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Published November 01st, 2016 by

Complete Marketer’s Guide to Payroll Management Services

Complete Marketer's Guide to Payroll Management Services

Before outsourcing to a third-party payroll agency, make sure that you understand the level of the needs of your company, and how this move will impact it. Get your objectives right, which should also match with the solutions that comes into your mind. And most importantly, weigh on the advantages and disadvantages of each option, so you can arrive at the best decision for your business.

The reason why businesses resort to outsourcing is to achieve cost reduction and innovation, which was one of the key findings of the latest Global Outsourcing Survey by Deliotte. As the benefits of outsourcing continues to expand, more businesses are taking advantage of it by investing more in its services, as found on the Computer Economics’ IT Outsourcing Statistics in 2015.

Aside from outsourcing customer service support, one of the most popular outsourced business aspects is payroll services. Especially now that businesses are faced with the influence of globalization, larger companies employ diverse-cultural employees across the globe. The rising labor cost in some countries also compels some businesses to outsource their payroll management services to an offshore payroll company from another country. Small businesses, having limited resources or even office space, will turn to outsourcing payroll to cut costs over additional capital and labor cost.

Another thing is the critical aspects of payroll management – strict taxation and payroll compliance standards are what daunt most businesses from handling it on their own. Doing payroll the right way is tedious and time-consuming, and affect the productivity and efficiency of some employees, much more for business owners. With the growing complexity in doing core tasks such as marketing, and the tight competition in the market, made businesses to get attracted to outsourcing.

What You Need to Know: Pricing and Services

What does payroll services do? There are various services for payroll management available for businesses, to match their actual needs. You can opt not to get a full solution for the meantime, and you can always scale your solution as your business grows or downgrade. To cater this diversity of needs, technology introduced to us, online payroll services.

Online payroll services, or otherwise known as “cloud-based payroll services”, these are services that utilize cloud computing, to manage and run its payroll services and make it accessible using the internet. It is one of the newest solutions that can save you both time and money, enabling a third party provider to manage your payroll services with more transparency. Automation makes it an efficient service to boot, making the tedious tasks of payroll computations and taxes easier to compute, with the use of specialized software. Online payroll can be a hosted solution, or you can avail it as a software lease instead.

Online payroll systems can be also integrated with other associated software or systems such as accounting, human resource, and time and attendance, for a seamless flow of data and efficiency in employee management.

Online payroll services can also implement an employee self-service option, where they can be given authorized access to the system to view their pays slips, file reimbursements or fill up tax exemption or other payroll-related forms.

Through technology, online payroll services can now be accessed through your mobile devices. Your service provider can create a pass to their website portal and give you access to your system via the internet.

Payroll companies have a lot to offer when it comes to features, benefits and package options. When getting the right service for you, make sure that the features meet your needs, and you disregard the other non-related ones that will just pile the cost up. Most payroll services are customizable so you take the extra features you don’t need. You can also scale your services according to your needs at the moment, making it a cost effective solution in the long run. Even when you hire or fire employees, your service can still cater to it.

When it comes to pricing, payroll services are flexible; as its features can be customized to fit your needs. Some offer a flat fee for a limited quantity of payrolls to process, or as an unlimited option. There are also choices among different pricing schemes based on the scope of work, which either you go for a basic service plan, or those that include advanced services like tax filing and printing of W-2 forms for employees.

Tips for Choosing the Right Provider

Choosing the top payroll company for you requires you to exhaust all your options before arriving at a decision. You may also ask for colleague referrals for a more credible recommendation.

The best payroll agencies will guide you in availing the right option that will meet your actual needs. They won’t force you to get the features you don’t need, and they will help you and your employees get acquainted with the system regardless if they host it for you anyway. Dealing with these providers will give you the peace of mind you need, knowing you have both an expert and a partner for an unstoppable business growth.

No payroll agency is the same in terms of level of experience and expertise. However, it is important to look for these services that your service provider must be able to cater to:

  1. Features

When looking for a service provider, it should be able to provide a wide range of features and services that can cater to both of your immediate and future needs. It should cover all your needs, and should not force you the features you do not need. You should look for features that are tedious to do by yourself, and the ones on your priority list.

  1. User friendliness

Even if you won’t be doing the work yourself, your payroll service provider must explain how the system works, which you should easily understand. Especially regarding its access, you should know how to use the portals and easily navigate in the system.

  1. Affordability

Your service provider should be able to give the appropriate solution within your budget. Now that payroll systems are adopting the cloud computing technology, pricing schemes have become more flexible and affordable for businesses. With this, you should seek a compromise between quality and cost for your outsourced services.

In addition, before getting into any contract arrangements, make sure that the service commitment is clear, and all costs are laid out and explained up front. Study the contract very well and if possible, ask for an expert to guide you in understanding it. Be wary of hidden fees that were stipulated in the contract, but not explained to you. If in doubt, don’t hesitate to ask questions.

  1. Credibility

Choose the service provider that earned a positive reputation in its industry. Check out client reviews online, or ask for recommendations from your peers in the business. Payroll services are a critical part of a business, and it is not wise to outsource them to newbies. Fair enough, not all seasoned payroll service providers will stay efficient if they don’t upgrade to newer technologies and approaches in the services. For better efficiency, look for payroll agencies that have a proven track record, and are constantly updating its tools and staff training to keep in pace with the advancements in the field.

  1. Integrations

It is an advantage for your business when all its processes are streamlined. This is to ensure the smooth flow of data and that monitoring and management is easily applied. You can expect a more efficient workflow and better outputs when your payroll services can effectively integrate with your HR software, time and attendance software. This way, it simplifies the operation of your non-core tasks, and you get the most value for your outsourced service.

  1. Outages

Your payroll service provider must guarantee you an almost 100 percent reliability and accessibility, most especially for cloud-based services. Be aware when they conduct their routine system checkups so you can schedule your activities and access accordingly.

  1. Support

Having a strong customer support implies that your service provider has a high regard in maintaining the quality delivery of their services. Let your employees know important hotlines to call, in case they meet some difficulties or troubles regarding your outsourced services, so they can ask for help right away.

  1. Self-service option

In the age of digital technology, people are more satisfied when they are being provided information quick and easy. Your service provider must be able to provide a self-service option for employees to view their pay information, and fill up the needed forms to help the provider process it promptly and accurately.

  1. Scalability

One of the most valuable features of cloud-based online payroll systems is scalability, which allows the system to be configured easily to accommodate the growth of a business. It is also more cost effective to adopt a solution that is flexible, in order to sustain the provision of the same services, regardless of the changes in the business size or scale, for a long term.

  1. Value-added features

It brings more convenience and value for your outsourcing service providers if they can offer additional and optional services outside of their basic services. It should allow you to upgrade anytime when your business requirements ask for it, or your budget permits.

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