Payroll processing and printing can be time consuming. Outsourcing some or all of the processes will save time and money
Outsource Payroll Services
How to manage the process of outsourcing your payroll follows 10 Reasons to outsource your payroll
I’ve talked about the benefits that can be acheived by outsourcing payroll, invoice printing and processing here are a few reminders:-
- You know what your monthly fixed cost for the operation is
- Allows you to focus on the area of business you hope to succeed in
- Allow experts to manage the process
- Reduce the cost of internal errors
- Speed up the process
- Benefit from your providers’ technology without having to make the investment
- Flexibility – you’re no longer reliant upon people to manage the process in-house
- Secure in the knowledge that any disaster that affects your organisation it’s business as usual for your outsource provider
You’ve now taken the unprecedented decision to outsource your payroll function.
What happens next?
The next step is to find a payroll provider that can faciltate your requirements?
Easy?
Not so, when you are unclear or uncertain as to what you are looking for and what you need to look out for!
Where do you start?
You only have to google payroll bureau and a whole host of names pop up from the small to the large service providers and that’s where it gets sticky because do you have the time to search, research, evaluate, tender, set up visits to establish creditability then make a decision.
All told, the process might take you anything from 2-6 months and that is a conservative estimate.
Here are a few things to consider when outsourcing your payroll:-
Small (1-50), medium (50-150) or large (150+) employees on your payroll will help determine the type of bureau you select to work with.
- Expertise – does the payroll provider have relevant industry expertise to manage your payroll efficiently?
- Flexibility – can they offer solutions tailor made to fit with your requirements and not a box that comes pre-packed and one you need to fit in?
- Technology – can they offer online pay slips, paper slips or a combination of both? Can they manage multi-channel distribution?
- Does their system offer the flexibility to integrate with yours?
- What reporting functionality are you likely to get with each payroll run? Ask for sample reports and payslips both on and offline so you get to see the quality of the output. If you have a need for both paper and online slips how are the paper slips being printed – pressure seal (without envelopes) or A4 folded and inserted into an envelope establish the quality.
- Find out if the cost of postage is included. There are a host of mailing discounts available via the Royal Mail and DSA (downstream access) which your payroll bureau should be able to offer.
- One final thing – let your payroll team be instrumental in the project after all they will be the people managing some or all of the process going forward.
What type of payroll services will you need?
- A fully managed payroll system
- Bureau payroll
- Hosted
- BACS
- Multi-national payroll
- CIS
How do you then manage the process?
Project management is paramount. Any business process that integrates with the payroll function needs to be considered such as HR and Finance. A pay calendar or schedule is imperative for the bureau to determine cut off times and when data will be made available to the bureau for processing.
This must include BACS transmission dates, pay dates and the physical distribution of the pay slips.
During the migration phase the payroll system will need to be tested to ensure data integrity, compliance and accuracy with the current system.
This process is usually tested over a 2-3 month period where parallel runs will be done by the payroll bureau and measured for accuracy against the current system.
Feeling overwhelmed!
Digital Print Management are independent of any manufacturer, I.T. solution provider and print supplier.
As a solutions and print management specialist emphasis is on understanding the customers requirements and not trying to sell them something which doesn’t cut the mustard in the long term.
Put simply we offer a free consultative, no obligation approach to helping customers who are overwhelmed by the prospect of outsourcing any business process.
Processing and printing or the complete function of a department.
We are here to help so please do call us or leave a message and one of our consultants will be in touch.