In temporary employment agencies, the monthly payroll is made up of many variable assignment, time and wage data. The agency remains the employer, while the work is performed at the client company. It is precisely this connection that makes payroll accounting more demanding than in many standard cases.
Therefore, for Payroll in temporary employment, the host company, period of assignment, confirmed hours, pay grade, allowances, absences, and Working time account also move into focus alongside Employee master data and wage types.
Specific requirements arise during interruptions or changes between client companies, regarding equal pay timelines, working time accounts and data transfers. For the monthly payroll run, it is crucial to clearly assign such changes to the correct period and employee.
In personnel services, the payroll run combines several levels that must be cleanly separated and brought back together again. The personnel service provider is the employer and is therefore responsible for ongoing Payroll. However, the assignment takes place at the client company. As a result, billing-relevant information is generated both in the personnel service provider's company and in the host company.
Therefore, Temporary agency work involves a different data logic than many traditional employment relationships. In addition to entry, exit, tax characteristics and Social security, the monthly run also takes into account which client company the work was performed for, the period for which the assignment ran and which hours were confirmed.
ClassificationIn temporary agency work, the client company forms a central billing reference point. Assignment period, activity, industry sector, confirmed hours and potential supplementary pay depend directly on this allocation.
For recruitment agencies, this results in a particularly dynamic payroll process with industry-specific complexity. An employee can change assignments within the same month, fall ill, build up overtime or have hours confirmed at a later date. The payroll process must handle these movements in such a way that wage types, times and corrections match the respective assignment.
The timesheet combines the scheduled assignment time, time tracking and the hours actually worked in temporary employment billing. This shows which hours must be billed during the monthly run, which deviations must be checked and which corrections must be transparently noted in advance.
Particularly relevant are the start and end of the assignment, daily or weekly working hours, breaks, approved overtime and deviations from the schedule. If the host company confirms a timesheet late, billing lacks a central basis. This then results in queries, late submissions or corrections in the next payroll run.
Confirmed shift hoursYou control the ongoing payroll accounting and show whether planned and actual working hours match.
Late timesheetsYou can trigger recalculations if hours are only available for billing after the billing deadline.
An employment agency with multiple client businesses therefore needs a clear procedure that identifies delayed or unclear timesheets. In this way, absence hours, overtime and allowances can be correctly assigned to the appropriate assignment from a technical perspective.
Pay band, activity, client industry and duration of assignment influence which remuneration components become relevant during the monthly payroll run. The unified DGB/GVP collective agreement has been in force since 01/01/2026. The previous DGB/BAP and DGB/iGZ collective agreements were merged into it; individual provisions apply after transitional periods.
For the calculation of allowances, the industry sector, the duration of deployment and the distinction from night, Sunday and public holiday allowances are particularly relevant. The individual levels and prerequisites are set out in the industry supplements in temporary employment explained in more detail.
pay scale groupLinks the activity with the collective wage basis.
operational sectorCan be relevant for industry supplements and their allocation.
Duration of deploymentMust remain traceable for time-dependent stages.
Working time account, absences and changes of assignment are part of the fundamental data logic of temporary employment payroll accounting. The monthly run must recognise which hours, absences and time values belong to which assignment and period.
For the monthly run, it is initially crucial that Working time account, absences and changes of assignment are clearly assigned to the respective assignment and period. How work interruptions, changes within a month, equal pay timelines and subsequent data interact is shown in the article on Particularities of temporary agency work payroll accounting.
DemarcationFor ongoing payroll accounting, the client operation, assignment period, hours, absences and wage components must match. Individual assignment histories require separate review.
In temporary staffing, corrections often arise where assignment data only becomes complete after the payroll cutoff. A delayed timesheet, subsequently reported absence or changed assignment period has an immediate impact on hours, wage types and Working time account. To ensure that Lohnabrechnungen can be created correctly, the cause of the change must be clearly documented.
Even incorrect allocations can trigger rework. Correct allocation of the client company, pay band, allowance and period prevents unnecessary corrections in the next run. The more client companies and changes of assignment a temporary work agency manages, the more significant this dynamic becomes.
Retrospective hoursApproved hours are only received after the payroll run and must be added or corrected in the following month.
Incorrect operational referenceHours or absences were assigned to the wrong hirer and need to be transferred to the correct assignment.
Become particularly visible typical errors in temporary employment payroll accounting, if corrections affect multiple employees, client operations and wage types at the same time. Then it must be traceable which operation and period the variance is to be assigned to.
A reliable monthly payroll run for temporary staff begins with complete and functionally categorised data. For payroll processing, employee data and specific assignment details must be linked. This assignment-based approach ensures that hours, supplements, absences and corrections are traceable in the monthly payroll run. It is also important that interfaces, export files or a DATEV interface provide the data in a functionally correct structure for the payroll run.
| Data range | Significance in the course of the month | Typical effect in case of ambiguity |
|---|---|---|
| Employee master data | Basis for employment, tax, Social security and payroll accounting | Queries before running the payroll or subsequent master data corrections |
| operational unit | Allocation of deployment, industry, period and potential surcharge logic | Incorrect assignment reference for hours, allowances or absences |
| Operating hours | Basis for hours worked, discrepancies and Working time account | Unclear accrued or deficit hours and subsequent corrections |
| Timesheets | Confirmation of the working hours actually worked by the host company | recalculation, provision or correction in the following month |
| pay scale group | Mapping of activity and remuneration logic | Incorrect Wage type or incorrect hour evaluation |
| Supplements | Illustration of surcharges related to working hours, assignments or industries | Subsequent adjustment in the event of a changed deployment or hourly basis |
| Absences | Allocation of sickness, holiday or other absence to the correct period | Incorrect time accounts, incorrect absence evaluation or corrections |
| correction data | Retrospective adjustments from previous months or delayed reports | Incomplete recalculation or untraceable change in Payroll record |
This database is particularly important for personnel service providers because scheduling, client operations, HR and Payroll often provide different parts of the information. Only when assignment data, timesheets and payroll data align professionally can integration into the monthly run be transparent and as seamless as possible.
The Temporary Employment Act forms the legal framework for temporary work. For the monthly payroll run, the client company, assignment period, remuneration basis and verified source status must be clearly assigned.
For ongoing payroll accounting, the client company, period of assignment and basis of remuneration must be verifiably documented. In the event of interruptions to the assignment, the chronological progression with the same temporary work agency must also be checked. Separate tiers and prerequisites apply to industry-specific supplements.
CheckpointsFor the Temporary Employment Act, equal pay and the minimum wage floor, the respective assignment, the period of assignment and the relevant legal and collective bargaining bases must be examined in a comprehensible manner. The decisive factor is the specific status of the assignment and sources.
External Payroll accounting becomes particularly relevant for temporary employment agencies when a large number of assignments, timesheets, absences and corrections accumulate every month. Expert work begins with a clear data transfer. Personnel, assignment, time and payroll data must be complete and unambiguously assignable. A digital solution can support the process. The professional checking of the monthly data remains a separate step in the payroll run.
Who the outsourcing payroll wants, one should look primarily at the number of client companies, working time models, surcharge cases, assignment changes and monthly run corrections in temporary work.
Who the Outsourcing Payroll in temporary employment want to, should prepare the corporate database clearly. Planning, HR, or Office provide the required information. The BAS processes this to ongoing payroll and remains focused on the monthly payroll run. For comprehensive cooperation, it is crucial that responsibilities, transfer channels and queries are clarified transparently before the first payroll run.
The Payroll system in the temporary work sector is complex because the employer’s role, the client organisation, working hours and the pay structure are closely interlinked. Time sheets, pay bands, sector-specific supplements, Working time account, absences and changes in assignments must all tally within the monthly cycle. Staffing agencies benefit from a database that clearly maps out each assignment. A key advantage is that enquiries, recalculations and corrections can be better organised. The technical quality stems from the accurate allocation of specific assignment and wage data. It is precisely this distinctive feature that characterises the Payroll accounting in the temporary work sector. As an external point of contact, the BAS takes over the ongoing payroll process once the necessary personnel, assignment, time and wage data have been provided in full. This ensures that the monthly payroll process remains traceable even in the event of changing assignments, late timesheets and corrections.
Brasser Accounting Solutions GmbH is a specialised accounting service provider that supports companies with financial accounting, payroll accounting, and the structuring of modern digital accounting processes. The aim is a collaboration that is professionally sound, organisationally relieving, and reliably functional in everyday use.
Brasser Accounting Solutions GmbH is part of a corporate group with Quint GmbH Tax Consultancy & Auditing and the Swedish accounting and tax firm Service Place Årjäng AB.
