Payroll is a vital aspect of every business. After all, it’s how your employees are paid, you stay in legal and governmental compliance as a business, and how you keep your business afloat. Of course, in addition to being vital, payroll can also bring about some challenges.
Thankfully, while it’s true that your organization might face several common payroll challenges, it’s also true that there are a number of solutions you can put into place to counteract these common issues.
Tracking and Calculating Employee Hours Accurately
While it might seem like keeping up with how many hours any given employee is working would be fairly straightforward, things can get confusing if you have a large, dispersed workforce or if some of your employees are working either full or part-time remotely. Both you and your employees want the same thing: to fairly compensate or to be fairly compensated, for their labor.
How to Fix it? Thankfully, you can fix this common issue by implementing time and attendance tracking systems that accurately capture employees’ hours without the need for any employee to have to keep up with this information on their own.
Managing Employee Benefits
If you have a large organization, this task can become quite complex. After all, it’s difficult to determine what employees should have in terms of what benefits they are owed. This is to say nothing of making sure that those benefits are managed properly. It can get pretty complicated and lead to a lot of frustration, to say the least.
How to Fix it? To simplify this entire process, it’s a good idea to utilize payroll software or to outsource your payroll to another company. This will take the task of benefits management out of your hands and get you back to focusing on the job at hand.
Complying With Tax Laws and Regulations
Any business owner can attest that keeping up with the various tax laws and the many employee regulations that are current can be a full-time job in and of itself. As an organization, you must make sure you are withholding federal, state, and local taxes from each employee’s paycheck and then submitting the right tax payments to the appropriate agencies as well. Just thinking about this can make the average person’s head. Thankfully, there is an easier way.
How to Fix it? The easiest way to ensure compliance is to use payroll software that is up-to-date with all the regulations and latest tax laws. This will guarantee that employees are withholding the correct amount for taxes and that payments are sent to the right location in a timely manner.
Maintaining Employee Privacy
The act of handling payroll by its very nature means that your employees are trusting you with their sensitive personal information, including their financial information. You must ensure that this sensitive information is always protected and kept away from the prying eyes of those who would use it to do harm to your employees. Today, more than ever, personal, sensitive information is valuable for those who sell it, and having a breach of any kind can prove disastrous for not only your business but for any employees impacted as well.
How to Fix It? To ensure that your employees' privacy is protected, it’s a good idea to introduce strong security measures, company-wide. This can include using encryption or access controls. It’s also important to go a step further, though, and to make sure that all employees are trained on the proper handling of sensitive data and learn the necessary practices to ensure that data remains safe. 
Handling Errors and Discrepancies
Despite your best efforts as a business, there will be times when payroll errors or discrepancies can and do occur. It is important for your business to handle these in a professional and timely manner and to make the necessary corrections. Discrepancies could include employees saying they worked more hours than you have recorded for them, or they did not receive a certain benefit. It can involve anything where you have one idea of what an employee is owed, and they have another. Sometimes, this is an internal, system error, sometimes it’s a human error. Either way, it needs to be addressed.
How to Fix It? To reduce the impact of payroll errors, implement internal controls and checks like reconciling payroll records against time and attendance records as well as verifying employee pay and deductions. This can reduce the chance that you ever have to face a discrepancy or error in the first place. Of course, quick action and addressing the problem quickly is important if these mistakes still slip past your best efforts.
Contact Us to Learn More
By effectively managing payroll, you as a business owner can ensure that your employees are paid accurately and on time and that they are compliant with all relevant laws and regulations. While you could do this on your own, we recommend reaching out to us at The Payroll Company.
Allow us to oversee your payroll and get you back to doing the tasks of everyday business while we worry about compliance, tax laws, and other ever-changing regulations.
Contact us today to learn more about how to get this process started and reduce the challenges that you face dealing with payroll on your own.
