ShiftCare can automatically push ShiftCare HR-approved staff leave directly into your Xero draft pay runs. This eliminates the need for your payroll team to manually double-enter leave records, ensuring your systems are always perfectly in sync.
This feature uses ShiftCare HR and is exclusively available for the Xero (AU) integration. Please read this guide for the basics of Xero integration.
Prerequisite: Reconnecting Xero
Because Xero requires specific permissions to allow external software to push leave data, you must perform a one-time reconnect of your integration to grant ShiftCare access.
Navigate to Integrations > Xero from the sidebar menu.
At the top of the page, you will see a banner that says: "One quick reconnect to unlock Export Leave." Click 'Reconnect Xero'.
You will be redirected to Xero's consent screen. Confirm to approve the connection.
Reconnecting Xero is completely safe. It will not reset your existing pay item mappings, past exports, or sync history. It simply adds the new leave permission to your existing connection.
Step 1: Setting up Leave Mapping
Before the system can sync your data, you must tell it which leave categories in ShiftCare match the leave types in your Xero account.
Open the Leave Mapping section on the Xero integration page.
For each ShiftCare category listed on the left, use the dropdown menu on the right to select the matching Xero leave type (e.g., mapping "Annual Leave" to "Annual Leave").
Click 'Save'.
You must map at least one leave type for the sync to work.
Step 2: Enabling Leave Sync
Once your mapping is saved, you can turn on the automation.
Locate the Leave Sync card and flip the toggle to on.
A confirmation window will appear. It explains that turning this on will run an immediate, one-time sync of all currently approved leaves that are still active or occurring in the future. Click 'Yes'.
Click to confirm and proceed. Once activated, the toggle label will change to 'Sync enabled'.
Please make sure the specific leave types are enabled for employees in Xero.
Viewing Sync History
Once enabled, the integration runs automatically in the background. Whenever a leave request is approved in ShiftCare HR, it is automatically pushed to the staff member's draft pay run in Xero.
A daily background check also runs to catch anything that may have been missed (e.g., if Xero was briefly offline for maintenance) and re-syncs it automatically.
To check exactly what synced and when:
Go to the Xero integration page and click 'View sync history' on the Leave Sync card.
This opens the Leave Sync History page. Each expandable row displays the date, the employee, the leave dates, whether it created or updated a record in Xero, and the final result (Success or Error). If a leave failed to sync, a clear reason will be provided so you can fix it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does the leave end up in Xero?
Leave is pushed directly into the employee's draft pay run. Nothing is posted or finalised automatically. Your payroll team will still review and run payroll in Xero exactly as they normally do.
Will turning this on flood Xero with years of old leave?
No. When you first enable the sync, it only pushes approved leaves that are currently active or scheduled for the future. Past, completed leave is not back-filled into Xero.
The "Enable Leave Sync" toggle is greyed out. What's wrong?
If the toggle is greyed out, a prerequisite hasn't been met. The card will usually tell you what is missing. Most commonly, you either need to click 'Reconnect Xero' at the top of the page, or you haven't mapped at least one leave type in the Leave Mapping section yet.
For further assistance with Syncing Approved Leave to Xero Payroll (AU), please contact our Support team using online chat when you're logged into ShiftCare or email our Support team at support@shiftcare.com.