Pay-days are a happy affair. But the month-ends are a hectic period for HR and Payroll professionals. Setting up payroll for each employee, checking salary distribution, tax slab, and leaves is a repetitive task. Yet it is a critical business function that affects your company’s ability to retain talent, ward off penalties, and improve its reputation.
Keeping track of payroll is more than just sending out paychecks; it is an integral part of compliance. While processing payroll, HR professionals have to account for different items—salary, bonus, deduction, tax, reimbursement, and so on.
In smaller organisations, the data required for payroll is available from a single source. But, for larger orgainsations with overlapping teams, it is challenging to manage the payroll manually.
In this article, we will discuss the ways in which you can make your payroll management system better.
What is Payroll Software?
Payroll software automates the payroll management process and aids in salary disbursement, and compliance eliminates repetitive tasks and allows employees to upload required details on their personal dashboards (self-service).
Paying employees on time establishes your business’s stability, which ultimately boosts morale and reputation. Payroll software assists business owners and HR professionals in managing the payroll process from start to finish.
Payroll Management Automation: Benefits
Payroll management is the process of managing salaries, tax deductions, leave encashments, and other aspects of remuneration of employees. It also includes maintaining a company’s financial records and storing them for compliance purposes.
When administering payroll manually, HR professionals have to observe strict statutory compliance. Even a single mistake can result in a heavy penalty and a loss of reputation.
Plus, there are many tasks that need to be performed before payroll can even be processed. HR needs to use complex Excel sheets and comprehend different sources to compute employee salaries.
Just imagine doing these repetitive tasks for every employee.
Payroll management software can help your HR team save precious time and focus on other strategic tasks.
Here are five benefits of using payroll software:
1. Accuracy:
Automation ensures salary calculations, tax deductions, and bonus or incentive payments are correct. The payroll integrates with other HR software, e.g. time and vacation tracker, and reflects it accurately in salary calculations.
2. Payment Flexibility:
Salary can be remitted to the employee account directly, or you can download a bank instruction document and complete the transaction manually.
3. Compliance Readiness:
Payroll software helps businesses to maintain statutory compliance. Good payroll software informs you about the changes in compliance laws. The payroll software auto-generates all tax forms, which can be filled and submitted by employees via the self-service option. The system also calculates tax according to different rates.
4. Self-Service:
Employees can file tax forms, and check their benefits, leaves, and so on; from their dashboard, without visiting the HR office.
5. Extensive Record-Keeping:
Digital usage creates an audit trail. You can download and send reports to internal teams or audit officers within a few clicks.
Choosing the right Payroll Software for your Business
Payroll software helps your business to organize payroll, comply with the laws and eliminate manual data entry. While considering payroll software, prioritize your business requirements.
Here are some points that you should consider while choosing payroll software for your business:
Your business size
Small and medium-sized companies can get payroll software with basic features. Larger companies can get software that performs complex payroll functions.
Remember, choose payroll software that is scalable, and can be configured according to your business requirements. In the initial stages, your business might not require complex features. But as you grow, you will need additional features.
Do not compromise on security
Payroll contains sensitive personal information. Good payroll software enforces security measures to safeguard your data. Using encryption, two-way authentication, and firewalls reduces the chances of a data breach. Setting up role-based access so that employees can see the portal but only the payroll staff can see important information is another good way to keep things safe.
Before considering any payroll software, check your vendor’s reputation. You can gauge it from their clientele, industry certifications, and domain expertise.
Integration with other applications
The payroll process becomes more efficient when integrated with data streams from different teams. E.g. When they have access to relevant information on a single dashboard, HR, Accounts, and Payroll teams can work in a seamless manner. Good payroll software integrates crucial workstreams together.
It should also complement other financial software that your business uses.
Mynd Integrated is a leading global payroll services provider, offering innovative payroll solutions to employers of all sizes—start-ups, MSMEs, or large multinational enterprises—processing over 5 million payslips every year.
