sync of hourly time off

Step 1: Prepare your account & complete attributes

Prepare your Personio Account

Your account requires compatible attributes to successfully transfer data between Personio and Xero. To book the Xero integration directly in Personio via the Marketplace, follow these steps.

Go to the Marketplace in the navigation bar.
Search for Xero.
Click Book integration.

Once you request the integration via our Marketplace, our Customer Operations team will help you check your current attribute set and add all missing fields to your account. The missing attributes will be created for all employee profiles in the section:

Xero UK

After completing the attribute setup, the Customer Operations Team will enable the Integration for your account. To use the integration, complete the following steps in your Personio account.

Complete the attributes

You must complete all attributes before using the integration. You have two options to complete any new attributes added to your account.

Manually complete all attributes
Complete all attributes using the import template located at the bottom left of this page. Find out how to conduct an employee data import in our article on the topic.

When filling in attributes, refer to the aspects below.

Define which employees to consider in the sync

When filling in values, two attributes require special attention, as they define if an employee should be considered in the sync and under which identifier:

Include in UK Payroll: Set attribute to Yes for all employees, whose data must be transferred with the integration. Set it to No for any employees to exclude from the sync.
Email: Serves as a unique identifier between the two systems and ensures the correct matching of employee data during the sync.

Note:
▶ ︎Before syncing data, all employees in Xero must have email addresses. The integration uses email addresses to link employees between Personio and Xero. Email addresses must exist in both systems, and must match.
▶ ︎If you are rehiring former employees, you can use the rehire feature, transferring all employee data from the inactive employee profile to the new one. For detailed guidance, refer to our Help center article on rehiring former employees. Note that Xero will reject rehiring employees if their old employment is archived. To ensure a smooth integration with Xero, either a new email must be provided, or the email used on the previous records in Personio and Xero must be changed. The Payroll ID, used to distinguish employments with HMRC, must be changed to one that has not been previously used for this employee.

Validations

To maintain high data quality and ensure seamless compatibility across systems, Personio includes data validations for specific attributes. These validations act as checks to verify if the provided values match the expected format. Should a discrepancy arise, error notifications appear either in the employee profile or within the Payroll Xero Integration, so you can promptly address and rectify any issues encountered.

List of attributes for the Xero Integration

Name (Personio)	Form > Name (Xero)	Additional Context
Include in UK payroll		Defines the employees included in the sync with Xero.
Email	Personal details > Email address	Used as the unique identifier between the two systems
Title	Personal details > Title
First name	Personal details > First name
Last name	Personal details > Last name
Legal gender	Personal details > Gender
Date of birth	Personal details > Date of birth
Address Line 1	Personal details > Home address
Address, Addition	Personal details > Home address
Address, City	Personal details > Home address
Address, Postcode	Personal details > Home address
Address, Country	Personal details > Home address
Is off-payroll worker	Personal details > Off payroll worker	Only possible to select this via the integration. You must deselect in Xero.
Payroll ID	Employment information > Employee number	Utilized on the FPS to uniquely identify employments. Must be unique per legal entity. Do not change it or re-used for re-hires.
Hire Date	Employment information > Employment start date
Weekly Working Hours	Employment information > Working pattern	Distributed over a Monday-to-Friday working pattern. This will override any non-Mon-Fri patterns each time you update the salary/hours in Personio. You must make any post change/sync amendments directly in Xero.
National Insurance Category	Employment information > National insurance category
National Insurance Number	National Insurance Number
Payment Method	Payment method > Payment method	You can only make bank changes for new starters (you must make updates in Xero.)
Account Name	Payment method > Account name	You can only make bank changes for new starters (you must make updates in Xero.)
Account Number	Payment method > Account number	You can only make bank changes for new starters (you must make updates in Xero.)
Sort Code	Payment method > Sort code	You can only make bank changes for new starters (you must make updates in Xero.)

Step 2: Authorize & configure the Integration

Authorize the integration

Authorization is the first step to guarantee that you have linked your Personio account to the correct Xero account. To complete the authorization, you need specific permissions.

Personio:

Edit rights for the Payroll
Edit rights for Payroll Configurations

In Xero:

The person authorizing the integration must be the payroll admin in Xero.

Authorize the integration with Xero

You need to authorize each legal entity to one Xero tenant. Multiple legal entities in Personio can be authorized to different Xero tenants.

To authorize the integration, follow these steps:

In Personio go to Payroll > Xero Payroll.
Open the Manage tab.
In the general settings, choose the legal entity you want to complete the authorization for.
Click Connect Xero. You will be forwarded to Xero. If you aren't logged in, you must log in and select the correct organization to connect.
Grant permission to the integration. The authorization occurs, and your return back to Personio.

The Personio Xero authorization page now shows all details regarding the completed authorization.

Configure Xero integration settings

After the authorization, you must configure pay groups, pay frequencies, and compensations in Payroll > Xero Payroll > Manage for the relevant legal entity.

Pay groups

Select if you want to create different payroll groups according to salary types (fixed, hourly salary).

Pay frequencies

Select the pay period calendar relevant to your legal entity. Currently, the integration only supports monthly pay period calendars.

Compensation configuration

Except for hourly salaries and bonuses, the Xero Integration supports the sync of compensation data (fixed salary, recurring compensations, one-time compensations) between both systems. You can find more information on what compensation data can be maintained in Personio in the Help Center article Salary Components in Personio.

You can map your existing compensations in Personio to Xero Earnings. Your existing Xero Earnings will appear for a given Personio compensation type based on the Xero Earnings Category. Currently, “Regular Earnings” and “Other Earnings” can be mapped in Personio and synced to Xero:

Fixed Salary (Personio) can be mapped to Xero Earnings with the Earnings Category “Regular Earnings”.
Recurring and one-time compensations can be mapped to Xero Earnings with the Earnings Category “Other Earnings”.

To learn more about how compensations are synced, refer to the Xero Usage article.

Note:
The Personio fixed salary can only be mapped to a single Xero earning. In case multiple Xero earnings for fixed salary exist, the fixed salary sync is not recommended.

Step 3: Complete the setup and start your transfer

Complete setup and payroll data transfer

You have now completed the configurations for the Payroll Integration with Xero. If you would like to learn how to transfer your monthly payroll data, follow the instructions in our Help Center article on using the Xero (UK) Integration and syncing Personio Time off to Xero Leave.

Find the answers you need

Set-up the Xero Integration