One of the essential ingredients to ensuring your brilliant workforce feels appreciated and valued is ensuring they’re paid fairly, accurately and on time. However, payroll can be a fairly complex process – and there’s also compliance to meet. Here are five quick and clear tips to ensure your employees are paid correctly.
Use software to keep payroll accurate
If you’re using clunkier or outdated payroll software, it’s time to take another look and discover the world of smart solutions now available. The right system will enable you to manage rosters and timesheets, automatically calculate tax, super and leave, and streamline many of the traditional workflows. All of these are likely to support more accurate and timely payment of wages for happier employees.
Use self-service wherever possible
If an employee wants to change their payment details or apply for leave, these shouldn’t be processes that are manually processed. Human error and delays alike could potentially lead to employees not being paid on time. Instead, aim to support employee self-service for aspects such as leave applications, timesheets, bank detail updates and expense forms.
Outsource if you don’t have adequate internal resources
If you find that your in-house team is struggling to keep up with payroll requirements, then outsourced HR support can prove valuable. You might work with an experienced accounting or payroll business in your area to manage this aspect of your business. performHR can also provide expert employment relations support from salary benchmarking, to performance reviews, remuneration reviews to wider HR strategy.
Consider the key elements of payroll compliance
Payroll compliance is an essential consideration for all organisations in Australia, and it’s important to know that all is above board in relation to industry awards, payroll processes, tax and other factors. There are several techniques to feeling more confident about compliance, including:
- Maintaining accurate and detailed records
- Using software that can automatically create audit trails and raise attention to errors or unusual payments
- Keeping up to date on payroll legislation via webinars and consultation
- Developing a relationship with trusted HR specialists and an experienced accountant
- Building a detailed annual calendar so you can easily anticipate paydays and tax deadlines.
Encourage feedback
Keeping the door open to employee feedback about payroll is incredibly important, as it will enable you to optimise your processes and fix any honest errors or underpayments rapidly. If there’s someone feeling worried about not getting paid at work or concerned about the payment process, it will be best to address this early. You might also check in with employees regularly as to what benefits could best suit them: flexible work arrangements, performance bonuses and wellness programs are just a few of the many possibilities.
Outsourced HR support can provide you with the expertise and extra minds to bring out the best in your people. Contact the performHR team today on 1300 406 005 to discuss leadership and coaching, managed HR services, HR strategy and more across Australia.