TPC Blog

Many people are reluctant to change payroll companies because they don’t want to deal with the time or hassle involved in making the switch.

While it’s a valid feeling, imagine staying with a provider who doesn’t meet your needs. When you really think about it, how much is their subpar service costing you? Additionally, what compliance risks are they bringing to your organization? While thinking about all the data involved in moving your payroll provider, there could be apprehension and fear surrounding the loss of confidential and sensitive information, penalties that could incur if there are mistakes, and more. The key is knowing the service you expect and providing the best experience for your employees.

Outlining your current needs and what you don’t have with your current provider should be the baseline in choosing a solution that not only works with you and has everything you need but has the capacity to support your business as you grow.

Once you get past that hurdle, it’s time to make a move. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help ease your payroll anxiety.

Step One – Getting Started

When getting set up, we’ll need some documentation from you. You’ll need information from your previous provider to make sure your taxes and other calculations are input correctly. Everything will be handled by your dedicated Implementation Project Manager, who serves as the liaison between us. This person will give you the list of items needed to begin the transition, be available to answer any questions, make sure your paperwork is complete, and ensure a smooth and stress-free process.

You may have a few questions, and we anticipate that. Some of the most commonly asked questions include:

1. Do we have clients we can contact for reference?
2. Will the Implementation Manager always be available for us?
3. Who is responsible for ensuring the timeline is adhered to?
4. What type of customer support can you expect?
5. Do we have to worry about any new laws or regulations?
6. Will there be training for your team?
7. What if we have payroll compliance concerns?
8. How much technical support do you offer?

Step Two – Kick-Off Call

Although you should have already received a list of the items we’ll need from your team, we discuss this in depth during the kick-off call. Your setup checklist should be tailored to your company or the specifications of the payroll company you are moving from. Throughout the conversation, we’ll map out the process timeline, so you’ll know what to expect. This is also when you can voice any concerns, ask additional questions, and communicate your needs. The goal is to ensure you are fully informed and feel comfortable moving forward.

Step Three – Conversion

During this step, we’ll use the data from your legacy system or from your previous payroll provider and place it into our payroll system. The system migrates all your employees and their personal and direct deposit information. Additional information like your company bank account and tax ID numbers, state unemployment rates, employee deductions, garnishment orders, W-4s, 941 filings, and the YTD payroll summary per employee and quarter will also be migrated into the system.

This is a lot of data, time, and effort to successfully deliver a smooth conversion. Any integrations and other solutions you have chosen to include are included in this process. We take our time on your tax management to ensure you don’t and won’t have any underlying issues that could become a potential problem down the line.

Step 4 – Specialized Assistance

We shape your implementation team based on what you need. We have a variety of services ready to enhance your payroll solution to add convenience and further streamline the process. Depending on the services you have selected for your company, benefits, specialists in time, onboarding, or other niches will join the team. You will receive a full breakdown of these services and how they can assist. This ensures a smooth transition for every aspect of your payroll and HR services.

Step 5 – Accuracy Review

Once all the key elements are in place, you and your implementation project manager will review your setup for accuracy. This is where you can add additional services if you feel your solution is not as robust as you expected. You will have time to test the system before you take it live. Our team performs parallel testing to make sure our system results match the output from your legacy system, considering any service additions.

This helps ensure the system is properly set up and all the data is correct. We will cross-reference any key details for verification and delivery.

Step Six – Live Payroll Processing

In the final step of the implementation process, we take your payroll live. You’ll work with your project manager or a trainer from The Payroll Company to bring everyone up to speed, understand the system to mitigate risk, and help set your team and employees up for success.

This is also the time to inform the staff about the change in payroll providers. There should be widespread communication on why the company made the switch, the advantages of the new company, and training on how to access the employee system.

Once you go live, the first payroll run should be carefully reviewed again to identify and correct any issues. This will also demonstrate how effective our solution is in meeting your needs.

Although switching payroll providers requires a significant amount of time and effort in the beginning, it’s a long-term investment in your company. Switching payroll providers to one that is a better fit for your company provides a positive advantage now and, in the future, to save you time, money, and anxiety.