The novel coronavirus pandemic led to many restrictions, such as physical interactions and confinements, which brought numerous challenges to many businesses prompting them to meet the needs of their staff with as little face-to-face interaction as possible.
Business continuity plans are being put to the test as remote working practices have become the new normal. With the ongoing pandemic, organizations are forced to adapt to technological advancements and rethink executing various tasks like payroll.
Keep on reading as we tackle some of the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic to payroll activities:
Social Distancing Affecting Payroll Administration and HR Activities
The need for social distancing also meant minimal interactions during the payroll process. Many activities traditionally done in person for payroll administration and HR activities, such as collecting paper slips and registering attendance, increase the risks of employees acquiring the virus. Such processes involving significant human interactions have put affected payroll systems.
Manual Payroll Processing
Payroll processing is never static; it takes time and effort to confirm and accurately finish it. For many businesses, manually finalizing payroll has always been the norm. But with workforces under the confinement of their homes, it became more difficult for professionals to manage payroll from handling timesheets, checking errors, validating data, to adjusting pay where allowances had changed.
Additionally, the tedious task of calculating and adjustments for termination and redundancies results in the bottleneck of inefficiency.
The Use of Challenging Payroll System
There is also the problem with hard-to-use payroll systems. Many of them are generally not intuitive and user-friendly. Hence, they are not systems that employees can easily navigate and tweak. Users will require adequate knowledge and intensive training to access manuals and instructions on using the system, which is also a problem considering the steep learning curve.
It makes it harder for employees to do payroll as few are only willing to take the responsibility of dealing with time-consuming, complex, and multi-faceted compliance issues that come with the nature of some payroll systems.
Moreover, businesses that do not have cloud-based payroll systems and do not have access to their physical offices to process and initiate payroll due to lockdowns are a major headache for many organizations.
Adapting to the Changes
Even with the pandemic, paying employees on time must be prioritized. Without an effective payroll solution, internal problems may begin to arise. Businesses may find themselves facing late or missed payrolls, contract breaches, and non-compliance to rapidly changing regulations and legislations. Additionally, such complications will reduce employee morale and overall productivity as employees will feel unhappy and unsecured from a challenged payroll department.
Even companies with in-house payroll departments may face problems if their staff cannot report for work due to health complications. The need for technology and team to ensure that employees are paid correctly and accurately should not be overlooked.
In the current business landscape, many are seeing emerging trends for organizations in ensuring business continuity. It includes considering online payroll services to mitigate payroll processing disruption and error risk.
Considering Online Payroll this Pandemic
Business owners need to understand that just as they prioritized employing various operational responses to carry on business, they also need to ensure that their payroll team has the same attention. Meaning they should have the necessary technical skills, availability, or technology they need, providing services for managing payroll.
It makes sense to digitize payroll and workflow processes in today’s digital world as it can offer many advantages to organizations. Online payroll and HR services offer automation, accessibility, accurate calculations, and, most importantly, reduce health risks for staff members.
Many companies have already made the switch to online payroll services from managing payroll in-house. Here are some of the potential benefits of online payroll:
- Increased Efficiency
- Improved Labor Management
- Less Human Errors
- Convenience
- Simplifies Compliance
If you are looking for reputable payroll providers in Fort Myers, FL, Entrust Payroll Solutions is your best choice. Their payroll service allows clients to be in control of viewing their compensation and benefits without having to be in their physical office during payday.
Moreover, their payroll services are simple and affordable, allowing clients to process payroll with a few simple steps. If you want to learn more, you can visit their website at https://entrustpayroll.com/.