If you've set up an employee with an incorrect start date or need to address other start date-related issues, such as rehiring or correcting holiday accruals, you can amend this.
As an admin, go to the employee's profile and make sure you're on the employee tab of the profile menu.
Under Employment start date click the date.
Select the correct date on the calendar widget that appears.
Scroll down and click Save.
Additional Scenarios
Rehiring Employees
When rehiring an employee, their start date may default to the rehire date. To correct this:
Upload a payslip from Sage Payroll reflecting the correct historical data. The start date will update automatically.
Alternatively, upload a dummy (zero) payslip for the next payroll date to trigger the update.
Correcting Holiday Accruals
If holiday accruals are incorrect due to a wrong start date:
Confirm the employee’s individual allowance and adjust if needed (Settings > Time off > Individual allowances).
Check for probation or special conditions affecting accrual.
Update the start date using the import template if the field is locked.
Adding Previous Tenure
If retroactive dates are not allowed in the "Add position" flow:
Edit the employee’s existing position history.
Update the role start date to reflect their prior tenure.
📎NOTE: If the start date is greyed out with a lock symbol, this means either you don't have permission to amend it, or you integrate with Sage 50 Payroll UK, which has different steps to amend an employee's start date. If the start date is locked due to Payroll integration, you can update it in Sage Payroll, and the change will sync to Sage HR with the next payslip upload. Alternatively, you can re-import the employee using the import template with the correct start date. As a last resort, you may terminate and delete the employee profile, then recreate it with the correct start date. Note: Deleting a profile removes all associated data, so ensure you back up key information first.