Especially for businesses that have operated with the same payroll system for years, the prospect of switching to a new provider can feel like an overwhelming prospect. Nevertheless, when there are recurring issues with inaccuracies, poor customer service, employee dissatisfaction, or lack of integration with other HR services, it’s likely time to consider a change.
The good news is that switching to a new provider is easier than you imagine, especially when the transition is properly planned and timed to benefit your business, employees, and compliance-oriented concerns.
In this article, we’ll outline the six signs of a less-than-optimal payroll provider (and process) and provide you with the resources you need to streamline payroll for better business operations in the future.
Subpar Design and User Experience
If the design and navigability of your business’ payroll software is a source of frustration to your employees, it is guaranteed to diminish employee productivity, morale, and confidence in your company. On a more concrete level, it can lead to inaccurate or delayed payments, disorganized employee information (leading to tax or legal issues), and other problems that could be easily avoided with the use of an automated, modern payroll system. To determine the scale of the problem, talk to your payroll staff and determine what unexpected (and ultimately unreasonable) manual tasks they’re forced to complete due to poor system design. In an optimal payroll system, software should feel intuitive and eliminate (rather than create) stress and manual tasks.
Regular Payroll Inaccuracies
As a partial consequence of the design and ease-of-use issues we just discussed, poor payroll software can create payroll mistakes that harm your business. Whether it’s due to antiquated software or the system’s inability to manage varied employee classifications, payroll frequencies, or other adaptations, employees care about the bottom-line impact of payroll processes. If they receive their paychecks late, or receive less than they’re owed, it quickly fosters a broader distrust in the company and its regard for employees. Research reveals that 49% of employees will start looking for new employment after just two payroll errors, demonstrating the importance of addressing avoidable errors at the source by choosing a payroll provider wisely. Your provider should be able to easily integrate your payroll with other HR tools to ensure that employee data is accurate across related timekeeping, scheduling, and workforce management functions.
Lack of Mobile Access
Unfortunately, many payroll providers still use outdated systems that do not support cloud storage or mobile use of the company’s payroll platform. Although some employees may still prefer to use payroll on a desktop or laptop, the vast majority of employees appreciate having the ability to complete payroll processes while they’re on the move. Simply offering mobile hours submission or the opportunity to make updates from anywhere (and on any device) shows your employees that you value their time and their ease of access to the tools that ensure accurate and timely payment.
Issues with Reporting and Leveraging Historical Data
Simple and efficient reporting functions are a must for any business using payroll software. Especially when used as part of a single integrated platform that syncs payroll, scheduling, timekeeping, and other HR tools, historical data can be easily located, organized, and generated into a report that helps you gauge employee productivity, departmental productivity, and the success of projects or initiatives. Equipped with historical data, you can gain valuable insights about employee performance to support improved workforce management and project planning in the future.
Lack of Integration with Scheduling, Time Tracking and Other Key HR Processes
Payroll processing is infinitely easier when it is integrated (at a bare minimum) with scheduling and time-tracking tools that allow you to schedule, track, and approve hours in a single consolidated platform where employees, managers/supervisors, and payroll staff can all view and adjust data as needed. Pairing payroll with scheduling and time tracking also adds needed objectivity and transparency to the payroll process, ensuring accuracy and organization-wide access to submitted data in the event of a discrepancy about hours or another payroll-related issue.
Mismanagement of Compliance Concerns
Across all HR functions within a business, payroll is perhaps the most routinely impacted by modifications to municipal, state, and federal laws and policies. Your payroll provider should have a number of expert HR consultants on staff to stay cognizant of any changes that affect your business or industry and to communicate those changes to you in a prompt and reliable way, empowering you to make necessary and strategically sound adjustments to your business operations.
Legal compliance issues can diminish your company’s reputation and lead to concrete damages in the form of lawsuits, fines, or penalties based on employee complaints or tax violations. If your business is using an outdated, disorganized payroll provider, or still manually managing payroll in-house, it’s time to switch to a modern provider that can protect your business from potential penalties.
Enjoy an Optimized and Modern Payroll Solution
Whether your business is experiencing glaring payroll issues or simply welcomes the prospect of integrating payroll with scheduling, timekeeping, benefits administration and other key HR tasks, Payday offers the software, expertise, and personalized support your business needs to thrive. Ready to streamline your payroll processes to improve compliance and boost employee satisfaction? Contact us today to start our collaboration.