By Carolyn, Tapcheck
Payroll management is indispensable for the efficient management of your business. As long as you have employees, you need to pay them a fair wage in a timely manner. The payroll department needs to be a well-oiled machine to ensure that payments don’t come late. There are several processes you can put into place to make sure that everything runs smoothly, including a payroll plan and a comprehensive method of determining compensation for each employee.
Consider a User-Friendly Payroll Plan
One way to streamline your payroll management is to institute a payroll process that works for the employees. Automated processes and software services take much of the legwork out of the payroll structure. Rather than doing everything manually, staff can instead rely on an automated system that ensures everyone gets paid on time. An on-demand pay system is another option. For salaried employees, especially, you know what they earn ahead of time. A process that relies on earned wage access can allow them to receive their funds anytime, which can help with motivation and morale, as well.
Put Together a Calendar for Payroll
A payroll calendar is helpful to everyone, from working employees to the payroll staff responsible for sending out paychecks and making sure that direct deposits go through correctly. It offers transparency and ensures that employees not only know when they’ll be paid, but that they’ll also understand when their timecards need to be turned in for the pay period.
Make sure that you allot time for holidays and weekends as you create the calendar. You can use color codes to denote important information, including deadlines for timecards and upcoming holidays.
You can also create an internal payroll calendar for the payroll or accounting staff. It can let them see monthly costs, bills, and expenditures. Knowing what you pay out to vendors each month is helpful when doing the books.
Offer Training to Payroll Staff
Some businesses have an accounting team that’s responsible for payroll. Others have a payroll department. Still others use members of the Human Resources staff to handle payroll. Whatever the case in your company, offer training to the employees who are responsible for sending out checks and direct deposits. Give them time to learn about your payroll processes and any software that you want to introduce. This will also encourage them to collaborate, which in turn can help reduce the risk of any errors.
Be Transparent About Benefits and Pay
Most employees will see money coming out of their checks for an assortment of benefits. That includes health insurance and retirement plans, as well as paid time off, bereavement leave, flex spending, and other benefits and contributions. Be transparent about what employees can expect. It can set expectations early on, saving miscommunication and employee dissatisfaction in the long run.
Determine Compensation Levels
It also helps to be transparent about how your business determines compensation. Not only does it help with payroll, but employees need to understand why someone may get paid more or less than someone else. Experience in an industry is a benchmark for compensation, as is education. You can also consider the cost of living in your area, as well as the average pay in your industry.
What is your payroll process? Can you think of any ways to streamline it? Consider these ideas to guarantee that all of your employees are satisfied when they receive their paychecks.
