Business in the digital age moves at a frantic pace, and it’s down to payroll managers to stay on the pulse of technology to maximise productivity and performance within their department. These days, finding and integrating the ideal payroll software is a core challenge facing companies across every industry.

 

As with any tech-enabled solution, falling behind on core technologies usually means falling behind the competition – and payroll is no exception. New functionalities and capabilities are in constant development, each one built to streamline operations and speed up manual processes. In turn, this frees up more time for payroll professionals to focus on wider strategic goals, people management and new, creative functionalities.

 

There’s plenty to consider, which is why top companies make a point of reviewing their core payroll systems every year or two to pinpoint exactly where and how improvements can be made. With that in mind, let’s take a look at three reasons why it’s time to update your payroll software.

 

1. You need to integrate with other systems

More often than not, payroll sits in the middle ground between HR and finance, often reporting directly to one or the other. Certain tasks may fall under the jurisdiction of either department which effectively requires clear communication between HR and finance regarding additions, redactions, data security and the upkeep of records.

 

A centralised platform is essential for any business looking to protect against human error, streamline processes and find a secure way of sharing data between different departments. Any legacy systems that haven’t been updated in years should be viewed as a risk factor because they usually rely on aging, outdated infrastructure that cannot be easily updated or integrated with other core functions within the department. This is a major issue for any organisation, especially as it relates to effective data security management and consolidation.

 

2. You need to save time on admin

Many payroll professionals recall the days of manual number crunching, printing payslips and carefully filling out an endless stream of submissions and returns by hand. In other words, a nightmare. Not only did the manual approach add far more stress, time and boredom to completing key tasks, it also heightened the risk of human error at each stage of the payroll process.

 

Automated payroll software now enables departments to quickly calculate earnings and gross-to-net pay, collect and store employee data securely, generate reports and complete accurate submissions – all with minimal fuss and maximum accuracy.

 

Finding the right software or payroll solutions can easily result in shaving days off every payroll cycle and ensure a greater level of accuracy throughout. It also creates more avenues for collecting data, mining insights and generating regular reports quickly. Those insights often prove vital in helping payroll gain a stronger voice in the boardroom – something that 78% of departments are lacking at the moment according to our research.

 

3. You need to improve employee engagement

Being paid accurately and on time remains at the core of any employer-employee relationship; yet it’s surprising how many businesses seem to take this for granted and risk disengaging their talent.

 

Without a robust payroll solution you can run the risk of employees being paid late or making trivial mistakes on employee payslips. This is often attributed to human error during manual tasks or a department struggling to scale in line with business growth.

 

It’s time to change that perspective. All too often companies are quick to ‘invest’ in workplace culture and performance with a token ping pong table or video game console; yet establishing a scalable user-focused system and giving payroll managers a bigger platform to voice concerns and discuss improvements is ultimately far more crucial to maximise employee wellbeing and financial security.

 

This is the only way that payroll will ever go from a reactive function to a key driver of talent retention and sustainable engagement.

 

TriblockHR has a seamless payroll management solution that syncs all your business’s HR data with payroll, so you never have to use a calculator or manually enter data, like hours and deductions.