What Is QuickBooks Workforce?

Intuit QuickBooks’ Workforce service makes it much easier for employers to share paycheck information with their employees online. By activating QuickBooks Workforce, you can give your employees control over when and how they want to review their W-2 forms and pay stubs.

This article will cover the ins and outs of the QuickBooks Workforce, including how to quickly set up the service so you and your employees can start using this helpful payroll tool.

What Is QuickBooks Workforce?

The QuickBooks Workforce tool lets employees access and print their W-2 forms and pay stubs online. Once employers set their staff up in QuickBooks Workforce, employees can get notified of their latest paychecks after payroll is run. Your employees can then view their payments online at any time since Workforce integrates with your company’s existing payroll service.

QuickBooks Workforce will give your employees 24/7 access to their pay stubs and all their required payroll tax information, which used to be under the purview of Intuit’s ViewMyPaycheck service. Intuit has since migrated ViewMyCheck’s features to their Workforce service, although it has maintained the same capabilities and remains functionally identical. Workforce, the same as ViewMyPaycheck, still allows employees to access their pay history and W-2s once they are signed into Workforce or have been invited to use the service by their employer.

The ease of use of this tool is a big perk of using QuickBooks Payroll and is one of the reasons QuickBooks Payroll makes it onto our list of the best payroll software for businesses.

What Is The QuickBooks Workforce Mobile App?

As of June 2023, the QuickBooks Time mobile app has been renamed QuickBooks Workforce and combines pay management and time tracking features in a single app. Employees can use the QuickBooks Workforce app to clock in and out, view pay stubs, view tax documents, view time sheets, review staffing, and track projects. Employers can update employees, approve time, track projects, and more from within the app.

If your business subscribes to both QuickBooks Payroll and QuickBooks Time, your employees will be able to access pay and time tracking features through the QuickBooks Workforce mobile app. However, if your business subscribes to only one of these services, you’ll only have access to pay management or time tracking features.

Unlike the QuickBooks Workforce app, the QuickBooks Workforce online portal doesn’t include any time-tracking features.

How Does QuickBooks Workforce Work?

QuickBooks Workforce simplifies the way employees can access and review their payroll records securely online via a self-service portal. Workforce is a web-based solution with no extra cost attached to it in order to activate it.

Employees who already use Intuit’s payroll services can simply use their QuickBooks credentials to log in and begin using QuickBooks Workforce, once they’ve been invited by their employer. Alternatively, they can choose to make a brand new account once they’ve requested a Workforce signup from Intuit.

Workforce integrates with Intuit’s desktop version of QuickBooks, which means employers can easily toggle on the Workforce service through QuickBooks Desktop’s Payroll Cloud Services window. Once you’ve approved your update in QuickBooks, you can begin inviting your employees to use the Workforce service or notify them that they can now sign in with their existing Intuit QuickBooks credentials themselves.

QuickBooks Online Payroll also allows employers to invite their employees to start using Workforce. All versions of QuickBooks Online Payroll can provide employee access to Workforce as well as the ability for employers to invite employees to begin adding and updating their personal information within Workforce.

How Much Does QuickBooks Workforce Cost?

QuickBooks Workforce costs $0 for QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll users. Users can switch on the QuickBooks Workforce feature at no additional cost to them or their current Intuit QuickBooks subscription plan.

Since Workforce is a pre-loaded feature that comes as part of the QuickBooks payroll, users don’t need to pay for any installation or signup fees if and when they want to activate it.

How To Set Up QuickBooks Workforce In QuickBooks Online Payroll

Getting yourself and your employees set up in QuickBooks Workforce is simple and requires following just a few steps. Once your employees have access to the Workforce service, they can start reviewing their pay stubs and W-2s with ease themselves, whenever they need.

QuickBooks Online Payroll users can use any version of their QuickBooks Online to start using Workforce.

Step 1: Add Your Employees To Workforce

Using the Employees section via the Payroll tab, employers can choose to add employees as well as their email addresses to automatically invite them to review their paychecks.

If you are adding a new employee, you have the option to ask the employee to add their personal information when they sign up for Workforce. this can save you some time on admin.

Step 2: Have Your Employees Set Up Their Account Via Email

Once you’ve invited your employees through the QuickBooks Online payroll center, let your employees know and encourage them to add their information. This way, they can begin reviewing their W-2s and pay stubs.

As an admin, you can view the status of an employee’s setup in your employee list.

Step 3: Optionally Add QuickBooks Time (Formerly TSheets)

If your business has an active QuickBooks Time subscription, you can send your employees an invitation to begin tracking time using QuickBooks Time.

If you intend to have employees track time using the QuickBooks Workforce mobile app, send this invitation out at the same time to get employee sign-ups done in one fell swoop.

How To Set Up QuickBooks Workforce In QuickBooks Desktop

Using QuickBooks Workforce on QuickBooks Desktop is a simple process. Follow these three steps to get Workforce set up and going so that your employees can start checking their payroll information themselves.

Step 1: Activate QuickBooks Workforce As An Administrator

QuickBooks Desktop users can immediately activate the Workforce solution from their account as soon as they’re logged in. Before you get started though, double-check that your desktop version is running the latest version release and updates to its payroll features. Otherwise, you or your employees may run into issues when trying to sign in or accept your invitations to start using Workforce.

Once you’re sure that your QuickBooks Desktop has been properly updated, simply access your Manage Payroll Cloud Services window through your Employees tab. You should see the prompt to activate QuickBooks Workforce with an on/off toggle. Toggle Workforce as ‘On’, make sure you save and apply your changes, and return to the main screen of QuickBooks Desktop.

Step 2: Invite Your Employees to QuickBooks Workforce

Now that you’ve activated Workforce through your QuickBooks Desktop account, you can start inviting your employees to use Workforce from their own accounts. Navigate to the same Manage Payroll Cloud Services window that you previously used to activate Workforce to invite your employees from a preloaded list.

You can add as many or as few employees as you’d like to invite, provided that they’ve set up their accounts beforehand. Make sure to remind your employees to enable notifications for new pay stubs as they become available on Workforce, as well as to add any necessary personal and financial information, such as their W-4s and bank account numbers, if applicable.

Step 3: Upload Historical Paycheck Data

For the best results, Intuit recommends that you only upload checks from the current year and only in batches of up to 200 checks. Paychecks from January 2021 and on will automatically upload, so you’ll only need to manually upload paychecks before that date.

Before uploading prior paychecks, make sure you’ve made your current payroll run.

To upload prior paychecks, hit File->Print Forms->Print Pay Stubs. Make sure you select the appropriate date range for your historical paycheck data. From there, you can begin uploading and sending the current calendar year paycheck with the PIN you use for Intuit QuickBooks.

How To Use QuickBooks Workforce Online As An Employee

Maybe your HR director just told you about a new tool called QuickBooks Workforce that you will be using, or maybe you received a random email about QuickBooks Workforce. QuickBooks Workforce is a tool that makes it easy to view your paychecks and payroll documentation. Here’s what you need to know about getting started with Workforce.

To start using QuickBooks Workforce, you’ll be sent an email by your employer. When you open the email, you’ll need to sign in and set up your account.

Once you’ve set up your Workforce account, you can immediately begin viewing your pay stubs. Go to the Paychecks section to view pay stubs based on the date range they define in Workforce.

You can also download and print paychecks through the same section, and can even download all paychecks at once within a defined date range. Workforce also lets you view your W-2 forms B, C, and 2 from the W-2 section.

As an employee, you can download the QuickBooks Workforce mobile app to view your paystub information at any time. If your employer has a subscription to QuickBooks Time, you may also be asked to use the QuickBooks Workforce mobile app to clock in and out.

QuickBooks Workforce FAQs