Correct salaries on the 25th. Few things that need to function within a company are as crucial as this. However, managing wages is both an administrative-heavy and time-consuming task. Moreover, it requires high competence – often resting in the hands of one or a few employees. However, there are some ways to make wage management safer and more secure while increasing efficiency and quality. Take a look at our six best tips!
6 Steps to Smarter Payroll Management
1. Minimize Manual Work With Good Pre-systems
Wage administration can be a tedious and time-consuming task for many companies. The main culprits? Often, it's the unstructured wage data scattered across various sources and systems that don't communicate with each other. This could be in different spreadsheets or, in the worst-case scenario, in analog format. The employee might have also overlooked reporting some details or registered them in a non-compliant manner, leading to unnecessary extra work for the payroll department.
The key to cutting manual routines and time-consuming after-work is to invest in modern and user-friendly pre-systems for time reporting and expense claims that guide the user when absence, presence, overtime hours, travel, and expenses need to be reported. This way, the wage administrator receives all data complete and correct from the start and avoids requesting additional information and correcting errors afterward. And when it's time for payroll processing, most providers now offer a smooth direct connection from your time reporting and expense claim system to your payroll system, where, as an administrator, you can gather all the necessary data with a few clicks – completely without manual handling.
In other words, good digital system support, from reporting to finished payslip, is a smart way to save time and increase security in salary management.
2. Document Your Work Processes
How many people could step in and handle payroll processing in your workplace if there was a crisis? It's not uncommon for the payroll department in a company to consist of one or a few individuals. A vulnerable situation – because what happens if the staff suddenly falls ill or chooses to resign? How will the person stepping in know which work processes and routines apply?
A good way to secure payroll management is therefore to map and document all the recurring tasks involved in the payroll process. With a detailed process description, it becomes much easier for a temporary replacement or a new employee to familiarize themselves with the company's payroll routines.
Putting all the details in writing also helps the company to look ahead and become aware of areas for improvement. What tasks are done manually today that you could automate? What other time thieves and obstacles are there, and how could you eliminate them? Critically reviewing work methods and processes may require a lot of time and energy – but it's time and energy that is likely to pay off in the form of a simpler and smoother everyday life for the payroll department.
3. Communicate Your Routines and Deadlines
To ensure an efficient payroll process, it's also essential that all employees and managers are clear about the policy regarding handling time reports, expense claims, and other wage data. The policy, which can be part of your digital employee handbook, can include how times, trips, and expenses should be reported, when time reports and expense claims should be completed, and when they should be approved by the manager.
Also, try to be clear about the purpose of your various deadlines and emphasize the importance of everyone taking responsibility for facilitating the payroll department's work. With clear guidelines, you can also avoid many of the recurring questions that usually arise from the staff and thus relieve the payroll department of that task.
4. Secure Your Competence
Keeping track of salary calculation, taxes, employer contributions, reporting to authorities, vacation, and sick leave… As a payroll administrator, you need to have a solid knowledge of the basics of payroll management – while constantly staying updated on new agreements, laws, and regulations. To secure and maintain competence, the employer must prioritize competence development for its payroll administrators and encourage various forms of knowledge transfer between colleagues.
5. Evaluate Your Payroll Program
Is your payroll program a few years old? Then maybe you're experiencing an unreasonable amount of time spent on manual tasks, double work, and time-consuming checks? Perhaps you would also like to work web-based so that your administrators can access the payroll program from any computer they want and collaborate easily online?
Digitization within payroll management is progressing at a swift pace. New functionality is developed as the world changes and new tasks need to be solved, the interfaces in the systems become increasingly intuitive, and smart API connections make paperwork and time-consuming processes disappear.
With a modern payroll program, you can also rest assured that you're working future-proof. This means that you never have to worry about whether the software supports the latest technology, whether it will collaborate with other parts of the company's system environment, or whether it's kept updated when new rules and laws in the payroll area suddenly come into effect. In other words, there are several arguments for considering switching to a modern payroll system.
6. Get Help From a Professional Partner
Payroll outsourcing – delegating all or part of payroll management to a partner specialized in the field – can be a smooth and secure alternative for many companies when their payroll department is insufficient. By outsourcing payroll, the company has more time and energy to focus on what creates value while reducing vulnerability during sickness, leave, and personnel changes.
Furthermore, outsourcing payroll often leads to reduced IT and personnel costs. The added advantage is that your company no longer needs to maintain internal pre-systems and payroll systems: with a modern and professional outsourcing provider, you gain access to a comprehensive digital system platform that caters to all your payroll needs.
Does your company have concerns about streamlining and ensuring the quality of your payroll management? Whether you want to upgrade to a truly smart digital toolbox that automates the entire flow from time reports and expense claims to finished payslips or delegate all or part of the job to our team of payroll specialists, we’ll help you! Contact us and we’ll tell you more!
