Related Posts
Regardless of industry or size, all companies have one thing in common: a need to pay their employees. Payroll processing can be an extremely complicated undertaking, with a significant amount of due diligence needed and the potential for serious, costly errors. Because one size doesn’t fit all, there are many different methods for managing your business’s payroll. The trick is determining which is right for you.
What Is Payroll Processing?
Payroll processing describes the procedure a company follows to calculate how to properly compensate its employees. It can be done on paper or digitally, either manually or with the help of payroll software or a 3rd party provider. Accurate, timely payroll processing is paramount for any business, as mistakes and delays can bring tax penalties and crush employee morale. Overall, the name of the game is paying the right people the right amount at the right time—no questions asked.
If you are a small business with only a handful of employees, you may be tempted to save money by processing payroll manually and without the assistance of payroll software. While this may seem like a cost-effective and simple enough solution, manual processing requires a large amount of time and effort and increases the risk of errors, including:
- Inaccurate timesheets
- Late tax payments
- Incorrectly calculated withholdings
- Misclassified workers
- Payroll fraud
In short, it’s important to remember that while you may save money processing your payroll manually, it means spending a large amount of time keeping meticulous documentation, checking and double-checking data entry to avoid errors, ensuring compliance with regulations, and being prepared to meet all tax deadlines.
What Is a Payroll Service Provider (PSP)?
Businesses that would prefer to receive assistance with or fully outsource their payroll processing may choose to work with a PSP. These range from payroll software providers who specialize in programs that help simplify the payroll process to full-service payroll providers who handle every aspect of payroll from start to finish.
Benefits of working with a PSP include:
- Automated or streamlined payroll processing
- Payroll reporting
- Ensured compliance
- Data security
However, businesses using accounting or workforce management software to manage their employees will find that PSPs are not capable of integrating with any and all platforms. It is important to determine what PSPs are compatible with your software of choice before making a decision to work with one. Are you willing to switch up your entire system just to work with a specific PSP?
Using Workforce Management Software for Payroll Processing
Workforce management software is a series of digital tools, used either separately or as part of a larger platform, that allow employers to efficiently manage their greatest asset—their employees, while simplifying and automating many common scheduling and human resources processes, including fair shift distribution, productivity measurement, tracking PTO balances, and more.
So, what is the difference between processing your payroll with workforce management software versus payroll software? Well, as it turns out, there are plenty of factors that contribute to payroll that aren’t handled by payroll software.
Workforce management software gives you the advantage of simplifying your payroll process by collecting and exporting verified employee data—including hours worked, pay rate, vacation time taken, and overtime worked—directly from your schedule. This eliminates the need to track hours twice and prevents errors often introduced when preparing the data manually.
With AION from VCS Software, you not only get best-in-class solutions from professionals with 25 years of experience expertly managing workforces with some of the most intricate, complicated schedules out there, but also the peace of mind that your payroll data will be exported automatically, instantly, and error-free, on time, every time.
We also know that no matter how much due diligence you do, change happens. When it comes time to switch payroll providers, AION won’t make you jump through hoops to check integrations and compatibility: unlike other workforce management and payroll software, AION is totally payroll agnostic, meaning you can use whatever provider you want.
Conclusion
Whatever the specific needs of your business are, utilizing tools to streamline and simplify payroll processing—especially a robust workforce management platform—can be transformative. Turn a half-day grind into an hour’s work and let the software do the heavy lifting for you.