Five ways to make payroll simple for your small business
Payroll is often one of the biggest challenges for small business owners. From paperwork volume to legislative complexity, payroll adds stress and steals precious time from your day. Here's how to simplify your payroll process so you can focus on growing your business.
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As a small business owner, you’re constantly thinking about your business. From tracking sales and revenue to managing employees and paperwork, you’re under a lot of pressure.
While you can’t completely avoid the stress of being a small business owner, there are ways you can be more efficient with your time and spend it on the things that matter most – like growing your business.
Shifting compliance challenges
Payroll can be one of the biggest challenges for a small business. This is both a short- and long-term challenge. Manual processes are time-consuming, as is keeping track of employee paperwork. Plus, staying up-to-date on changing and complex legislation is grueling.
According to a PwC study called The Missing Middle, Bridging the Strategy Gap in Family Firms, more than a quarter of family businesses say maintaining compliance with government policies, regulations and legislation will be the biggest challenge for them over the next 12 months.
Failing to stay compliant can result in a huge financial hit to the business. In partnership with the CPA, PwC estimates the annual cost of payroll compliance to Canadian employers in 2020 was $12.5 billion. Small businesses in particular were the hardest hit by the pandemic, with new compliance complexities emerging and a reduced ability to innovate.
Here are five ways to simplify payroll, so you can focus less on paperwork, and more on growing your business.
Use technology to calculate and process payroll
Manual processes and sifting through stacks of paperwork are tedious, inefficient tasks to add onto your plate on a weekly basis. Using paper records, spreadsheets, or multiple systems all create more room for error.
Get that time back by automating the manual tasks in your payroll process. The right technology can help you pay employees accurately and on time, while allowing you to spend more time on the strategic role of running your business. The right tech can also help you manage risk when the system itself helps keep track of the latest government regulations.
Empower your employees
As the owner of a small business, every moment counts. Streamlining administrative work to free up valuable time starts with empowering your people to do some tasks themselves through self-service tools.
Self-service access means employees can view and download pay stubs, access critical forms, update their personal information, and get records of employment online. Giving your employees access to everything they need to view and manage their pay records means you’re spending less time on ad hoc requests and manual changes.
Get someone else to do it
Small business owners often wear many hats, and payroll admin doesn’t have to be one of them. There are ways manage payroll without doing it yourself. For example, consider outsourcing your entire payroll process to a third party. Not only do you reduce the risk of payroll errors, but you’ll also have access to the technology and expertise needed to get payroll done right.
Let experts manage your payroll – learn more about how it works
Take advantage of experts
When in doubt and short on time, leverage expert advice. These experts can answer questions related to HR and labor regulations, and help you create employment letters and contracts.
Take advantage of this support to make sure the decisions you make are in line with current employment legislation, and save yourself time and potentially costly consequences.
Invest in a time and attendance solution
Manually entering employee hours shouldn’t take up hours in your day. Using a time and attendance solution helps you more accurately keep track of your employees’ working hours. Some solutions also automatically import hours into your payroll solution, which not only saves you time, but also helps you to be more accurate when paying employees.
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