7 Ways to Improve Payroll Processes for Your Business

May 19, 2022

Payroll management is a challenge for many businesses that can end up costing more than it should. Non-compliance with local labour and tax laws can result in heavy penalties, and failure to make timely payments can result in employee dissatisfaction and reputational damage. 

Businesses who manage payroll processes in-house must thus keep abreast employment and tax laws in all relevant jurisdictions while performing internal payroll management and related transactions in a timely and accurate manner — an arduous task with much complexity, but a necessary one, nonetheless.

So, here are 7 ways you can improve payroll processes for your business:

1. Creating a Payroll Calendar

Many businesses have multiple pay periods involving full-time employees, part-time workers, contract staff, and even interns. With bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly pays to cater to, things can often get complex and messy if not organised adequately. Businesses should thus create a payroll calendar to keep atop payroll matters and processes at all times; it is also wise to streamline pay cycles wherever possible to reduce processing time and risk of error. 

2. Payroll Training for HR Staff

Underpaid taxes and employee misclassifications can easily occur when there is a lack of training with regards to payroll processes or limited access to the relevant resources. HR staff must be accordingly trained to avoid such mistakes, and—if possible—given access to clear policies outlining salary calculation methodology; how promotions and benefits are calculated and processed; employee classifications; employee reporting requirements; and methods of remedy wherever error occurs. 

Such payroll training can be done in-houes if you have a trained expert, or outsourced to external payroll service providers or HR outsourcing services. 

3. Periodic Review of Tax Requirements

It is also imperative for businesses to regularly review the latest changes in relevant state and federal payroll policies. Payroll processes must continually be adjusted according to these changes to meet changed deadlines, reporting requirements, and tax filings such that there is no payroll miscalculation or mistaken misdemeanour that the business can be penalised for. 

4. Automating Payroll Processes

Manually handling payroll processes can leave room for human error and take up precious time. Automate your payroll management to eliminate the risk of error while enhancing labour productivity and cost-effectiveness in the long run. Find out more about automating payroll management and processes. 

5. Being Transparent with Employees

Being transparent with your employees regarding payroll processes and calculation can improve employee satisfaction. When all employees are given access to information regarding how their pay is calculated, the risk of workers feeling undervalued or a victim of certain biases is effectively reduced. It also gives them extra motivation to work harder and will likely result in an overall increase in labour productivity, since employees now have a clear roadmap of how they can earn a payraise or promotion due to transparent payroll calculation and processing. 

6. Soliciting Feedback from Employees

The best way to go about improving your payroll processes is to work on areas where it is the most lacking. A perfect way to find such areas is to solicit feedback from employees regarding their experience with payroll processes and management in your business. Doing this will also help your workers feel involved and make clear that you are considering their individual troubles and opinions on the matter. If ambiguity is deemed necessary, feel free to engage HR payroll service providers to lend a helping hand for such reviews. 

7. Outsourcing

Lastly, an easy way you can immediately improve payroll processes is to outsource payroll management to a third-party HR payroll service provider that offers outsourced payroll solutions and services in Singapore. There are many benefits that come with outsourcing your payroll processes, and the fees involved in engaging experts to handle your payroll for you are often worth it — you’ll likely save more money in the long run through avoidance of unnecessary costs to do with mishandling of payroll matters and the freeing up of time and labour to concentrate on other important spheres of your business. 

Read more about the nuanced benefits of outsourcing payroll management. 

Partner with Liberte to Improve Payroll Processes Today

Liberte is an award-winning HR company that provides outsourced payroll solutions and services in Singapore. 

Get in touch with us to improve your business’ payroll processes today.