The Role Payroll Plays
When 78% of U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck, the importance of the role payroll plays is vividly obvious. But organizations are learning quickly that to
succeed in today’s war for talent and consumer dollars, they have to think beyond payroll processing.
Sixty-eight percent of organizations are currently through an HR or payroll transformation, and 88% have or have plans to develop a payroll strategy. Modern payroll solutions streamline and automate payroll processes while collecting and analyzing the data into actionable insights that drive organizations forward.
Payroll data is a gold mine for critical information necessary for creating strategies that build trust among the workforce, fine-tune the employee experience, and spotlight areas of need and success through detailed reports.
Catch Errors Before They Cost You in Penalties and Mistrust
Payroll mistakes and compliance errors have historically plagued organizations of all sizes, and they may be more common than you might think. As recently as 2020, the IRS assessed more than $6 billion worth of civil penalties related to employment tax, despite extended tax deadlines, increased remote support from the IRS, and financial assistance for individuals and businesses alike during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of those penalties, $3 million were attributed to accuracy issues.
Today’s payroll solutions automate commonly error-prone, time-consuming tasks. Not only that, but compliance tools make it easy to automatically keep up with changing regulations (eg, paid sick leave, Affordable Care Act, and tax policies) so you can rest easy without worrying about being fines and can easily work with employees in different states and regions.
But the financial cost might be far easier to swallow than the impact payroll mistakes have on the relationship you have with your workforce. After just two payroll errors, nearly half of employees will start a new job search. According to research from the Workforce Institute, these inaccuracies are far more common that you’d think:
- 82 million Americans have dealt with a paycheck error
- 26% of hourly workers have been underpaid
- 15% of salaried workers have been underpaid
- 56 million workers have paid a personal bill late because of a payroll error
- 45% of workers say they’d be more engaged if their employers helped them navigate tax deductions
And when payroll issues create distrust with employees, it impacts the company brand as a whole. Wherever it may originate, 73% of business leaders hold CEOs responsible or accountable for trust. And that sentiment continues to cascade when considering 78% of customers say how a company treats its employees is one of the best indicators of its level of trustworthiness.
Unlock “Next Level” Strategies With Your Payroll Data
Digital transformation in payroll means more than less paperwork. In all the various data points entered via tax forms and personal records is a network of valuable insights for strategic decision-making. Today’s HR and payroll tools gather and analyze data from every area of the employee experience and employee lifecycle. And this data unlocks the barriers to strategic initiatives that often fall off the priority list for fear of a lack of resources, a clear path to ROI, or simply other nagging but necessary priorities like payroll processing.
- Demographic data allow you to pinpoint trends surrounding ethnicity, gender and generation to more easily address the needs of different segments, co-create an inclusive environment, and drive diversity initiatives.
- Utilization data make it easy for you to get a clear picture of cost savings and employee engagement based on how often employees are interacting with tools like self-service portals, learning and development opportunities, recognizing their peers, taking surveys and more.
- Retention and turnover data help pinpoint at-risk employees by analyzing job-specific factors, and can identify top turnover trends, making it easier for HR to develop strategies to improve retention.
- Position management data provide a clear picture of role-specific data, which can help HR make informed staffing decisions and predict workforce changes more easily.
Plus these tools allow you to quickly see and diagnose areas of overspend, analyze active and terminated employee headcounts, and create customer reports in one single database.
Tell a Better Story With Reporting and Data Visualizations
With a modern payroll solution in place, HR now holds the power of data in its own hands—the power to demonstrate its success and prove its value in securing future success. If the last several months highlighted anything, it’s that a forward-thinking strategy requires building on precise, accurate data points.
For a business to succeed, data must be at the core of every decision. Effective payroll automation gives businesses the data needed to do administrative and strategic functions well, and reporting provides the ability to demonstrate HR’s value across the business with the help of visualizations and forecasting. These key data points allow you to:
- Identify payroll efficiency issues
- View real-time employee data
- Uncover and analyze employment trends
- Make strategic hiring and budgeting decisions
- Take action to build a diverse workforce
And most importantly, these digestible reports make it easy for HR professionals to give organizational leaders a clear picture of what’s going on in all areas of the HR function through high-impact visual insights. Data has become the responsibility of everyone in organizational leadership, and high-performing organizations are keyed into the value of data literacy in critical roles like HR and payroll.
Get Everything You Need to Go Beyond Payroll
Modern HR and payroll solutions take the mountains of data gathered by simply digitizing everyday payroll processes and transform them into insights that help organizations unlock employee trust and the enhanced experience today’s talent demands.
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