Most reports will agree that payroll and HR suffered during the last 2 years at the hands of the pandemic.
In one report, 91% of payroll managers said that they felt errors were made every month during the first year of the pandemic, which many contribute to the fact that overnight legislative changes and new processes made payrolling, which was now done from home, even more difficult, time consuming and inaccurate (hrnews).
Payroll though should never be like that. Payroll should always run efficiently, and where better to achieve this than in a company of experienced global and local experts. Payroll is not a core part of many people’s business, so why do so many have their HR/payroll teams diluting their work efforts double entering admin which is not only timely but more likely to cause errors, dealing with unnecessary paperwork, system issues, etc? A modern approach would be more effective, where businesses can utilise easy accurate reports, focussing on what the business needs, from attracting and retaining talent, to working on benefits and other key drivers for staff. Adding value to the business and retaining and building it; not administrating it.
Cost savings by outsourcing both payroll and HR are a reality and a big attraction for outsourcing, but it’s also important to remember the added value and job satisfaction your team can now bring too which is harder to quantify.
Savings include reduced headcount, removal of training needs, recruitment, legislative compliance updates, and liability as these are now in the hand of your trusted expert partner if you fully outsource. Some companies, like ours, also consider TUPE staff, so your ‘old’ team may find themselves working within our business, with wider career opportunities and training potential as they enter our business with ample opportunities and less limitations.
Along with the above, consider the lack of risk from hosting an internal team. A flu, -or dare I say – COVID-like outbreak, can result in fewer available workers to perform legally required duties. As was earlier stressed above, we know for certain that internal teams can put the business in risk in terms of compliance and accuracy in times of a crisis.
So why don’t more people outsource?
Getting everyone on board at the same time with their own objectives is part of the obstruction.
However, once a clear path and benefits for different functions are understood the question should change from ‘Why wouldn’t you?’, to ‘We should …’
- HR teams can feel the benefits of doing their job – they want to enhance the business through its people not deal with repetitive admin and human errors, etc.
- Employees – better control and access providing timely updates and pay accuracy – again saving HR time and honouring employees with timely updates and training.
- Finance Director – benefitting from bottom line saving and confident that payroll is GDPR compliant and that should a crisis hit, payroll is with the experts and not a looming liability.
- C-suite – Desire to not only modernise, save money, prepare for future acquisitions / expansion, can task HR with other HR functions such as talent requisition and retainment, L&D to drive bottom line / add value.
Never underestimate the importance of speedy accurate admin, HR and payroll queries being answered, on hand tech support and accurate payroll for the whole team.
And just remember this, for every payroll that is wrong, have you had the chance to fully investigate and understand the error? You could be in breach of the law by not doing this, especially if without yearly audits there could be a large accruing inaccuracy.
This post was written by Zalaris. They are an exhibitor on the HRTech247 Payroll, Time & Attendance floor in the technology hall here, and the SAP Partners floor in the Partners Hall here.
