With ever changing and increasingly complex payroll legislation running the weekly, fortnightly, or monthly payroll can be an extremely time-consuming task, causing a real headache for employers and potentially leading to employee frustrations should errors occur.
To celebrate National Payroll Week our team share their top-tips for running a payroll more efficiently and accurately.
It’s important to set your payroll period including a start date, end date and a pay-date, A monthly payroll doesn’t have to start on the first of the month and end with the pay-date at the end of the month. In fact we would recommend setting your payroll period end-date a few days before your pay-date to give you plenty of time for processing. This is particularly important if you have staff who work variable hours as it will give you plenty of time to calculate the hours worked. For example, a payroll month could start on the 25th of the month, end on the 24th of the following month with a pay-date on the 29th of that month. Building plenty of time into your payroll calendar to helps to avoid a rush to meet the pay-date deadline which could increase the chance of errors.
The more complex your attendance, overtime or annual leave policies are the more complex and time-consuming processing the payroll will become. Keeping your policies simple is one way to save time and reduce the risk of errors in you payroll processing.
Due to the highly confidential and sensitive information held on a payslip, careful consideration needs to be given to how they are distributed to staff on or before each pay day. If you are emailing payslips to your employees care must be taken to ensure each payslip is correctly directed and all documents are password protected. Any printed paperwork must also be kept safe to preserve the security of sensitive employee data. Sending payslips directly from payroll software is a much quicker and more secure method which can help to guarantee that all information is sent to the correct individual.
A payment provider can link directly to your payroll software. It enables you to pay employees quickly and securely without the need to create bank files. It will also reduce the workload associated with making payments to employees. As well as increased efficiency the automated nature of payment providers eliminates the risks of human error leading to improved accuracy.
Outsource your payroll to a bureau like ourselves. Our highly skilled and knowledgeable team will take the hassle out of running your payroll, freeing you up to do what you do best!
Our friendly and helpful approach to accountancy, ensures that you understand and are in tune with your finances. Our committed team will communicate with you every step of the way so that you understand the position of your financial affairs – get in touch today.
