Your payroll process may not affect your bottom line, other than the hours it requires to pay your accountants. However, it does slow down other processes like time tracking, delivering paychecks, and more. Since it affects so many other aspects of your business, streamlining your payroll process should be made a priority.
If your payroll process doesn’t work effectively, it creates a mess, both legally and in-house. You get behind on payments, your desk is a mess of files, employees get angry, and you have to deal with any legal issues that follow.
It’s much easier to simply nail down the payroll process for your business.
1. Utilize Software
There’s software for pretty much every aspect of business these days, including payroll. With the right software, you can breakdown employee hours, report accurate numbers, integrate direct deposit, facilitate W2 administration, keep track of time off requests, monitor union benefit calculations, and get payroll done on time. Though it will add a little extra to your bottom line in terms of cost, this kind of software and the simplicity that comes with it is more than worth the investment.
2. Use a Payroll Calendar
A payroll calendar can also be extremely helpful for keeping you on track. Deadlines are very motivating, after all. With a calendar in place, employees know exactly what days they can expect payment each month. So, rather than paying invoices as they come in, can tell employees that they’ll be paid on the 8th and 23rd of each month, or every other Friday.
The calendar is also good for helping employees understand their time cards and hours worked. It can show when the pay period ends and the date they’ll receive payment. This cuts down on confusion.
3. Simplify Policies
Perhaps the problem with your payroll has more to do with your complicated policies. Administration is an important part of every business process, but it can easily turn into a burden if you’re not careful.
Provide, clear, concise, and simple policies about things like attendance, leave of absence, expense reimbursement, and commission. Encourage both your employees and payroll staff to familiarize themselves with your policies and to follow them.
4. Focus on Accuracy
Your employees may become antsy if their payroll takes a few extra days to complete, but it’s much more important to be accurate than it is to be speedy. When your payroll is constantly riddled with errors, it creates a lack of trust between employees and administration, and can leave you with a mess of problems.
5. Use Direct Deposit
Yes, it’s a little more expensive to create a direct deposit system, but it’s definitely worth the effort. Direct deposit eliminates the need for manual checks, which means faster and more accurate payments.
If you have employees who don’t want to use direct deposit, offer them payment cards. They’re work like debit cards, are refillable, and are easier and cheaper to facilitate when it comes to payment. These come with their own risks, so direct deposit is a better option, but it works well as an occasional alternative.
Payroll doesn’t have to be the most stressful part of your business. With some increased efficiency and a better payment system, you’ll take the hassle out of the process and reduce any issues your business faces as a result.
