[US] Top ten payroll operations trends

Anyone working in HR is familiar with the significant role payroll plays within a company. Payroll is what keeps employees paid on time and the use of payroll software to facilitate this is more cost-effective and less time-consuming. Tech Funnel explores the top ten technology trends that can benefit your payroll operations:

Web-based time collection

1. It has been said that the use of web-based timekeeping for payroll operations creates less investment in physical equipment that can be used to manually process payroll. The use of time clocks allows more production for employees as well as an increase in the flexibility to do other tasks involving payroll automation. Because it’s on the web, time collecting can be accessed anywhere through any type of mobile device. This tends to cause fewer errors and allows off-site recording for employees who work remotely. 

Mobile manager approvals

2. The correlation between web-based time collection and mobile manager approvals create a functional experience in payroll operations. Allowing managers to approve timekeeping reports through mobile devices can increase the cost-effectiveness of a payroll operations system. What this means is that HR departments should have the ability to approve received timesheets through a faster process, which in this case would be through mobile management.

Application integration

3. A method of application integration would be a known concept called Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). This is a formatted option largely accepted by hubs and retailers. The reason that application integration is considered to be a common technique for payroll operations is that it primarily works with the CRM system software typically used to communicate with vendors.
Self-service

4. Self-service is the key to reducing payroll operation costs, especially direct labour costs. A perfect example of self-service payroll would be the creation of employee portals, which provides employees and supervisors access to their HR and payroll information that can be managed. Moreover, self-service for the payroll department gives employees the opportunity to perform better on tasks, especially if you are strictly working in an entirely online environment.

Online benefits enrolment

5. The significance of online benefits enrolment is to allow employees to self-enrol in benefits programs. In addition this payroll operations concept features data overviews of employee benefits as well as reporting life event changes. It creates an integrated solution for employees seeking to submit and find the right benefit plans for them.

Central data repository

6. Central repositories are a perfect way to store payroll data. This can be accessed by managers directly online and answer any questions or concerns employees may have about their payroll. This type of payroll operations strategy can make task handling of payroll adaptable for both parties.

Compliance auditing

7. According to reciprocitylabs, the average audit to determine a company’s payroll compliance with PCI DSS or the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard costs from $15,000 to $40,000. This can be dependent on the organisation’s size but compliance auditing can truly improve your cyber security and the entire payroll operating system in particular.

With compliance auditing, audit reports can review and understand a company’s security policies, user access controls, procedures to risk management and preparations for organisation compliance. (Links via original reporting)

Payroll preview

8. Payroll previews are another significant add-on to payroll operations. It’s not a bad feature to have but rather another benefit to look forward to when considering a payroll operations trend. The idea of payroll preview reduces the occurrences of errors because it allows the option for HR members to look over what should and should not be on the payroll prior to submission. Put simply, it is a proofreader for payroll. 

Online processing

9. Online processing may be the most satisfying part of payroll operations. This is where timesheets and actual submissions of payroll can be submitted through the payroll operation software. Both parties - employees and the HR department - can benefit from online processing perfectly due to its flexible access on any type of device as well as the improvement of both workflows within the workplace.

AI-driven payroll

10. The final payroll operations strategy is through AI-driven payroll. This type of payroll automation focuses on the management of data sets that align with an organisation’s regulations. With AI-driven payroll, employees and HR members need not suffer delayed payment processing and the continuous risk of human payroll errors.

If payroll automation becomes too complicated it can make life difficult for the HR members of an organisation. However, Tech Funnel says this doesn’t apply to every employee working in HR. Some departments reportedly have payroll automation down to a tee and often encounter a reduction in reporting errors. Further, under the new normal of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of payroll operations continues to flourish within the digitisation of HR.

As workplaces follow COVID-19 procedures and encourage stay at home orders for employees, adjusting to this new way of life presents a challenge not only for the HR departments of different organisations but for other industries too. The trends of payroll operations continue their advance into the tech industry and have currently increased as a response to higher demands in data analytics and reporting.

Anyone working in HR is familiar with the significant role payroll plays within a company. Payroll is what keeps employees paid on time and the use of payroll software to facilitate this is more cost-effective and less time-consuming. Tech Funnel explores the top ten technology trends that can benefit your payroll operations:

Web-based time collection

1. It has been said that the use of web-based timekeeping for payroll operations creates less investment in physical equipment that can be used to manually process payroll. The use of time clocks allows more production for employees as well as an increase in the flexibility to do other tasks involving payroll automation. Because it’s on the web, time collecting can be accessed anywhere through any type of mobile device. This tends to cause fewer errors and allows off-site recording for employees who work remotely. 

Mobile manager approvals

2. The correlation between web-based time collection and mobile manager approvals create a functional experience in payroll operations. Allowing managers to approve timekeeping reports through mobile devices can increase the cost-effectiveness of a payroll operations system. What this means is that HR departments should have the ability to approve received timesheets through a faster process, which in this case would be through mobile management.

Application integration

3. A method of application integration would be a known concept called Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). This is a formatted option largely accepted by hubs and retailers. The reason that application integration is considered to be a common technique for payroll operations is that it primarily works with the CRM system software typically used to communicate with vendors.
Self-service

4. Self-service is the key to reducing payroll operation costs, especially direct labour costs. A perfect example of self-service payroll would be the creation of employee portals, which provides employees and supervisors access to their HR and payroll information that can be managed. Moreover, self-service for the payroll department gives employees the opportunity to perform better on tasks, especially if you are strictly working in an entirely online environment.

Online benefits enrolment

5. The significance of online benefits enrolment is to allow employees to self-enrol in benefits programs. In addition this payroll operations concept features data overviews of employee benefits as well as reporting life event changes. It creates an integrated solution for employees seeking to submit and find the right benefit plans for them.

Central data repository

6. Central repositories are a perfect way to store payroll data. This can be accessed by managers directly online and answer any questions or concerns employees may have about their payroll. This type of payroll operations strategy can make task handling of payroll adaptable for both parties.

Compliance auditing

7. According to reciprocitylabs, the average audit to determine a company’s payroll compliance with PCI DSS or the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard costs from $15,000 to $40,000. This can be dependent on the organisation’s size but compliance auditing can truly improve your cyber security and the entire payroll operating system in particular.

With compliance auditing, audit reports can review and understand a company’s security policies, user access controls, procedures to risk management and preparations for organisation compliance. (Links via original reporting)

Payroll preview

8. Payroll previews are another significant add-on to payroll operations. It’s not a bad feature to have but rather another benefit to look forward to when considering a payroll operations trend. The idea of payroll preview reduces the occurrences of errors because it allows the option for HR members to look over what should and should not be on the payroll prior to submission. Put simply, it is a proofreader for payroll. 

Online processing

9. Online processing may be the most satisfying part of payroll operations. This is where timesheets and actual submissions of payroll can be submitted through the payroll operation software. Both parties - employees and the HR department - can benefit from online processing perfectly due to its flexible access on any type of device as well as the improvement of both workflows within the workplace.

AI-driven payroll

10. The final payroll operations strategy is through AI-driven payroll. This type of payroll automation focuses on the management of data sets that align with an organisation’s regulations. With AI-driven payroll, employees and HR members need not suffer delayed payment processing and the continuous risk of human payroll errors.

If payroll automation becomes too complicated it can make life difficult for the HR members of an organisation. However, Tech Funnel says this doesn’t apply to every employee working in HR. Some departments reportedly have payroll automation down to a tee and often encounter a reduction in reporting errors. Further, under the new normal of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of payroll operations continues to flourish within the digitisation of HR.

As workplaces follow COVID-19 procedures and encourage stay at home orders for employees, adjusting to this new way of life presents a challenge not only for the HR departments of different organisations but for other industries too. The trends of payroll operations continue their advance into the tech industry and have currently increased as a response to higher demands in data analytics and reporting.