Connect Paylocity to Kula

Connecting Paylocity lets you push a hired candidate straight into Paylocity as a new employee, with the details you already hold in Kula filling the form for you.

What the connection window looks like

Turning the toggle on does not connect Paylocity straight away. It opens a secure connection window that walks you through three screens: the permissions Kula is asking for, the application form you need Paylocity to process, and finally your credentials. All three are covered below.

Before you connect — this one goes through Paylocity support

Paylocity does not let you generate API credentials yourself. You complete an application form, send it to Paylocity support, and they issue your credentials. Start this well before you need the integration working.

Step 1 — Review the permissions

1. Go to Settings → Organization → Organization integrations.

2. Find the Paylocity card under HRIS and onboarding.

3. Turn the toggle on. The connection window opens on Connect your Paylocity account to Kula.

4. Read the list of permissions Kula is asking for.

5. Click Continue.

Step 2 — Complete the application form

The next screen is Request Paylocity API credentials from Paylocity support.

1. Click this application form to download it.

2. Fill out page 1 with your company details.

3. Tick the boxes listed on page 2 — see below.

4. Leave page 3 empty.

5. Fill out and sign page 5.

6. Send the form to Paylocity support using the link on that screen.

7. Click Continue once Paylocity has sent your credentials.

   

The boxes to tick on page 2 are listed in the connection window. At the time of writing they are:

Check this list against your own connection window before sending the form. Ticking the wrong boxes means going back to Paylocity support for a second round.

You can leave the connection window while you wait for Paylocity to reply.

Step 3 — Enter your credentials

Paylocity emails you a Client ID and Client Secret. Your company IDs come from Paylocity WebLink, not from the email.

1. Reopen the Paylocity card to return to the connection window.

2. Under Company IDs, enter each Paylocity company ID and press Enter between each one. You will find them in the Paylocity WebLink web application, in the brackets next to your company names — they look like S123456.

3. Enter your Client ID from Paylocity's email.

4. Enter your Client Secret from the same email.

5. Click Continue.

   

The field mapping screen opens automatically straight after a successful connection, so you can set your mappings while you are already there. You can reopen it at any time — see below.

Map your Kula fields to Paylocity

Field mapping decides which Kula value fills which Paylocity field, so the employee form arrives prefilled instead of blank.

1. Hover over the connected Paylocity card.

2. Click Edit.

3. Match each Paylocity field to the Kula field that should fill it.

4. Save.

These Kula fields are available to map, from your job, requisition and offer records:

Push a hired candidate to Paylocity

Once the mapping is set, open the hired candidate's application and send them to Paylocity. Kula loads the Paylocity employee form, prefills every mapped field, and fetches Paylocity's own dropdown options live so the values you pick are always valid.

You can also attach documents from the application — offer letters and other files — and choose which Paylocity document category each one goes into.

For the full flow, see [Push a hired candidate to your HRIS]

Fix an invalid connection

If the card shows Invalid, the credentials were revoked or rotated by Paylocity and pushes will fail.

1. Hover over the Paylocity card.

2. Click Re-authenticate.

3. Enter your current API credentials.

Your existing field mappings are kept — you do not have to set them up again. If your credentials have been revoked rather than rotated, you will need to go back to Paylocity support for new ones.

Good to know

• Only hired candidates can be pushed. If the application is not in the Hired stage, Kula blocks the push.

• Documents are limited to 20 MB per file. Anything larger is rejected. Files over 10 MB, and any push covering more than one document category, upload in the background — the push itself completes straight away and the documents follow.

• Pushing the same person twice fails. If the employee already exists in Paylocity, Kula reports it rather than creating a duplicate.

• A permissions error means Paylocity, not Kula. If the push fails with a permission error, the Paylocity credentials that authorised the connection do not have rights to create employees. Ask your Paylocity administrator to widen them and re-authenticate.

• Where a job or requisition has more than one office, the first office is used when sending to Paylocity.

• HRIS and onboarding integrations are only available on ATS accounts.

• Paylocity is the slowest HRIS integration to set up, because credentials are issued by Paylocity support in response to a signed form rather than generated on demand. Treat the turnaround as an unknown and start early.

• You can connect more than one Paylocity company. The Company IDs field takes several — press Enter after each one.

• The three values come from two different places. Company IDs are in Paylocity WebLink, in brackets beside your company names. The Client ID and Client Secret arrive by email from Paylocity.

• Kula's older written guide says page 2 of the form arrives pre-filled and can be ignored. The connection window is the one to follow — it asks you to tick specific boxes. If the two disagree, trust what is on screen.

FAQ

Where do I find our Paylocity company IDs? They weren't in the email. They are not in Paylocity's email — only the Client ID and Client Secret are. Company IDs come from the Paylocity WebLink web application, in the brackets next to your company names, and look like S123456. If you run several Paylocity companies, enter each one and press Enter between them.

How long does Paylocity take to send the API credentials? That is entirely down to Paylocity support — Kula has no visibility of their queue. Send the signed form as early as you can, and chase Paylocity rather than Kula if it stalls.

Can I send a candidate to Paylocity before they are marked as hired? No. The push is only available once the application reaches the Hired stage — Kula blocks it before then to avoid creating employees for candidates who have not accepted.

We changed our field mapping — do we need to reconnect Paylocity? No. Mapping and connection are separate. Hover over the card, click Edit, change the mapping and save; the connection is untouched.

Need help? If you have questions or need assistance, reach out to us at support@kula.ai or use the in-app chat.