12 minutes
Remote Payroll Setup
Connect Remote to Hubstaff to send your contractors’ approved hours to Remote automatically, so you never have to re-enter timesheets for payroll.
- This integration is available to organizations on a Hubstaff plan that includes payroll. It only supports contractors in Remote. Employer of Record (EOR) and full-time or Global Payroll employees aren’t supported and won’t appear when linking members.
- If you’re not a Company Admin in Remote, you’ll reach the end of the connection flow before seeing an access-denied message. Confirm your Remote role before starting.
Before you begin
You’ll need all of the following before you connect Remote:
- A Hubstaff plan that includes payroll (e.g., Team plan and up).
- Company Admin access in Remote. The person who clicks Connect must have this role in Remote, or the connection will fail at the end of the process.
- At least one contractor employment already set up in Remote.
- Timesheet approvals enabled in Hubstaff. Without this, nothing triggers a sync. See Setting up Timesheet Approvals.
What the Remote integration does
- Sends approved contractor hours from Hubstaff to Remote automatically once a timesheet is approved.
- Payment itself still happens in Remote. Hubstaff sends the hours; it doesn’t process payment.
- Syncs in one direction only: hours flow from Hubstaff to Remote. Pay rates, employee records, and member creation don’t sync back to Hubstaff.
What this integration doesn’t do
- It doesn’t sync time off or PTO.
- It doesn’t link members automatically. Hubstaff suggests matches, and an organization owner or admin confirms them.
Connecting Remote to Hubstaff
You can connect Remote either from the Manage Payroll page or directly from Settings > Integrations. Both lead to the same setup flow.
From the Manage Payroll page
Step 1
Go to Financials > Manage Payroll.
Step 2
In the Payment Workflow section, enable HRIS integration.
Step 3
Select Remote from the available HRIS options.
Step 4
Follow the prompts to authenticate with your Remote account. Continue with Step 2 under “Authenticating with Remote” below.
Settings > Integrations
Step 1
Go to Settings > Integrations, then click Connect next to Remote.
Step 2
Review the setup requirements, then click Next. This step confirms you have a Remote account, Company Admin access, and that contractor employments are already set up in Remote.
Step 3
You’ll be redirected to Remote and asked to authorize access. Click Approve to continue.
Linking members
Once connected, Hubstaff shows how many Remote contractors it found and lets you choose Sync all or Select from list.
Hubstaff tries to match each Remote contractor to a Hubstaff member automatically, checking for an existing link, then a matching email address, then a similar name. Matched people appear together, and you resolve anything unmatched by hand.
A few things to know about linking:
- If a contractor has more than one employment in Remote, you’ll need to pick the correct employment from a dropdown. It doesn’t resolve automatically.
- Newly added members start as Disabled and won’t sync hours until you enable them.
- Manual re-sync is limited to once every 15 minutes. Clicking it repeatedly won’t speed things up.
- Daily automatic re-sync of members is off by default. Turn it on in the integration settings if you want new or updated matches picked up automatically.
The members table shows both the Hubstaff and Remote name for each person, along with their pay period, rate, sync status, and Edit, Disable, and Delete actions.
How hours reach Remote
Once a timesheet is approved in Hubstaff, its hours sync to Remote. This works whether the approval happens through the web app, batch approval, or an admin approving on a member’s behalf.
Step 1
Go to Timesheets > Approvals.
Step 2
Click Actions next to the member’s timesheet, then click Approve.
The timesheet shows a sync status, then updates once it’s synced. In Remote, the same pay period appears on the contractor’s timesheet with the synced entries.
What syncs to Remote:
- Regular tracked time, always.
- Paid breaks, but only if your organization has break tracking configured and the break is paid.
What never syncs:
- Unpaid breaks.
- On-call time. Hubstaff doesn’t have an equivalent to Remote’s on-call tracking.
- Timesheets with zero tracked time. Approving an empty timesheet doesn’t sync anything and won’t show an error.
Managing or disconnecting the integration
From the integration’s edit screen, you can Reauthenticate or Delete integration. Remote also appears under Financials > Manage payroll > Payment workflow > HRIS Integrations.
Important: Disconnecting in Hubstaff removes Hubstaff’s stored access to Remote, but doesn’t revoke that access on Remote’s side. If you want the connection fully removed, also revoke Hubstaff’s access from within your Remote account.
If you disconnect in the middle of a pay period, any timesheets approved after that point won’t sync, and your organization sees the standard notification that those members have no payroll connection.
Troubleshooting
Why didn’t anything show up in Remote after I approved a timesheet?
If the timesheet had zero tracked time, approving it doesn’t sync anything and won’t produce an error. Check that the member tracked time during that period.
Why can’t I connect my Remote account?
You need Company Admin access in Remote to complete the connection. Confirm your role with your Remote account owner.
Why isn’t a specific person showing up to link?
Only contractors sync with this integration. EOR and full-time or Global Payroll employees in Remote won’t appear in the list.