Admins can use the Departments feature to organize team members, group reports by team, and map payroll transactions to departments if you use an accounting integration.
Departments help you:
Keep team structure organized
Report on payroll and benefits by team
Export payroll data by department to your accounting software
You can create departments from an employee profile or directly from the Departments page in Gusto.
To create a department from an employee profile:
Go to People.
Click the name of the team member you want to assign to a new department.
Find Work.
In the Role section, next to Department, click Edit.
From the dropdown, select an existing department or click Create a new department (and enter the department name).
Click Save.
Go to People.
At the top of the page, click More.
Click Departments.
Click Add department.
Name the new department, and click Save.
After you create a department, you can assign team members in two ways:
From an individual employee profile
From the Departments page (recommended for bulk changes)
Reminder: Each teammate can be assigned to only one department at a time. If an hourly employee works in multiple roles, assign multiple job titles or pay rates instead. Their paystub will show each role and its earnings.
To add a team member to a department in their profile:
Go to People.
Click the name of the team member you want to assign to a department.
Find Work.
In the Role section, next to Department, click Edit.
From the dropdown, select an existing department or click Create a new department (and enter the department name).
Click Save.
To add or remove people from a department on the Departments page:
Go to People.
At the top of the page, click More.
Click Departments.
Click the name of the department.
Click Add people or Remove people.
Select one or more people, and the effective date of the change, and click Save.
You can rename departments, manage members, or remove departments at any time.
Edit or remove a department:
Go to People.
At the top of the page, click More.
Click Departments.
Click the department name you want to update.
From here, you can:
Rename the department: Click the pencil icon next to the department name.
Edit team members:
Click Edit team members.
Click + to add someone.
Click × to remove someone.
Remove an individual: Under Actions, click Remove next to their name.
Remove the department entirely: Click Remove, then confirm.
Be sure to save your changes.
Assigning a department with an effective date is still rolling out. If you do not see it yet, hang tight.
You can assign a department change to start on a specific date. This helps when planning future team changes or correcting past assignments.
Set an effective date for a department change:
Go to People.
Click the name of the team member you want to assign to a department.
Find Work.
In the Role section, next to Department, click Edit.
Choose the new department, or click Create a new department.
Select Switching departments.
Choose an effective date. Department changes do not affect pay, past payroll, or historical documents (like paystubs).
If you choose a past date, you can also add an end date.
If you choose a future date, the change appears as pending on the employee’s Role card until it takes effect.
Click Save.
If a team member has been assigned to more than one department, you can view their department history.
Go to People.
Click the name of the team member you want to assign to a department.
Find Work.
In the Role section, next to Department, click the Actions menu (three dots)
Select View history.
You can edit the start and end dates for past or current department assignments.
Go to People.
Click the name of the team member you want to assign to a department.
Find Work.
In the Role section, next to Department, click the Actions menu (three dots)
Select View history.
Click Edit next to the department you want to update.
Update the dates.
Click Save.
After you set up departments, you can group several reports by department.
Go to Reports.
Choose one of the following:
Payroll Journal
Benefits
Year-to-Date
Contractors
Select any extra details (earnings, taxes, totals).
Choose a date range (based on the check dates).
An employee's department title will display as the department they were assigned to on a given check date.
Select team members (All, Hourly, Salaried, or Specific).
Under Group by, choose Department.
Click Generate report, then download as CSV or PDF.