Global Payroll Employee Time Off Sync with Personio

Remote now sync approved future time off data from Personio, allowing customers to use Personio as the single source of truth for worker time off reporting in Remote. This feature enables the automatic transfer of time off information from Personio to Remote, ensuring accurate and up-to-date records. Additionally, customers can map different time off types between the two platforms and customize their data synchronization preferences.

In this article, we will explain:

• Is the Personio integration right for me?
• How to ensure aligned balances for time off in Personio and Remote
• How to configure the time off integration
• Disable the time off integration
• Integration recommendations
• Guidelines for employees
• Troubleshooting errors in time off syncs
• Frequently asked questions

Is the Personio integration right for me?

Before enabling the integration, it is important to understand who it is available for and how data is synced to ensure it meets your needs. Below are key details about the time off integration to help you decode if it’s the right fit for you:

• Data synced: The integration syncs approved time off requests with future start dates, along with any updates or cancellations of those requests.
  • Past time off requests are not synced, as differences between the two platforms could make it difficult for Remote to determine the source of truth. For past time off (including new approved requests, changes, and cancellations), employees must manually update both Personio and Remote to ensure payroll accuracy.
  • The integration does not sync unapproved time off requests in Personio.
  • Only time off requests for employees who have been synced through the integration and are actively onboarded in Remote will be included.
• Sync direction: One-way from Personio to Remote.
• Customer types covered: GP customers (time off for contractors is currently excluded).
• Time off mapping: During setup, you will map time off types between the two systems to ensure accurate synchronization.

How to ensure aligned time off balances in Personio and Remote

In addition to syncing approved time off requests through the integration, several factors influence balance calculations in both Personio and Remote, including:

• Public holiday calendars
• Time off request history since the start of employment
• Yearly allowances per leave type
• Carryover rules for unused time off

If maintaining aligned balances across both systems is important to you, consider standardizing time off policies in Personio and Remote before or shortly after enabling the integration.

Remote’s time off data will be used for payroll calculations. To ensure consistency, you can manually copy Remote’s public holiday information, carryover rules, and yearly entitlements into Personio, as this cannot be done through API integration.

If time off data differences are not addressed at this stage, a more thorough review and alignment will be required during offboarding to ensure accurate payment for any unused paid time off. However, if having identical balances in Personio and Remote is not a priority for you, you may choose to skip this alignment.

How to configure the time off integration

If you have not set up the Personio integration yet, follow these steps before proceeding.

Once you have the Personio integration in Remote, you can enable the time off integration feature by following these steps:

Add additional permissions to your API credentials

To access time off data, the API credentials require additional permissions beyond those needed for employee data sync.

1. In Personio, go to Settings > Integrations > API Credentials.
2. Enable the following permission: Absences (Read)
3. Click Update to save the changes.

Map time off between Personio and Remote

Since your company’s time off types may differ in Personio and Remote, mapping them correctly ensures seamless data synchronization. For example, maternity leave might be labeled as “FMLA” in Personio but “Maternity Leave” in Remote. Proper mapping ensures accuracy across both platforms.

Follow these steps to configure time off mapping:

1. Navigate to Company Settings > Integrations > Personio for GP.
2. On the Personio integration page, go to the Settings tab.
3. Click on Map Now.
4. Select the time off type from Personio and match it to the corresponding type in Remote. You can also map to custom leave types in Remote, such as self-care days or birthday leave.
5. Once all time off types are mapped, click Save to confirm your changes.

Enable auto-sync for approved time off requests

To activate automatic syncing of approved time off requests, follow these steps:

1. From Personio for GP > Settings, toggle the Automatically sync time off requests option.
2. Perform an instant sync by navigating to the Overview tab and clicking the Sync button.
3. Review any errors in the Time Off tab and resolve them as needed.

Disable time off integration

If you need to disable the time off integration without affecting the employee data integration for Personio, simply turn off the toggle Automatically sync time off requests in Personio for GP settings. Previously synced time off data in Remote will not be deleted.

Integration recommendations

• Regularly review the People, Time Off, and Events tabs to check for any time off requests that could not be processed automatically. We recommend doing this once a month, ideally before the payroll cutoff date, to ensure any errors are resolved in time.
• Currently, time off sync applies only to Global Payroll employees and not to full-time RO employees or contractors.
• When employees request time off in Remote, they will receive a product notification directing them to submit requests in Personio instead. Approved requests will then sync automatically to Remote. However, the ability to add time off in Remote will remain available for correcting past entries if required.
• To prevent discrepancies, time off should not be added directly in Remote unless it is for past corrections.

Guidance for employees

If your country uses the Personio↔Remote time off integration, your future time off requests in Personio will automatically sync to Remote. However, you may still need to log time off in Remote in the following cases:

1. Fixing past time off records
   Remote only syncs future time off requests. If you need to add a time off request for a past date, you must update entries in both Personio and Remote.
   • Example: On March 1, 2025, your company enabled the Personio time off integration. On March 10, you realize you forgot to log your time off for March 5. In this case, you should add the time off request in both platforms. Going forward, however, you will only need to submit requests in Personio.
2. Updating or cancelling past time off requests
   If you need to adjust or cancel a past time off request, you need to make the change in Remote, as this affects payroll.
   • Example: You had an approved time off request for Feb 1-9, 2025, but you only took leave from Feb 1-5. Since your company enabled the Personio integration on March 1, 2025, you need to correct the dates in both Personio and Remote to ensure accurate payroll processing.
3. Resolving conflicting future time off requests
   If there is an overlap or inconsistency between Personio and Remote, you need to manually correct the request in one of the platforms.
   • Example 1: You have a time off request in Remote for April 1-3, but in Personio, the same request is for April 1-5. You need to correct one of the requests to match the other.
   • Example 2: You have a future time off request in both Personio and Remote for the same dates, but with different time off types. You need to manually adjust one of the requests to maintain consistency.
4. Avoiding partial-hour time off requests
   Remote only supports whole-hour increments for time off requests. If you submit a request in Personio for partial hours (e.g., 3 hours and 20 minutes), Remote will round this time using the following rules:
   • If the request is less than 0.5 hours, it is rounded down to the nearest whole number. For example, 4 hours 20 minutes will be rounded off to 4 hours.
   • If the request is 0.5 hours or more, it is rounded up to the next whole number. For example, 4 hours 50 minutes will be rounded up to 5 hours.
   • For requests based on a percentage of workday, the total time off hours will be calculated as: (number of work hours per day) x (leave percentage). The result is then rounded using the same rules mentioned above.

By following these guidelines, you can ensure accurate time off tracking and payroll processing in both Personio and Remote.

Troubleshooting errors in time off sync

In some cases, Remote may not be able to automatically process incoming time off data from Personio due to conflicting or missing information. You can review skipped time off requests and errors in the Time Off and Events sections. Employees must correct the issue in either Personio or Remote, depending on where the error originated.

Listed below are some common error messages and their solutions:

1. Time off with type [TYPE] was not synced due to unexisting mapping for this time off type

• Description: This error occurs when a time off request in Personio is not mapped to a corresponding type in Remote.
• Solution: Ensure all time off types in Personio are mapped to an existing type in Remote. You can do this by reviewing the time off type mapping in the integration settings.

2. Error when time off type is not allowed for a given country

• Description: This error appears when a mapped time off type is not permitted in the employee’s country.
• Solution: Map the time off type to one that is valid for the employee’s country and perform manual sync to resolve the issue.

3. Error when time off overlaps a single Remote time off

• Error message: The error message will start with: Time off couldn't sync because time off [EXISTING REMOTE TIMEOFF SLUG] already exists with different... Possible variations of the ending of this error message are:
  • end_date: [EXISTING REMOTE TIMEOFF END DATE]
  • start_date: [EXISTING REMOTE TIMEOFF START DATE]
  • status: [EXISTING REMOTE TIMEOFF STATUS]
  • timeoff_type: [EXISTING REMOTE TIMEOFF TYPE]
• Description: This error occurs when the time off request overlaps with an existing entry in Remote but contains conflicting details.
• Solutions:
  • If possible, update either Remote or Personio so that the fields match and sync again.
  • If the conflict cannot be resolved, cancel the overlapping time off request and sync again.

4. Multiple existing time off records were found, so we couldn’t sync this time off. Their identities are: [REMOTE TIMEOFF SLUG, REMOTE TIMEOFF SLUG…]

• Description: This error occurs when multiple time off entries exist in Remote, preventing a successful sync.
• Solutions:
  • If possible, update either Remote or Personio so only one time off entry perfectly matches.
  • If the above approach is not possible, cancel the overlapping time off entries and attempt syncing again.

5. Time off with more than 8 hours a day requested: %{timeoff_days: [”maximum hours requested for a day reached”]}

• Description: This error occurs when an employee requests more than 8 hours of time off in a single day. Remote allows a maximum of 8 hours per working day.
• Solutions:
  • Ask the employee to update their time off request and adjust the number of hours accordingly.
  • Verify the working hours settings in Personio, as Personio’s default may be set to 9 hours per day, while Remote allows a maximum of 8 hours.

Frequently asked questions

My balances in Personio and Remote do not match

If your time off balances differ between Personio and Remote, check the following in both systems:

• Public holiday calendars
• Time off request history since the start of employment
• Yearly allowances per leave type
• Carryover rules for unused time off

Remote syncs only approved future time off requests. Since these additional factors also contribute to balance calculations, any discrepancies in them may result in mismatched balances between the two systems.

Time off requests for employee not syncing on Remote

Time off requests are only synced for active employees (fully onboarded in Remote) and have been successfully integrated. To check which employees are synced:

1. Go to the People tab in Remote.
2. If any employee is missing, add that employee by following these steps.

Need further assistance?

If you are unable to resolve the issues after following the mentioned steps, please contact our support at help@remote.com and provide the following:

• A screenshot of the Time Off tab showing the syncing error (hover over the ‘Failed’ tag to view the error details).
• A screenshot of the corresponding time off request in Personio.