Time Spent on Payroll Processing?
How much time is “too much” to be spending on payroll processing? A whopping 72% percent of payroll professionals report spending 2 days or more on payroll
processing (21% of those spend 4 days or more!). And despite those endless hours each pay period, in FY 2020, the IRS assessed 4.34 million civil penalties related to employment taxes that amounted to almost $6 billion. More than half of U.S. workers have experienced a mistake on their paycheck.
Disjointed and manual processes and technology limitations are at the root of time-consuming payroll tasks and costly errors, all of which stand in the way of organizational growth and key strategic priorities. The future of payroll is guided by efficiency, compliance, and a consumer-driven experience that wins in the war for talent.
Put Employees in the Driver’s Seat
Top-performing companies are transforming the employee experience, starting with payroll by bridging the gap between HR and employees with self-service options. Digitizing HR functions with cutting-edge, customized tools makes it easier than ever for workers to access and change their information. Rather than sending one-off requests that pile up in HR’s inbox, they gain autonomy through:
- Viewing online pay statements and tax documents
- Updating their banking details, home addresses and personal information
- Electing or updating voluntary deductions
And across generations, on-demand payment is a modern capability already resonating with employees by giving them more power over their finances in between pay periods. Reportedly, 78% of U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck, so unexpected expenses can have a major impact. But on-demand payment allows them access to a portion of earned wages before their scheduled payday without disrupting the payroll process with extra paperwork. Features like this pay off in spades for both employees and the organization:
- Minimize the administrative impact
- Reduce stress for workers with financial flexibility
- Enhance convenience by enabling requests via mobile apps
- Improve recruiting and retention efforts
Take the Sweat Out of Compliance
Payroll compliance and tax issues are two of the most complex elements of the HR and payroll process—and can also have the steepest consequences. Compliance regulations have steadily been increasing in complexity, creating novel HR challenges. Today, HR professionals have to navigate new paid sick leave legislation, new tax codes, and new Affordable Care Act policies.
And this trend is only expected to persist. More and more companies are expanding their workforces to include employees in multiple states and time zones to accommodate remote workers and compete in an ongoing war for talent. That means they’ll also need to contend with a different set of laws as they cross state lines.
An agile HR and payroll system helps businesses keep pace with changing and varied regulations—from retirement plan limits to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness—and is critical for protecting organizations.
Plus, compliance and tax tools that are flexible make it easy to stay on pace with changing regulations, while robust reporting capabilities and compliance dashboards make it easy to help you visualize critical data.
Flex Your Workforce Quickly
In today’s highly competitive market, companies must be able to quickly tap into all types of talent—contract, part-time, full-time, etc.—and enable them to jump right in and start contributing.
A hybrid workforce also means added complexity for payroll, like the risk of misclassifying contract workers, but digitized workflows and streamlined onboarding processes can reduce risk while enhancing new hire experience. Companies can reap long-term benefits from improved onboarding like reduced turnover and improved engagement:
Modern solutions enable new hires to complete and return new hire paperwork (tax forms, I-9 verifications, direct deposit information, and more) even before their first day on the job. That means they can spend their first day getting to know the company and connecting with their colleagues rather than filling out paperwork.
The Bottom Line
The future of HR and payroll is one where they get back to the business of people rather than numbers and stacks of paper. Modern payroll solutions are the key to claiming their seat at the table, shaping recruiting and onboarding, optimizing the employee experience, and determining how their organizations can win the war for talent—all while navigating increasingly complex employment and regulatory landscapes.
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