Five Ways Your Approach To Payroll Processing Might Be Letting You Down

One of the consequences of the pandemic crisis has been businesses taking a look at their payroll processing procedures and asking whether they could be improved. If you’ve been reflecting on ways to work better, you might have wondered whether there are opportunities for improvement in the way payroll runs within your company. Is it time to consider what you can do to improve it, perhaps through the use of cloud-hosted payroll software, or even a partially or fully outsourced payroll solution?

Here are five ways that your current approach to payroll processing might be letting you down:

Is the payroll data that’s being processed good enough? If the quality of the data is patchy, that could affect the overall accuracy of payroll. It could also negatively affect higher-level strategic reporting and decision-making processes in your company. Inadequate data could mean time is frequently being wasted on correcting mistakes. If data’s being gathered via multiple sources, it can make it harder to ensure payroll is run based on the most up to date information; the longer the gap between the cut-off date and the payroll run, the greater the chances of important last-minute changes not being included.

By managing your payroll information in a single central system, you reduce the risk of errors and make it far simpler to ensure the data being used to run payroll is as up to date and accurate as possible. Cloud-based payroll software offers an ideal solution, facilitating real-time payroll data reporting and ensuring that problems aren’t created by supplying invalid RTI information that subsequently needs correcting.

Is there still a significant proportion of manual activity within your current payroll processes? Even though most businesses will use some form of payroll software, if the overall process still depends on a considerable amount of manual inputting, that could lead to problems. It’s time consuming having to work with multiple data sources or needing to enter the same details into different systems. Not only can it be difficult and wasteful to process a payroll this way, it’s far more likely to require an on-site presence. And as the past year has demonstrated, that inability to manage processes from a distance can be detrimental from a resilience viewpoint.

This is where cloud-hosted software can really come into its own. Remote access can ensure greater business resilience and helps facilitate a higher level of overall business flexibility too. A partially or fully outsourced payroll can alleviate the pressure even more, reducing the reliance on an on-site presence.

Payroll is a complex function. Running it in-house means you must have an experienced, fully competent team. How vulnerable would your business be if you suddenly no longer had a key member of that payroll team? Whether you lose them on a temporary basis, due to illness perhaps, or maybe because they have decided to move on permanently, could your business suddenly find itself potentially exposed?

Outsourcing some or even all of your payroll function can remove this vulnerability. You can be confident that there will always be someone available to support your payroll processing processes and even manage your payroll function if you wish as well as offering support in times of crisis or emergency.

The data held by payroll professionals is some of the most sensitive information a business can hold. It must be looked after with great care. But how effective are your data back-up processes? It’s absolutely critical that you can be confident that they are reliable enough to ensure payroll data isn’t compromised. That includes ensuring you don’t run the risk of losing any payroll history and are securely maintaining the necessary records as required by HMRC.

Cloud-based payroll software can help ensure your business minimises these risks, safely storing all employee payroll information in a central location and significantly reducing the risk of essential information disappearing or being accessed inappropriately.

During the pandemic, payroll regulations were changing at a vast rate. But even in less exceptional times, legislation does alter on a fairly rapid basis. Keeping track of changes, making sure all requirements are correctly understood and then implementing them can be challenging and a constant source of pressure. But a failure to achieve it can have potentially severe consequences.

By investing in cloud-based payroll software you can reduce that risk considerably. The software is continually kept updated to quickly implement all regulation changes, saving a great deal of time and pressure and ensuring compliance with increasingly demanding and complex requirements. If you outsource some of your payroll activities, this provides you with an even greater level of support in making sure your business is fully compliant.

Do you want to make sure that no matter what the circumstances, your employees are being paid accurately and on time?

If you think your approach to payroll processing is not working as well as it should be, why not get in touch with us to find out what your options could be? We’d be very happy to have a chat and discuss how you could potentially address any concerns you have with your current arrangements. We can also give you a no-obligation demonstration of our payroll software if you would like to see it in action.