For those running small businesses, pay day may be something that they dread, even if they outsource payroll. Poor customer service, system inefficiencies and second-rate technology can all be a blight upon some HR professionals and payroll companies, so finding the right people to help take the pain out of payroll for your small business, is vital if you’re ever to stop dreading pay day, and for your employees to be satisfied that their pay-check will be accurate and on time. Every business owner knows the problems that can arise when employees are not paid in a timely manner, and if their checks aren’t accurate, you will be held accountable, not your payroll provider.
Here are a few things that you should be looking for when outsourcing payroll:
- Single-source technology
At the touch of a button and with one login, a good payroll system should have everything you need to manage your employees, from hiring them to retiring them, and there should be no need to continually import and export data between multiple systems.
- Personalized customer service
Call centres are not the way forward for those companies wishing to connect with their payroll administrators, and so a good payroll company will assign you a designated representative who will listen to your needs and carry out requests without you needing to repeat yourself or wait around for a resolution. The representative should know you and your business as well as they can and be ready to assist promptly, at any time of the working day.
- Clear and honest pricing
A pricing package that’s designed to confuse you, should not be what you are offered by a reputable payroll provider. If you find yourself being quoted one price for a service but find that when the bill comes, there are several add-ons that you weren’t made aware of, then alarm bells should be ringing. Hidden fees and extras should never be a feature of your bill, and you should never find yourself paying twice for things you believed were already included in the price.
While there are many reputable and reliable payroll providers out there, you’d be wise to be savvy and to know what you’re getting from the service that you’re paying for. If you can’t communicate effectively with the payroll provider, or are finding that issues aren’t being resolved quickly enough, if at all, then it might be time to find yourself a new provider that you can rely on to serve you and your employees, well.