6 Ways to Run Payroll More Efficiently

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Payroll Calculator for Small Business (Excel workbook). The main purpose of the template is to provide a payroll solution suitable for small businesses (up to 50 employees) that can not afford or do not want to purchase a payroll software. The structure of the template is designed to be user friendly and practical and to offer sufficient [read more]

* * * *

Payroll can actually be pretty difficult to manage, as easy as paying employees on time and correctly seems. Payroll is more than just hours multiplied by rate of pay or a per-pay-period sum. Payroll has the ability to influence and affect a business on all levels.

An employee’s whole experience within a firm and their family might be impacted by something as simple as pay speed. Pay-on-demand and other processes to include in your payroll allow you greater flexibility over speed of payment and record tracking. We’ll provide you some tips on how to optimize your payroll for flawless processing every time in this post.

Use a Reputable Payroll Management System

Employers who do not have an efficient, precise method of paying employees, depositing and reporting taxes, and preserving records may face wage claims and severe penalties.

An efficient payroll management system saves time and eliminates administrative headaches by automating labor-intensive tasks. Employers may rely on it to calculate gross wages, deductions, and net compensation accurately while keeping control of the process.

The payroll manager may choose to automate the payroll process by installing an accounting package that automatically calculates the payroll, collects the payroll, and deposits the payroll into the employer’s bank account.

A payroll management system is a great way to save time and reduce the workload of payroll managers. However, the payroll manager must be aware of the benefits and risks of payroll automation.

Not all payroll management software is created equally, so you can check out this handy list of features worth having in a PMS.

Assign Payroll Responsibilities to Your HR Team

Consider reassigning a payroll processor’s payroll responsibilities if there are difficulties with them being completed on schedule.

To make the new method apparent, you should document the change and establish or update your written payroll rules. The new procedures and guidelines should be evaluated on a regular basis.

Separating payroll duties not only relieves stress for employees, but it also aids in meeting deadlines, managing volumes, improving accuracy, and preventing fraud. It will also help to consider upgrading your HR software and processes, to make their job easier as well.

A good HR manager will also make sure that the payroll team is aligned with the company’s goals and vision, and will provide the right tools and training to help employees achieve them.

Give Employees 24/7 Access

One of the most important features of your payroll software in terms of payroll improvement ideas is the ability for employees to access and update the system at any time of day.

A cloud-based pay system that everyone can use is essential for entering information about sick days, holidays, and if your payroll software’s time and attendance tracking is integrated when employees clock in and out of work.

Your employees will not ignore increased transparency, which aids in the development of a sense of trust between management and employees.

Calculate Pay Raises Based on Performance

Most businesses employ wage hikes at least once a year. Wages frequently rise while each employee receives a separate raise, causing a headache for both owners and employees.

The process is so complicated that many business owners have to hire a payroll specialist to manage it. But there is a better way to manage wages. You can use the power of automation to automate wage hikes.

The first step is to set up a payroll system that automatically increases wages when employees receive a raise. Then you can automate the process of updating employees’ wages every time they receive a raise.

Employees Should Be Asked for Feedback on Payroll Procedures

Expect your employees to have a limited understanding of your company’s payroll procedures. Make it a point to ask inquiries and encourage your employees to do so.

Communication aids in highlighting areas of misunderstanding, such as improper time sheet presentation or issues with time cards. Inviting improvement suggestions motivates your team to stick with you once you’ve achieved progress.

Use Direct Deposit

Many businesses are fast adopting direct deposit as a norm, so if you’re not currently utilizing it for paychecks, consider doing so.

Many companies are concerned about costs but studies have demonstrated that employers actually save money by providing a direct deposit.

While this is unusual, a bank account cannot be hired by a staff member. If so, search for a new, more effective means to pay for them, such as payment cards.

Paper pay stub delivery is time-consuming and costly, and most people no longer save paper pay stubs. With the advancement of technology, many people choose to save their pay stubs on their computers. Employers can expedite the distribution of pay stubs by adopting electronic pay stubs.

Consider on Demand Payment

If an employee may get a portion of his or her earned income on demand, this is known as pay at request or instant pay. In many cases, this expanding service comes at no cost to the organization, allowing businesses to improve their employee experience.

Pay at request is a great way to provide employees with more control over their finances. It can help employees save money, build a better credit profile, and give them more control over their finances. It can also help employees become more financially savvy, and help them save more money in the long run.

Pay at request has been used by organizations such as Walmart, Starbucks, and Amazon.com, which have seen huge benefits from this new service.

Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?

You can download in-depth presentations on Payroll and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

• Top 100 in Strategy & Transformation
• Top 100 in Digital Transformation
• Top 100 in Operational Excellence
• Top 100 in Organization & Change
• Top 100 Management Consulting Frameworks

These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.