Introduction
As a payroll manager, do you think that employee experience is just about a sleek ESS UI and UX? Our three-part blog series uncovers what truly enhances the employee experience beyond UI/UX. Discover how improving the payroll experience can elevate overall employee satisfaction. Divided into three key stages - Pre-Payroll, Payroll Processing, and Post-Payroll - this series offers strategies and insights to transform your payroll management.
In this blog, we will focus on the first stage and see how a payroll solution can help enhance the Pre-Payroll Experience and boost efficiency.
When everyone looks at their payslip, it might seem like the payroll processor just conjured it out effortlessly. Although modern systems simplify the process to a few key actions, a significant amount of effort is still required during the Pre-Payroll stage.
What is the Pre-Payroll Stage and why is this important?
The pre-payroll phase consists more of planning and collecting all the inputs needed for efficient processing of payroll.
This involves various critical activities such as
- Collecting data for new hires
- Gathering information on term employees
- Updating changes in compensation and other employee details
- Collecting and verifying time & absence records
- Gathering one-time earnings and deductions from various systems and departments
- Ensuring new compliance updates are updated in the system if there is a change
- Validating errors in inputs, whether from integration or manual uploads
- Reviewing the previous payroll checklist to avoid repeating input-related mistakes
This phase is critical as inaccuracies can lead to financial errors and employee dissatisfaction. Enhancing the pre-payroll phase ensures accurate, timely payments, boosting workforce trust and morale. Such improvements can positively affect the overall organizational climate, making it a strategic focus. While pre-payroll may appear as simple data collection, any missed or incorrect inputs can create significant complications.
In large organizations where the payroll department includes over a thousand employees, various associated functions such as HR, F&A, as well as Compliance and Legal teams work constantly, adjusting their efforts to handle complex data inputs.
What can make a payroll admin life better?
Enhancing the effectiveness of payroll administration relies on the below four points. While the first two are well-known and have been extensively discussed, the subsequent areas have not received adequate attention:
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Integration with HRIS
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Integration with Time and Absence System
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Ease in Uploading inputs Manually
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Error handling – Integration and Manual input flow
Integration with HRIS
A payroll administrator often spends considerable time collecting payroll inputs and resolving system errors. Integration with Human Capital Management (HCM) systems can streamline this by automating data collection from modules like time, absence, benefits, and reimbursements. There are two options to reduce manual workload - Integrating existing systems or adopting a comprehensive employee payroll provider with pre-integrated platforms.
Advanced payroll solutions seamlessly integrate with other HR systems, allowing for the automatic transfer of employee life cycle data - New Hire, Leaver, Rehire, Employee personal, Job, and Compensation data changes. This integration reduces the need for manual data entry, thereby decreasing the likelihood of errors. Technologies such as cloud computing provide real-time data access, making it easier for payroll professionals to collate and verify information swiftly and accurately.
Integration with Time and Absence
The interesting fact about employee payroll data flow is that time and absence entries occur every single day. Compared to the number of elements and the frequency of changes in time and absence records, the flow of information from HRIS is notably more stable. Therefore, time and absence integration is considered as critical as HRIS integration.
Overtime rules also vary from country to country, and similarly, leave of absence rules differ from one country to another. For example, in Australia, if an employee in the manufacturing industry works overtime, they are typically paid at higher rate than the ordinary hourly wage. Similarly in Singapore, you get 1.5 times the hourly basic rate of pay for every additional hour worked. When it comes to leave of absence, for example in the UK, employees have the option to take Shared Parental Leave (SPL) in up to three separate blocks. They can also share this leave with their partner, provided their partner is also eligible.
To make life easier for the payroll admin team, it is crucial that the time and absence system you choose is not only employee-friendly but can also integrate seamlessly with the payroll system. Alternatively, consider working with a provider that offers pre-integrated payroll, time, and absence management solutions.
Ease in Uploading inputs Manually
Not all companies fully integrate every type of payroll input into their solutions, which often require payroll administrators to manually enter data. Selecting a payroll solution that facilitates easy uploads and features a simple user interface is crucial. This prevents confusion and missed entries by avoiding the need to navigate multiple screens for each type of input.
Error Handling & Error Predictions
Regardless of whether data is transferred via integration, manually entered, or uploaded into the system, errors due to data-related issues will occur. It is crucial how these errors are displayed and how easily an end user can understand them. This becomes even more important when data moves from one system to another through integration.
After the go-live of integration projects, payroll administrators will not receive continuous support from their internal integration team, unlike during the implementation phase. Therefore, it becomes vital that the technology is capable of alerting users when an error occurs via email, explaining the details of the error, and providing possible solutions for a non-technical payroll processor to understand the issue and resolve the problem.
An intuitive error module console with user-friendly UI/UX can help administrators quickly identify and address payroll errors. A robust error management system is essential for any efficient pre-payroll process. Such a system should include an intuitive payroll dashboard that provides comprehensive visibility into errors, categorizing them by type and severity, and suggesting corrective actions. The implementation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this phase can drastically reduce the occurrence of errors. AI algorithms can predict common error patterns and automate corrections, while RPA can handle repetitive tasks without fatigue, ensuring high levels of accuracy throughout the pre-payroll process.
Conclusion
Wrapping this up, streamlining employee payroll with integration and focusing on user-friendly features makes a significant difference. When we automate the nitty-gritty of data collection and make sure systems talk to each other smoothly, it cuts down a lot on the manual work and the chances of making mistakes. The trick is to pick a system that integrates well with what you already have and is easy to use. This way, your payroll team can handle everything more efficiently and with much less stress.
Learn more about what follows after a successful enhancement of the Pre-Payroll process. Stay tuned for the next two parts of this series, which will discuss how to streamline payroll processing with advanced technologies and effectively manage post-payroll activities.
