Having the right tools is an essential part of running any business successfully, no matter how big or small your operation might be. This is especially true when it comes to keeping track of employee time, wages and other payroll-related data.
Keeping things organized and up-to-date with current information can help you avoid costly mistakes and legal issues that can result from inaccurate records. Even in smaller companies, a lack of organized payroll practices can result in major headaches.
If you own or operate a small company, it’s important to know the benefits of investing in payroll and attendance software so that you can streamline operations, save time and reduce stress around tracking employee time and wages.
There are several different options for small businesses when it comes to choosing the right software for their specific needs. Here are some pointers on how you can get your payroll and attendance management straightened out with the help of this type of software:
Define Company Responsibilities and Employee Job Tasks
Before you can begin to choose the best payroll and attendance software for your company, you’ll first need to clearly define the company’s core responsibilities and the employee job tasks that need to be tracked.
This will make it easier to find the right solution for your needs. You’ll want to make sure that it meets your specific requirements, as well as any legal requirements for tracking certain types of data.
You’ll also want to take the size of your company and potential scalability into consideration when making this decision. It may make sense to choose a software solution that is fully customizable, so that you can add the data that you need to track. This will help to make the software more useful and less of a one-trick pony.
Gather Current Payroll Data
Once you’ve chosen the right software for your specific needs, it’s time to gather the current payroll data that will be needed to get started. This can make it easier to set up the software and get it fully integrated with your existing operations.
For each employee, you’ll need to provide certain details, such as their name, Social Security number, hourly rate of pay, rate of overtime pay, and so on. This will make it easier to track this data in the future.
You’ll also want to make sure that the software has access to all relevant payroll tax data. This can include information like W-2 data for employees, taxable fringe benefits and other information.
Track Time and Attendance
One of the biggest challenges for any businesses with limited resources is keeping accurate records of employee time and attendance. This is especially important when it comes to tracking things like payroll, paid time off and vacation time.
Without the right tools, it can be very challenging to keep track of this data and avoid mistakes that can result in lost income and additional stress. Time and attendance software is a great solution for businesses of any size that rely heavily on tracking employee time and attendance.
With this type of software, you can easily manage and track the hours that each employee works, as well as other related data such as paid time off and vacation time. This type of software can be as simple or as robust as necessary for your business needs.
Some options can be completely web-based and offer real-time data tracking and management. Other options offer offline functionality as well. Time-tracking functionality can be a great feature to have in this type of software because it can make it easier for employees to track their hours and avoid mistakes. Employees can use a mobile app or web portal to record their time.
Establish a Timetable and Benchmarks
Once the software has been fully integrated with your operations, you’ll want to establish a timetable and benchmarks to help you keep track of everything. This will make it easier to stay on top of things and make adjustments as needed.
For example, you may want to set a benchmark for calculating payroll at the end of each week. You can then use the data from the previous week to calculate payroll for the current week. This will make it easier to keep track of everything.
Pay Employees accurately and on time
Accurate and timely payroll is essential for any business, but especially so for small businesses. Payroll-related errors can lead to costly mistakes, as well as time and energy being spent dealing with the fallout from those mistakes.
Payroll software can help to reduce these risks. There are several types of payroll software available. It’s important to choose a solution that meets your specific needs and offers the features you require.
You’ll want to find software that makes it easy to manage employee pay rates, deductions and other payroll data. You’ll also want to make sure that it makes calculating payroll as easy as possible for you. Payroll software can help to make this process straightforward and stress-free.
This type of software can help you to manage payroll for your entire company in one central location. This can make it easier to keep track of all payroll-related data for all employees. You can also make it easy for your staff members to submit time sheets to have their hours and other data accurately calculated.
Some software can even automate the entire payroll process so that you don’t have to manually calculate payroll each week. Payroll software can make it easy to produce accurate and timely payroll, even for a large company with many employees.
Manage Employee Absences
Keeping track of all employee absences can be challenging and time-consuming, especially in small businesses where you might only have a few employees. If you don’t have a way to track this information and make sure that you’re following any necessary legal requirements, it can also be risky.
Employee absence management which in itself is attendance management system can help to keep track of all absence data. You can easily keep track of things like the reason for an employee’s absence, the length of time they were out, and other related information.
Some solutions also allow you to integrate with existing HR software, making it easy to share data with other company departments. This type of software can make it easier to manage employee absences. You can also use it to track things like employee sick days or other types of leave. This can help to make it easier to stay compliant with any necessary legal requirements for managing absences.
Employees are entitled to 32 days of annual leave and 10 paid public holidays. They can avail for extra vacation, sick and maternity leave. Employees who have worked for their employer between 6 months – 1 year receive two days of paid vacation leave per month, while those who exceed at least a year are entitled to 30 days of paid leave. Labour law currently mandates that staff are eligible for seven paid holidays.
Pay Employees accurately and on time
A survey about Payroll Adoption by Deloitte (The Payroll Operations Survey Summary of results, Dec 2014)
The survey by Deloitte was completed by experienced professionals in a wide range of industries who are directly involved with the payroll function at their respective organizations.
Some of the findings and trends identified from the survey responses include:
• The majority of organizations centralized payroll into a shared service center located in North America
• 90% of organizations utilize online payroll self-service
• There is growing interest in cloud-based applications, but global payroll solutions are limited at this time
• Time and attendance systems are the prevalent workforce management technology with 84% of the respondents utilizing
• 74% of organizations have fully documented pay policies, but 68% feel that they are beginning or still developing their workforce management strategy.
• Full payroll outsourcing is more common outside of North America; however, satisfaction with the payroll outsourcing arrangement is higher in North America
• Organizations with business travelers continue to be challenged to track and manage mobility for U.S. state and global taxation reporting
• Payroll departments are utilizing a variety of tools and techniques to monitor internal and outsource vendor service quality
Pay Employees accurately and on time
For most of the employees viewing online pay statements, annual tax docs and updation personal banking details, phone number, address form basic functions of online payroll system.
companies need Core HR & Payroll system
The majority companies need Core HR & Payroll system with a cloud based solution.
payroll self service modules
When appointing a payroll services vendors, companies seek to outsource Year End Tax Docs, payroll tax filling and filing, payroll self service modules.
outsourced Payroll Services.
Total 50% of the surveyed companies are satisfied with the outsourced Payroll Services.
compliance & controls, productivity
Companies expect compliance & controls, productivity, payroll accuracy, etc as the Focus areas from the Payroll Vendors.
income tax calculations
The risks identified by the companies from mobile employees/expats are Year end processing, income tax calculations, reporting taxable compensation to local payroll, payroll related costs &charges.
Outsourcing tax reporting
The surveyed companies found challenges with expat’s payroll processing were: Outsourcing tax reporting, local pay processing, taxation etc according to jurisdiction. The employers said they are ready with strategies to mitigate these challenges.
stop payments manually
cycle time to process payroll
track payment errors
Companies expected to track payment errors, cycle time to process payroll, stop payments manually or void payments. Another important KPI was tracking of complaint or resolved process.
payroll related challenge
When companies was asked about their payroll related challenge, the top one came as Manual Process and accuracy& timing of inputs. This in itself suffices that outsourcing of automated payroll services/systems is need of the hour.
Conclusion
In order to get your payroll and attendance management straightened out, you’ll first need to understand the importance of investing in the right software. Whether you operate a large or small business, paying accurate payroll and managing employee attendance is essential for any company. This can be challenging for small businesses that don’t have the resources of larger companies.
Luckily, there are several types of payroll and attendance software available that can make this process easier for any business. It’s important to choose the right software for your company by first clearly defining the company’s core responsibilities and the employee job tasks that need to be tracked.
Once you choose the right software, you can easily manage payroll and attendance. This will make it easier to find the right software for your specific needs.
The Deloitte survey gave insights about how much it is important to integrate Payroll Services/systems with attendance management into the HR system. This function is outsourced, nowadays, is to render more focus on core capabilities of HR.