Five Ways to Streamline Your Payroll Process

​​For business owners with employers, payroll is a necessary task that can slow your day and tie you down if you let it. As we are coming up on the end of the year, now is a good time to review your current processes.
 
While reviewing your current situation, see if you can make payroll less time-consuming by integrating any or all the five ideas below.

Employee Onboarding
 
​​Empower your new hires by letting them do their paperwork for you. 

A good payroll system allows employees to “onboard” themselves, completing the I-9, W-4, and direct deposit authorizations electronically, even before they show up for their first day. You will still need to ask for ID on their first working day, but at least you won’t have to do their paperwork for them.   
 
Integrate Employee Benefits
 
Rather than hire several separate companies to handle benefits, some payroll systems allow you to integrate benefits solutions right in their dashboard. That way, you will not have to re-enter employee data in multiple systems, which often gets out of sync. Deductions and payments can also be integrated to save accounting time.
 
Delegate Time Sheet Entry
 
Require non-exempt employees to enter their own time; all you should have to do is approve it. The right time sheet application can take care of that, and a great time sheet application will allow employees to enter time from multiple options, including time card, cell phone, and others.
 
Eliminate the Annual Worker’s Compensation Audit
 
Tie your worker’s compensation vendor to your accounting system, and you will be able to avoid that time-consuming annual reconciliation report required by your worker’s compensation insurance company. You can also avoid the large annual payment because the insurance will be taken out each payroll cycle.
 
Reduce the Frequency of Payroll
 
It is not always possible, but if you can pay employees less frequently, you might be able to cut your payroll time in half. Pay weekly employees every two weeks or pay bi-weekly employees monthly. Reducing payroll frequency boosts cash flow as well.  
 
Try one of these five ideas to streamline your payroll time and costs in your business. In addition, feel free to reach out to us to discuss your payroll needs and how we can be of support to your success!

This is general information and should not be acted upon without first determining its application to your specific situation. Please contact your CPA or tax advisor for additional details.