In today’s environment outsourcing areas of your business to experts who can provide a reliable and cost efficient service. The payroll function is one area that has a proven record of the benefits it can bring to any business.
Outsourced payroll is now within the reach of all sizes of business. From small and medium sized organisations faced with problems of compliance and recruiting, training and retaining staff. To larger companies looking to streamline their operations.
1.Reduce cost
For small to medium sized businesses, an in-house payroll service can be a large expense. If you consider the hours your employees spend on payroll-related activities, plus the additional cost of: payroll software, training, printers, printing, distributing pay slips, plus the time and creation of tax documents.
It could come as a surprise when you compare the cost occurred for this function, to the cost a payroll service provider can offer. By outsourcing payroll you know all costs in advance, which makes budgeting simple.
2. Free-up resources
The payroll function can consume a large proportion of your staff resources. Especially if the staff in charge of payroll are not trained specifically to deal with it. Or if they have payroll as a smaller part of their existing responsibilities. The benefit of outsourcing payroll may include freeing up these resources to allow staff to concentrate on more essential tasks. You may also be able to reduce your staff’s size.
3. Experience
Staying up to date with ever-changing payroll legislation can be a real challenge, but you don’t have to work that way. By outsourcing to payroll experts they will be up to date on the latest tax related laws and government legislation as part of the service.
4. Reliability and efficiency
The in-house payroll function is as reliable as the people completing the work. With a payroll service, outsourced, speed and quality won’t vary in accordance with staff holidays and sickness. There is also the risk that if you lose one of the key members of staff that deal with payroll that all their knowledge leaves with them. If this was to happen you could find it difficult to replace them, causing a logistical nightmare come payday if people don’t get paid or get paid incorrectly. You also won’t have to spend time training new staff or helping them to understand your business’s payroll system.
5. Improve management information
One benefit of payroll outsourcing is the impact it can have on the quality of management information. By choosing a payroll provider that offers tailored management information and reporting, your payroll can bring rich and timely information into your business.
6. Reduced Risk & Security
Payroll data is extremely sensitive and in light of this payroll experts have developed extremely high levels of data security including online payroll approval, robust disaster recovery and business continuity processes. When outsourcing to payroll experts they have technologies that can spot and alert clients to various types of payroll fraud, such as payment manipulation and ‘phantom workers’.
If you would like to find out more on how Ward Williams HR can assist with payroll. Please feel free to email sally.phillips@wardwilliams.co.uk or give us a call on 01932 830664
