Monday 16 January 2023

5 Effective Strategies to Manage Your Payroll Processes Successfully

 

Managing human resources effectively has been always important for businesses worldwide. However, the need to streamline employee-centric processes such as payroll management has become more acute now as it has a direct bearing on the employee mindset and motivation.

Even if there is a crisis or economic slowdown, timely processing of payroll and disbursal of salaries is something that should not be compromised.

Let’s take a look at five effective strategies through which modern businesses located in Australia and other countries can manage their payroll processes successfully.

Seamless and effective communication – Workplace’s definition has changed. With the increased use of laptops, office has now become limitless and location independent. It could be a train/flight, living room of your home, a hotel room, or the conventional office, but work has to be done and employees have to be engaged. To track the progress on tasks and understand the workload of employees, businesses need world-class payroll software as it can help in plugging the communication gap besides offering many other benefits. It would integrate with the time and attendance management system to track the employee’s location, and status of activity. Also, there are integrated chat tools available to empower the employees to reach out whenever they need. Changes in organizational HR and payroll policies can be easily communicated with all the personnel through a platform that the employees use regularly. For instance, the self-service portal that a leading payroll outsourcing company would offer.

Collaboration between teams – Payroll is a clearly defined and data driven process. It requires inputs from various teams and personnel to accurately process the amount payable to each employee. This kind of cross-functional collaboration is highly challenging, and in a scenario where employees work from different locations, things become even more difficult. That’s where using advanced communication tools such as group communication channels, video conferencing tools and digital payroll software that well-established companies offer, can be an ideal approach. With this, employees can stay in close touch irrespective of their location. For example, an employee working from India can easily get in touch with an employee working from Australia with the help of comprehensive payroll software.

Leave and attendance management - One of the biggest challenges faced by HR personnel in hybrid working environment is to accurately track the leave and attendance data of employees and to monitor their active work hours. That’s where companies need to move away from conventional methods and use cloud-based time and attendance management software. World-class payroll outsourcing companies offer such software to boost accuracy of time and attendance data for all employees irrespective of their locations. 

Leveraging software to automate compliance – Payroll software that companies in Australia or any other countries across the world choose must be capable of complying with regulations digitally. There are frequent changes in regulations and compliance reporting to authorities such as the tax department, and companies should use software to automatically track and integrate such changes. Further, there should be a system in place to notify the employees of any changes or requirements at their end to ensure utmost compliance. 

Self-service portals – The repetitive nature of HR and payroll processes can often cause a lot of additional burden for the payroll outsourcing teams or the company’s HR team. A good payroll software is the one that offers digital self-service portals for tasks such as submitting documents or bills, checking salary details, printing salary slips or tax forms, reimbursement and leave requests, and so on. A digital solution would not only make things easier and seamless for all, but also make the employees more appreciative of the companies. 

Which software to use to implement these strategies?

There are plenty of renowned SaaS companies offering their payroll outsourcing or digital payroll solutions in Australia and other countries. However, you must choose a company that has a long-standing market reputation, and offers software with features such as:

  • People first employee experience
  • Digital signing and issuing of job offers to candidates
  • Self-onboarding for employees
  • Ability to edit/view personal details through the self-service portal
  • Historical payslips
  • Desktop and mobile friendly versions with integrated smartphone app
  • Leave management
  • Deployment of advanced tools for accurate time tracking, and preventing time theft through facial recognition software
  • Automatic shift approvals

Conclusion

Using advanced technologies such as cloud-based payroll outsourcing solutions and payroll software can empower businesses located in Australia and other countries to extract more value out of their HR operations. The time has come to avoid sitting on the fence, and adopt the right software to drive business growth and enhance employee satisfaction.