This feature is available for Enterprise Customers but can also be added for Business customers for an additional fee.
In this article:
What is the Payslip Micro-App
The Blink Payslips integration allows an organisation to deliver payslips to its employees using the Blink Feed. Organisations provide payslips on an SFTP server which our payslips integration periodically scans (once an hour) and imports payslip metadata into an internal database. Feed cards can be sent notifying users of new payslips and payslips can be viewed in a Microapp.
At no point in the process or in the use of this microapp does Blink save users’ payslips. The metadata is stored in order for us to find them on the SFTP and to track payslips that have been processed.
Organization Requirements
To use the payslips integration, organisations must provide us with access to an SFTP server containing employee payslips. We require you to host the SFTP; we will not provide one.
The SFTP must always be available to allow for periodic polling of new payslips.
All the payslips for a single pay run should be in the same directory.
All payslips should be pdf files. No pdf files other than payslips should be present in the payslip directory structure.
All payslips file names must have a consistent naming scheme that includes an employee_id.
The directory path to each payslip should include enough information to extract a user friendly display name for the payslip (see below example).
Employees in Blink must have employee_ids on their profiles.
Organisations are responsible for everything that happens on the SFTP. This includes, adding pay runs, ensuring the naming conventions are upheld, deleting unwanted files etc.
What we need:
SFTP hostname | Connection string to connect to the SFTP. | Required. |
SFTP password | The password to connect to the SFTP. | Required. |
SFTP port | The port on which the SFTP runs (usually 22). | 22 assumed if not provided. |
Root directory | Folder name to use as the root directory. | Root of SFTP assumed if not provided. |
Time slot | Minutes past the hour (in 5min increments) to poll for payslips. | We will assign a time if not provided. |
Display name for payslips | What users will be able to see in Blink (see below example) | Required. |
Initial Group to share the integration with | Test group (Group should be created by the Organisation). | Required. |
Final Group to share the integration with | If the integration is not being used by everyone in the company. (Group(s) should be created by the Organisation). | Whole org assumed if not provided. |
Should notifications be sent?* | We can configure the system to send notifications when payslips are available. | Required. |
*If notifications are to be sent AND historic payslips are going to be added to the SFTP - We recommend only turning this on after the initial run has completed to avoid users being inundated with notifications + feed posts.
Additional Configuration:
Time to send notifications | Notifications can be sent as soon as payslips are available, or you can configure a time of day for them to be sent out. A time of day and timezone should be provided. |
Image associated with the integration | It is possible to set an image which will appear in the notification and in the top left hand corner of the feed post (see below “Blink image” example). |
Email domains / All domains | What email domains should users be allowed to use when sending themselves payslips? Should we allow for any domain? |
How to Set Up Payslips
Once we have everything we need, there are a couple of steps that need to be taken on our end for this to be setup.
We will configure the connection with your SFTP.
We will configure the regex matching to extract the employee_ids and generate readable file paths.
We will configure a payslip integration in your tenant.
We will add the payslips Microapp to your Hub (we advise this be shared primarily with a test audience to confirm you are happy with the setup).
Please reach out to support and/or your Customer Success Manager for assistance.
Getting Started
Once the payslips micro-app has been added to your organization, your users will receive notifications in the Feed when a new payslip is published for them. They'll also be able to access any payslips in Blink via the link on the Hub.
Other Options for Payslips
If the micro-app isn't the best fit for your organization, there are still other options to bring your payslips into your Blink instance.
SSO - you can set up an SSO with your payslip system directly in Blink to avoid having users have to log out, enter login information, or open a different app to see their pay information.
Shortcut - you can add a link to your payslip system to the Hub that will redirect your users to that system outside of Blink
Micro-app - you have the option to create your own micro-app with a direct link to your payslip system. This will have the external link open inside of Blink so users don't appear to be redirected outside of the mobile app which helps to eliminate perceived friction.
Examples
We've included some example images below to assist with configuration and provide an idea what everything will look like for you end users
Example SFTP Structure
Example SFTP Structure
/2025
/Weekly
/01 - 01012025
12345.pdf
12346.pdf
/02 - 08012025
12345.pdf
12346.pdf
/03 - 15012025
12345.pdf
12346.pdf
/Monthly
/01 - 31012025
14567.pdf
14568.pdf
/02 - 28022025
14567.pdf
14568.pdf
/03 - 31032025
14567.pdf
14568.pdf
We this we would be able to extract any of the information provided to create a readable display name. Eg:
/2025/Weekly/01 - 01012025 | 2025 Pay Run 1 |
Pay Run 1 | |
2025 Week 1 | |
Week 1 | |
01/01/2025 | |
Etc | |
/2025/Monthly/01 - 31102025 | 2025 Pay Run 1 |
Pay Run 1 | |
2025 Month 1 | |
Month 1 | |
31/01/2025 | |
Etc |
We can add any text that makes sense to you as long as it is consistent across all payslips. Should you wish to include dates, then these will need to be present in the directory structure.
If we take the example SFTP from above and extrae the dates from the path, you can expect the payslips to be displayed as shown in the example results below.
Example Result: Weekly
Example Result: Weekly
Example Result: Monthly
Example Result: Monthly
Payslips will send users a notification and a Feed post when they are made available on the micro-app. Notifications will appear as shown below:
The Feed post will appear as shown below:
Limitations
Given the number of payslips we have to process, we cannot check for changes on the individual payslip level and we therefore check for changes on the folders (by looking at the last_modified_time). However (depending on the provider you are using) folders do not exist on an SFTP in the same way that they would in a directory on your computer. For this reason, changes to the folder or its contents on the SFTP do not always cause the last_modified_time to update. Should you wish to re-run a particular pay run due to changes, we recommend removing the folder and re-adding it to the SFTP (replacing it doesn’t always update this time either). This will cause a new time to be generated and we will then pick up on the change and re-run the pay run.
There is an option for users to be able to email themselves payslips. We cannot hide this button. However this is currently fairly restricted for security purposes. Despite the email box auto-populating with the email address on the account, an email will only be sent to the email (or any email the user puts in this box) if one of the following 2 requirements is met:
The domain has been allowed by the Organisation. It is up to the Organisation to provide the allowed domains.
The Organisation has allowed for emails to be sent to any domain. It is up to the Organisation to let us know if we should turn this on.
We currently do not support the downloading of payslips.
FAQs
Why can't my user see any payslips? | This could be a problem with a directories path name. Reach out to our support team to troubleshoot. |
Will there be a password users need to enter in order to access their payslips? | We do not handle password protection. Clients need to ensure the PDFs themselves are password protected. |
My user is getting an error saying their password's not right. | The password is set when exported from the payroll system so this will need to be checked from that side of things. In most cases, the password is user's employee ID but, since this is not set from the Blink system, please refer to the payroll system to confirm. |
How long are historical payslips saved in Blink? | There's no limit on our side for this. The only exception is ADP which will display only the last 6 payslips |
Does Blink have access to employee payslips? | At no point in this process or in the use of this microapp does Blink have access to users' payslips. The metadata is stored in order to find them on the SFTP file but we do not save the payslips themselves, nor do we have access to open them. |
What is currently not configurable? | Feed post image (this is a standard image for everyone) and Feed post category (this is set to "Payslips" for everyone) |
I have updated the payslips in a folder, yet these aren't displaying in Blink. | Due to the way SFTP servers work (please see limitations above), this is expected behaviour. You will need to remove the folder entirely and re-add it to the SFTP for it to be reprocessed. |
Why can't I email myself the payslip? | Email domains need to be configured for this feature to work. (See the limitations above). |