For payroll management with the modern workforce to be successful, it must be efficient, accurate, and compliant on a local, national, and global level. To achieve this, HR professionals can leverage automated payroll and streamlining services provided by payroll software—creating the perfect pay stub and maximizing organizational efficiencies.
What is automated payroll?
Automating processes such as time, expense, and project tracking can save payroll professionals a significant amount of resources, reduce cost, and relieve administrative burden. In fact, the APA (American Payroll Association) estimates that automation reduces payroll processing costs by as much as 80 percent.
You’ll no longer have to spend time pouring over spreadsheets, filling out government forms, worrying about calculation errors, or cutting checks and depositing them into various accounts. You can feel secure about the company’s compliance status since automation can ensure payroll is executed on time and with accuracy.
So what should payroll professionals consider when automating payroll to generate the perfect pay stub?
Accuracy
With automated payroll services, your employees’ pay stubs will always accurately reflect the hours they’ve worked. Since this software syncs with their timesheets, you know you’re paying overtime employees correctly across state lines.
Streamlined Tax Filing
Automated payroll enables detailed tracking of tax filing and payments. Many tax laws are in constant flux, and with over 10,000 tax jurisdictions in the U.S., tax filing can feel overwhelming. By automating your tax filing, you no longer have to stress over meeting tight deadlines or avoiding penalties for non-compliance.
Organized 401K Process
Tracking employee 401K information within your payroll keeps your data organized, helps ensure the right amount is deducted, and vendor liabilities are paid correctly. Payroll professionals can set up 401K percentages in the system and have that amount deducted automatically from employee paychecks.
Simplified Wage Garnishments
Processing wage garnishments accurately is fundamental since doing this incorrectly can lead to legal ramifications. Garnishment court orders can contain complex calculations, a percentage or flat amount, and must be deducted properly from the employee’s pay. The process can become more complicated if the employee has multiple garnishments.
An automated payroll system can help you set up and track garnishments, pay garnishment creditors directly, and run reports so you can determine who has been paid and the exact amount. With the proper configuration, the payroll system can accurately calculate garnishments in the correct order, so the right amount is deducted for each creditor. This greatly reduces the time and labor that would be required for manual wage garnishment processing.
Save Time
Automated payroll services can also save time on processes such as data gathering, information processing, and disbursement and reporting. It can reduce printing costs since many payroll solutions offer an online view of employee paychecks.
Easy Payroll Updates
Automated payroll makes it easier to make salary adjustments, add new employees, or record when an employee leaves the company. Payroll technology also offers streamlined employee portals with integrated systems for benefits and open enrollment, as well as compliance training.
Integrated with Benefits Data
Having your benefits platform directly integrated with your payroll platform can save your business time and money, as combining these manually opens up a lot of risk of error if you need to manually edit payroll every time someone changes their benefits. It also gives your employees a single view of both payroll and benefits, which is helpful in understanding their total compensation.
In today’s modern payroll landscape, paperless simplicity, mobile-friendly services, and E-verify solutions are bringing about change, convenience, and access in a way that’s never been seen before. To learn more about the digital transformation in payroll software, check out our blog post.