Check three months of pay records for errors and gaps.
Hui Min has been in her current job for three months. Her net pay for May came in below what she expected. A family matter had kept her away for one day of unpaid leave that month, so she knew something would come off. She couldn't tell whether the S$200 deducted (an invented example) was correct, and going to HR without a figure of her own felt awkward.
Payroll errors don't happen often, but they do happen. An allowance gets missed, unpaid leave is deducted using the wrong calculation, or a CPF payment comes in late or short. Most of these mistakes slip by because hardly anyone checks. The first time, you check three months of pay, which takes around 20 minutes. After that you check each month, which takes around five minutes.
Start with three records. The first is your employment contract, or your offer letter if your pay terms are written there. The second is your payslips for the most recent three months. The third is your CPF transaction history. To see it, log in with Singpass on cpf.gov.sg or in the CPF app. If you've been employed for less than three months, work with the records you have and add a column as each month passes.
Give the table one column for each month. The rows are:
Basic pay: the contract figure and the payslip figure Allowances: the contract figure and the payslip figure Leave deductions: the number of days and the method applied Employee CPF: the payslip figure and the CPF calculator figure Employer CPF: the payslip figure and the CPF calculator figure CPF received: the amount in your CPF history and the date it came in Match
In each pair, one line holds what should have happened and the other holds what actually happened. You're checking for gaps between the two. In the match row you write yes or no under each month, with a note on anything that doesn't line up.
Copy basic pay and allowances from the contract first, then from each payslip. In most months the two agree. If the contract gives you a fixed allowance and a payslip doesn't show it, mark that month.
Leave deductions take more work than the other rows. Your contract or HR handbook should say how unpaid leave is worked out. If you're covered by the Employment Act, the MOM (Ministry of Manpower) website shows how to calculate incomplete-month pay: monthly pay x days actually worked / number of working days in that month. Find out which method your employer uses, then do the calculation yourself.
Hui Min's pay is S$4,000 a month. Her unpaid day was 14 May, and her schedule had 21 working days in May (both invented). One day's deduction should have been S$4,000 / 21, about S$190.48. The payslip took S$200, which works out to S$4,000 / 20. She was overcharged by about S$9.52.
An error in this row comes back each time you take unpaid leave. It also affects your CPF, because a month's CPF is based on gross pay.
The CPF Board has a contribution calculator on cpf.gov.sg. Enter your age, your citizenship status and the month's wages, and it gives you the employee and employer contributions. Compare those with the amounts on your payslip. A difference of about a dollar can come from rounding. A bigger gap is worth asking about.
Next, go through your CPF transaction history and confirm that each month's contribution equals the CPF total on that month's payslip. Contributions normally arrive the following month, so April's CPF shows up in May. If a month's CPF is still missing or short after the following month is over, mark it. Missing or short CPF is a separate problem from a calculation error: the amount came out of your pay but hasn't reached your CPF account.
Once every row is filled, go along the match row and put yes or no for each month, with a note beside each mismatch. Hui Min's CPF agreed in all three months, so the leave deduction was her only problem.
Email HR or payroll about each mismatch. Keep the email short and factual: name the payslip and the line, and give the figure you expected and how you worked it out. A written query gives payroll something concrete to check, and it gives you a record if the same thing happens again.
Hui Min wrote to Mei Ling, her HR contact. Her email gave the leave day, 14 May, and the S$200 deducted on her May payslip. She said she had expected S$190.48 based on 21 working days (S$4,000 / 21), and asked Mei Ling to check which method had been used and let her know.
Most mismatches turn out to be a simple error or a method you didn't know about, and either answer is worth having. Your check is finished when every row is filled for three months, every mismatch has a note, and you've drafted an email for each one.
Your own payslips are the next thing to open.
Fill in a three-month payslip check table, then draft a short email to HR for any mismatch you find.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).