Small businesses out there usually have to deal with numerous challenges these days. For example, they have to make quick decisions to adapt according to the rapidly evolving business environment. Without making such decisions, it is challenging to remain competitive. In the meantime, it is also important to make the right moves at all times.
Payroll processing internally is one company procedure that exemplifies the complexity issue in a great way. There are many moving pieces in payroll, so it makes sense that processing payroll accurately and on schedule can be somewhat difficult. In addition, if anything goes wrong, it can result in a number of additional issues, such as low staff retention and compliance infractions.
Given the inherent complexity of managing payroll internally, there is no way to avoid frequent payroll difficulties. However, you also understand as a small company owner how crucial it is to do it properly. Today, we’ll examine the top five payroll issues and discuss how payroll software can help you resolve them by streamlining and simplifying the payroll processing process.
Hybrid Work Environment
You are in charge of a hybrid workforce if you have some workers who work from home and others who work in the office. Nowadays, a greater proportion of workers at small and medium-sized companies (SMBs) work remotely or in hybrid workplaces (63%) than at a single site (37%). Although a mixed workforce gives workers the most freedom, it can also lead to the most payroll-related hassles.
Your remote workers, whether part-time or full-time, are subject to the minimum wage, paid time off, tax withholding, and other requirements of each state in which they work. Payroll complexity can be further increased if you had different payroll regulations for employees who work remotely from different states and one set of standards for employees at your physical site.
Adhering to Laws and Regulations
Business compliance often becomes more difficult with time, not easier. Each year there are new laws and amendments to the ones that already exist. A number of new laws were implemented during the pandemic to accommodate for the significant changes that were occurring in the workplace. Growing your firm can even expose you to new and distinct rules. There are now around 180 federal labor rules that apply to different types of enterprises.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which regulates unpaid leave, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which controls salaries and overtime, and several other laws that apply to contract workers make payroll compliance a complicated process in and of itself. Maintaining payroll and human resources (HR) compliance is a complex task that need for legal expertise and meticulous attention to detail in order to avoid fines for non-compliance. However, this means that your payroll team will have extra work on their hands.
Overloaded Payroll Administrators
As we’ve seen, payroll administrators have a great deal of duty. It’s difficult to maintain track of payroll records, make sure direct payments and paychecks arrive on time, and manage daily record-keeping. However, a lot of small organizations just have one employee designated to the HR department rather than a whole team. Regardless of the size of your team, they almost never have time for strategy or other high-value jobs since they are too busy with the daily administrative duties that are essential to the smooth operation of the office.
One of those jobs that takes so much time and energy to do that there isn’t much time left over to examine the procedure and see how it can be made simpler or better. This is payroll. Insufficient resources and a plethora of conflicting objectives cause the resolution of payroll process issues to fall farther and further down the list.
Usage of Manual Methods
The fact that many firms still manually handle payroll using a mix of data entry techniques like spreadsheets and antiquated payroll software with limited features is one of the reasons payroll is more time-consuming and difficult than it needs to be. If that describes your employees, switching from many payroll spreadsheets in and out of various software programs could be comfortable, but it also raises the possibility of payroll problems, which take longer to diagnose and correct.
The uneven nature of human paycheck processing is another prevalent issue. Rather, each payroll employee probably does the procedure in a unique manner. Producing consistent payroll data and important employee information that can be used for reporting and beneficial workforce research becomes almost impossible as a result.
Complicated Work-tech Environment
Even if you’re prepared to move payroll service providers, it might be intimidating to learn about the world of outsourcing. A lot is happening in the world. Payroll solution providers, for instance, provide a payroll system for smaller and medium-sized organizations. However, some systems are designed for huge corporations and hence include an overwhelming number of bells and whistles.
This complicates the process of selecting a supplier. How do you be sure you’re not overspending and that the solution you choose is the best fit for your company? However, how can you be certain that the solution you choose will be able to grow and change with your company as it does? And how can automation be provided by the system when required?
Using a System to Manage Payroll Complexity
Difficulties with the payroll process don’t have to be something you simply put up with. Payroll solutions exist that consider these difficult times, enabling payroll and HR personnel instead of adding to their workload.
You can optimize and simplify your company’s whole payroll process with the proper HR and payroll technology system designed with SMBs in mind. You can:
- Using a single, automated system with paperless processes and consolidated payroll and HR data
- Pay workers on time and ensure that payroll, taxes, benefits, and other items are computed accurately.
- Employee data is simple to find, handle, update, and communicate with other departments within the company.
- Regardless of where you have workers, adhere to pay and tax regulations.
- Obtain essential insight into your personnel, generate reports, and assess your people operations.
- Expand your enterprise as required, unafraid of the system’s inability to keep up.
There are so many advantages to outsourcing your company’s payroll that you shouldn’t hesitate to profit from your partners’ experience!
