These days, finding and integrating the ideal payroll software or using a payroll outsourcing service is a core challenge facing companies across every industry.
Payroll managers believe up-to-date software is ‘essential’ to the running of their department; yet many lack data insights, analytics, and integration with other business functions.
As with any tech-enabled solution, falling behind on core technologies usually means falling behind the competition – and payroll is no exception. New functionalities and capabilities are in constant development; each one built to streamline operations and speed up manual processes.
In turn, this frees up more time for payroll professionals to focus on broader strategic goals, people management, and new, creative functionalities.
There’s plenty to consider, which is why top companies make a point of reviewing their core payroll systems every year or two to pinpoint precisely where and how they can make improvements. Let’s look at three reasons why it’s time to update your payroll software.
1. You Need To Integrate With Other Systems
More often than not, payroll sits in the middle ground between HR and finance, often reporting directly to one or the other. Certain tasks may fall under the jurisdiction of either department, which effectively requires clear communication between HR and finance regarding additions, redactions, data security, and the upkeep of records.
A centralized platform is essential for any business looking to protect against human error, streamline processes and find a secure way of sharing data between different departments. Any legacy systems without a software update in years should be considered a risk factor.
These older systems usually rely on aging, outdated infrastructure that cannot be easily updated or integrated with other core functions within the department. This is a major issue for any organization, particularly in light of current regulations and clients that demand effective data security management and consolidation.
And let’s not forget about IRS compliance. Your payroll system needs to make IRS and state tax submissions as simple and accurate as possible, avoiding costly errors that could result in completing multiple re-runs to rectify. That’s only possible with payroll software built specifically with tax compliance in mind.
2. You Need To Save Time On Admin
Many payroll professionals recall the days of manual number crunching, printing pay stubs, and carefully filling out an endless stream of submissions and returns by hand. In other words, a nightmare. Not only did the manual approach add far more stress, time, and boredom to completing key tasks, but it also heightened the risk of human error at each stage of the payroll process.
Automated payroll software now enables departments to quickly calculate earnings and gross-to-net pay, collect and store employee data securely, generate reports, and complete accurate submissions – all with minimal fuss and maximum accuracy. All of this equates to plenty of time saved across an entire department.
Finding the right software or payroll solutions can easily result in shaving days off every payroll cycle and ensure a greater level of accuracy throughout. It also creates more avenues for collecting data, mining insights, and generating regular reports quickly.
3. You Need To Improve Employee Engagement
Being paid accurately and on time remains at the core of any employer-employee relationship. Yet, it’s surprising how many businesses seem to take this for granted and risk disengaging their talent.
According to a recent SD Worx survey, out of 4000 employees surveyed, 44% had been paid late by their employers. This is often attributed to human error during manual tasks or a department struggling to scale in line with business growth.
Companies are often quick to ‘invest’ in workplace culture and performance with a token ping pong table or video game console. They do this despite the fact that establishing a scalable user-focused system and giving payroll managers a bigger platform to voice concerns and discuss improvements is ultimately far more crucial to maximizing employee wellbeing and financial security.
This is the only way that payroll will ever go from a reactive function to a key driver of talent retention and sustainable engagement.
Applied Payroll Solutions Is Your Local Payroll Partner
Applied Payroll Solutions Services includes state of the art payroll software alongside consistent system updates so that business owners never miss a payroll deadline. For more information, call us at (806) 589-5003 or contact us online today.
