Paying employees is not a new concept, but the technology that helps employers pay their employees has certainly changed over the years. The entire process of paying employees has gotten much easier with the rapid growth in technology. Many things can now be done digitally rather than manually, saving significant time and effort for the person processing payroll. But some essential things about payroll will never change, and no matter how many new payroll programs, service providers, or features pop up over the years, these things stay just as crucial as ever.
Timely and Accurate Pay for Employees
Clearly, employees do not want to be paid inaccurately or late, and the government won’t tolerate inaccurate or late payroll tax payments. These are probably the most important and static rules about payroll, and employers should keep this top of mind when searching for a payroll program or service.
Integrity of Payroll Data/Audit Trail
While the entry and storage of data can improve and become faster and easier, even more important than that is the integrity of payroll data. A good payroll audit trail is a crucial tool for ensuring the integrity of payroll data and should not be overlooked during a search for payroll software or services. Security is also crucial to the integrity of payroll data, so the ability to set up menu level security (employee access by screen) can be a great benefit.
Support for Payroll Software or Services
Whether you use payroll software or a service, there will be questions along the way that need answering, and help will be needed. Payroll is complex; there are so many rules to follow, and those rules, and tax rates change fairly often. When choosing a payroll software or service, this fact should be kept top of mind. Keeping on top of changes, distributing those changes to customers, and supporting customers are crucial for a good payroll service or software vendor. If you don’t have the support of your payroll vendor, you don’t have much, and you will be on your own during payroll processing when payroll is due.
With the new and shiny bells and whistles that develop among payroll vendors, it can be easy to forget some very important things that will never change for a company and its payroll to run smoothly. Red Wing Software has focused on the most important aspects of payroll since 1979 and continues to keep these concepts top of mind within its premier payroll program, CenterPoint Payroll. To reserve your demo, click here.