By Stephanie Elsen

No matter whether you are using payroll software or a payroll service for your business, you are surely using a payroll program to enter and track employee information, hours worked, and all the associated necessary information to pay employees.

A basic payroll program may meet most of your needs at the start, but as time goes on and you grow, there will be areas that need to change along with your business. As a business changes and continues to drive for more efficiency and cost reduction, there are a number of areas to consider in your payroll program to make improvements. Consider payroll features that can decrease staff resources and reduce the costs of paper, printing, check stock, envelopes and postage.

Payroll program capabilities that the help improve efficiency and reduce costs:

• Direct Deposit Payment

  Transfer pay electronically to employee bank accounts, rather than issuing printed checks.

• Publish Pay Advices

  Distribute direct deposit pay advices electronically, rather than printing on paper and handing them out.

• Electronic/e-Filing of State and Federal Reports

  File tax forms and reports electronically via the internet instead of purchasing all the associated materials, printing and sending them.

• Time Clock/Time Capture Device Import

  Import employee time from a time clock/time capture device electronically, rather than entering the information by hand.

• Leave Calculation and Reporting

  Maintain accrual, payment and reporting of vacation, sick leave, and PTO with the ability to print accrued, used and remaining on employee pay stubs.

• Local Tax Tracking

  Set up and track local taxes or tax groups, rather than keeping track of that often complex information in a spreadsheet.

• Multiple State Tax Tracking

  Track and pay taxes in multiple states, and track tax requirements for mobile employees working in multiple states.

• Benefit/Deduction Tracking

  Track benefits such as 401K, cafeteria plan, and other benefits/deductions and employer matches within your payroll program rather than using an external spreadsheet.

• Wage Garnishment

  Wage garnishment can be complex, depending on many factors. Track and pay complex wage garnishments in your payroll system. If your program cannot do it, you will need to manually calculate every payday and enter it into the system.

Many businesses that are outgrowing their payroll program or seeking time and cost-savings contact Red Wing Software, seeking a better way to handle their growing payroll needs. CenterPoint Payroll Software is an in-house payroll software program that can accommodate all of these functions and many more.

Sometimes we do something the same way for so long, that we don’t realize there is a much more efficient way to accomplish it. Even when we know there is something better, it’s hard to make the switch. Change can be hard. But if there is clearly a faster and more efficient way of getting your payroll done, you could save yourself wasted time and agony. Here are some of the top time wasters when it comes to payroll processing.

Double entry

If your employees are filling out a time sheet, and then you are taking that data and entering it by hand into a payroll software, you are double entering data. This not only wastes time, but leaves an additional margin for error. You can streamline that process by implementing an electronic time clock, where you pull in the hours electronically into your payroll system. Yes, there is an added expense for the time clock, but you will quickly recoup that expense with the time saved! You will wonder how you went so long without it.

Tracking employee leave time on a spreadsheet

A surprising number of people could use their payroll software to track employee leave time, but instead use a spreadsheet and manage the process manually. Maybe the thinking is that their leave calculations are too complex for software to compute or that the setup will take too long. Either way, it’s worth your time checking into whether your payroll software can handle your employee leave calculations. A good payroll system will be able to handle a variety of calculation methods and make the job of calculating leave a whole lot easier for you, and also maintain accuracy.

Troubleshooting problems on your own.

Yep, we are a payroll software company. So you might be thinking this is a plug for us, but it’s not. Far too many people think they can personally handle questions, problems and issues they are having with their payroll, when a payroll support team could easily help them resolve questions and issues much faster. So, no matter whose payroll software or service you are using, opt in for a support plan. Calling for help and getting your issue resolved right away will bring peace of mind, and may also stop the issue from snowballing and becoming worse!

Once you stop the payroll time wasters, payroll processing will go much more smoothly, and you can expect accuracy to be improved as well.