Organizing a payroll is among the biggest challenges faced by a modern business. Every member of staff must be paid at regular intervals, according to an agreed-upon rate that varies from person to person.

Further complication comes in the form of the separate ways in which employees are paid. Some might collect an hourly wage that varies from month-to-month; others might collect a fixed salary. Each will have different bank account information, which must be reliably recorded and recalled. Then there are RRSP contributions, company cars, sick days and maternity leave to consider. And what about freelance contractors? They too need to be paid from the same accounts, and these expenses must also be listed. All the data must be logged in order that management be able to make future personnel decisions, and so that the appropriate tax information can be submitted to CRA.

If your business is a small one, then this task is considerable. If it’s a large one, then it’s positively colossal. It’s fortunate, then, that payroll technology has advanced to the point where much of this work takes place automatically.

If you’ve yet to incorporate payroll technology into your business, then it’s worth considering a few of the advantages.

Payroll efficiency is improved

The most obvious plus point of a proper payroll system is that it’ll get the job done quickly and with fewer resources. Number crunching and data-collating are tasks to which human beings are unsuited, after all. With modern payroll software, the earnings of every staff member for a given period can be calculated automatically, accounting for leave, statutory sick pay and other factors. By outsourcing this administration to a modern payroll system, you’ll be able to concentrate on the tasks that will really determine the success or failure of your business.

Payroll mistakes are reduced

By the same token, the errors committed by human administrators are being slowly eliminated by spreading computerisation. And payroll systems are no exception. In the bad old days, an error could result in an entire workforce being underpaid for a given month, or an overpaid tax bill that would cause a considerable headache for weeks or months on end.

Records are simplified

Technological progress has a nasty habit of making life more complex. But a good payroll system won’t do this. All the payroll information can be accessed from a single, simple-to-follow place. Records are securely stored, and searchable, and administrators will have a choice of different views from which to examine the data.

Staff are always paid on time

Another consequence of computer-efficiency is that your staff will never again have to endure a late payment. Moreover, they’ll be automatically enrolled onto pension plans, and have their contributions automatically deducted. This means fewer raised voices in your payroll office, and a happier workforce all around.

Payroll tech is scalable

If your company expands quickly, then it follows that you’ll need your payroll to expand with it. If you’re enjoying a prolonged period of sustained growth, then this can place an additional strain on your payroll resources. A modern payroll system is elastic enough to cope with this strain. You’ll be able to grow your business without worrying about the pains associated with that growth!

Payroll tech can be integrated

One of the most underappreciated, yet important, virtues of payroll tech is the ease with which it’ll integrate with the other parts of your business. Rather than HR sending a memo over to your payroll department whenever a staff member is given a pay increase, two interconnected databases can automatically synchronize with one another. This means, as we’ve seen, fewer crossed wires and miscommunications.

Data collection

But eliminating mistakes isn’t the only benefit of payroll integration. It’ll also allow your payroll department to amass large amounts of actionable data. You’ll be able to see, for example, the correlation between staff bonuses and absenteeism. This type of data will allow you to make better decisions at every level of your business.

Reporting is simple and intuitive

Informed managers make better decisions. But conveying the intricacies of a thousand-person payroll in a way that can be digested easily is a reporting challenge. But those reports can now be automatically generated at minimal additional cost. They’re each comprehensive and up-to-date, and easily searched for relevant information.

Regulations are easily complied with

Federal and provincial regulations place various obligations onto businesses.  This is a burden, to be sure – but it’s one that can be easily carried with the help of a modern payroll system.