The Power of Payroll Automation | ROI & Business Growth

The size of your organization means a heavy workload for management. Plus, every month, there is constant stress to make pay slips and transfer salaries. If you are a startup with just a handful of employees, that means payroll is all on you! That’s a hectic situation with tons of work already on your table. The solution is quite simple, and let’s jump to it.

Introducing Payroll Automation Software

Payroll automation software is simply tools that take stress out of your payroll work. The software automatically calculates employees’ pay and offers one-click pay transfers. You can also schedule payments and manage relevant records.

Usually, payroll is a part of a full-fledged human resource management system (HRMS). So, the systems can work effectively to save time and money. Further, advanced features of payroll systems make the whole process easier. 

HR and payroll teams use payroll automation to streamline tasks like calculating compensation, generating reports, and ensuring team members receive their salaries. This system reduces manual effort and minimizes errors. Ultimately, enhancing employee satisfaction and reducing the company’s stress. 

Benefits of Payroll Automation

Payroll automation offers multiple benefits for all sizes of companies. So, whether you are a micro business with only 2-9 employees or a large enterprise with more than 1000 employees. Payroll automation holds a lot of advantages for you. 

Time Savings:

As your business grows, so do your work and management needs. According to case studies, an average company spends 10 to 30 hours each month to process payroll. Additionally, if the workforce is larger than 50 employees, it will take more time to process. 

However, with payroll automation software, you can reduce the manual data entry work. Furthermore, payroll processing becomes easy. As you already have employee data, just a few clicks will be enough to process their payroll. 

Accuracy and Compliance:

Payroll automation software is basically a computer program. It can be web-based, cloud-based, or system applications. But the main point is that they are less prone to errors. There is a 0.01% chance that a program makes errors. So, the accuracy and compliance from an automatic system are guaranteed!

Do you know that 49% of US workers consider switching jobs after two mistakes in payroll? So, errors in payroll are unbearable.

Payroll automation ensures strict compliance with tax laws, minimizing the risk of fines and penalties.

Cost Efficiency:

Most companies don’t have an in-house finance team. 53% of businesses outsource their payroll to make room for important tasks. Doing so saves money for their business. Having payroll automation software reduces the cost even more. You don’t need to hire an HR executive to process payroll. Just fill in the important data of employees once in the system, and it’s good to go.

Although not all the tasks are automated, it lowers administrative services. So, your business doesn’t need external payroll services now!

Employee Satisfaction:

Automated payroll ensures timely, accurate paychecks, ensuring employee satisfaction. Also, it saves management from a significant hassle.

Key Features to Look For in Payroll Automation Software

Every payroll automation isn’t the same. Especially one that processes extensive features at zero cost. Although quality software is available at a low cost, its features may vary. So, here I have picked essential and critical features a payroll automation software must have:

Automated Payroll Processing:

Payroll automation means removing the manual steps from the process. The overall quality of work remains the same, but the time to process the paycheck is reduced. That time can be later utilized in more important business work, such as making growth strategies.

The system must automatically calculate salaries as a primary feature. Furthermore, it should calculate deductions and benefits of each employee as well. 

Tax Management:

Tax regulation has changed drastically in the past two decades. So, old software for payroll automation is outdated now. You must opt for payroll automation software that is continuously updated with tax laws. That way, the system will be able to automatically calculate taxes for each employee. 

Furthermore, the automatic tax calculation feature of payroll automation software will make filing and reporting easier.

Employee Self-Service:

A payroll automation system should work for both the organization and the employee. The employee should be able to see his/her records and update personal data and other details. It will ensure mutual trust between the organization and its employees. Furthermore, it will help the employees to better manage their records and see their leaves and attendance.

Additionally, employee self-service must include access to pay stubs and tax forms. 

Integration Capabilities:

Go for software that covers everything from human resource management to finance. Otherwise, look for a system that is compatible with all other systems.

Payroll applications for small businesses must include integration powers or come with a complete suite of applications. It is better if the application is compatible with popular software in the accounting and human resource fields.

Popular Payroll Automation Software Options with Extensive Features

As you search on the internet for “Payroll applications for small businesses,” there will be a plethora of results. But, hold on! Don’t stumble on the first option you get online.

Here, we have picked the best options available for small businesses. Additionally, we calculated the cost vs value for each one to give you the idea:

No#1 Software: E-Work Force Payroll:

On top of the list, we have E-Work Force Payroll automation software with a diverse range of features. No matter your company size, the software is compatible with all sizes of companies. Plus, it comes with a 30 days free trial. 

Are you a micro business? No problem! E-Work Force Payroll software can handle the tiny details of your team. Furthermore, if you have an enterprise-level company, there are still no problems. Let’s discuss its features and pros, as well as use cases in detail. 

Features:

• Direct Deposit: Employee are paid directly into their account
• Multiple Form Submission: The automatic payroll software allows you to submit multiple forms, print, and see detailed views all at once.
• Dynamic Reports: E-work Force Payroll will enable you to generate dynamic reports in real time. 

Pros:

• Better user experience and easy-to-navigate design.
• 24/7 customer support with calls and chat features. 
• Dynamic price plans to suit different needs.

Use Cases:

• It can be used for large size businesses, including firms with 1000s of employees, like construction contract companies.
• Suitable for small-size corporations with 10 to 100 employees. Like software houses, digital businesses, and restaurants. 

No#2 Software: OnPay:

OnPay comes second on our list. It’s designed to include tips and commission for employees. Suitable for restaurants and B2C businesses.

Features:

• Multiple payroll schedules for different employees
• Allow tax form submission, including primary tax forms w-2 and 1099 forms.
• Easily incorporate additional payments, including tips and commissions.

Pros:

• It comes with a variety of HR features.
• Basic minimal cost
• Limited to small corporations (not extensively effective for large-scale businesses.

Cons:

• No chat and call support on weekends
• Fewer benefits enrollment features
• Not suitable for multi-tier handling

No#3 Software: TimeTrex:

Timetrex is an underrated payroll automation software. It comes with an attendance record, leave management, and other HR-related features. Additionally, it is available both onsite and cloud base. You can count on it due to the low costs associated with it and the free trial.

Features:

• Tax management and form submission are effortless.
• Budget-friendly
• Suitable for mid-size organizations

Pros:

• Per employee cost is low, $5 each.
• Free trial

Cons:

• The features are a little bit complex to understand and operate.
• Provide an outdated user experience.
• Setting up this software can be complex and time-consuming.

Comparative Analysis of Discussed Software

The best part is that every software we mentioned here comes with a trial period. So you can try each feature before buying it. Talking about features, E-Work Force stands alone due to its extensive list of features, from tax management to the employee portal. 

Moreover, talking about prices, E-Work Force software comes with dynamic plans. That means you can talk with the team and address your needs and requirements to get a custom plan, whereas other payroll software comes with a fixed price tag for each employee record. 

How to Choose the Right Payroll Automation Software

The software that provides extensive features to automate payroll tasks is the one you opt for. There are no hard and fast rules for choosing a specific software. The idea is to use software that offers you peace of mind and a smooth workflow. Follow the tips below to select the right software:

Assessing Your Business Needs:

The first step is to determine what you are looking for in payroll automation software. Talking about basics, you must get these features from your payroll software:

• Employee Portal
• Pay Stubs
• Bank Integrations
• Security Management 
• Report Creation

These are just the basics that each organization expects from payroll automation software. However, depending on your company’s needs, you may have other requirements too. For instance, if your company hires contractors, you must have a contractor portal in your software. Additionally, the complexity of payroll may require other requirements as well. 

Budget Considerations:

Always consider cost vs. value for automation tools if the price of the software is more than what HR charges for payroll work. You can ditch the software on the spot! Yeah, businesses should be extremely careful about the cost vs. value weight of a system. Here is a breakdown of software with the price and value it provides:

Basically, most of the payroll systems work on monthly subscriptions and offer services over the internet (cloud based). It is ideal to look for a web based solution as it’s easy to manage and provides reliable data saving options with high-end security walls.

Ease of Use and Implementation:

There is software with outdated UX, do not settle for them. Even if the price is low, the user experience matters a lot. It not only appeals to the eye, but also how will it save your employees from work fatigue? In other words, it enhances work proficiency. Features like “self onboarding through portals” will allow users to manage their profiles on their own. So you don’t have to complete these tasks manually. 

You can rely on the E-work Force Payroll application for training and 24/7 support.

Customer Support and Service:

Some software offers chat and call support on working days only. You can’t expect the same level of support on weekends. Therefore, it’s better to go with a software that offers support on days off too.

You can look for company reviews and ratings to get a better deal.

Implementation and Integration of Payroll Automated Application 

Implementation of payroll automation applications shouldn’t be problematic. Otherwise, your team will get irritated by the system ending up with the same old system. So, let’s see how a payroll program is implemented. Here we are taking the E-Work Force system as an example.

Steps for Implementation:

First of all, you need to contact the sales team to purchase an application. E-Work Force presents a dynamic pricing plan according to your needs. So, first get a quote and finalize the deal. 

After that, you will get access to the sign up screen. Continue signing up, the customer team will be next to you during the whole process once you are done with the sign up process. Simply log in, and there you have it.

• Set up a company account! On the top right corner of the screen, you will find a short menu. Here, you can create a company, change, and perform other tasks.
• Once you create the company, you can move to add the company location and employee details.
• You will be able to manage payroll and generate pay stubs.

Training and Onboarding:

E-Work Force stands on your back during the whole training and onboarding session. At any point, you can call or get email support from us in a snap. 

Common Challenges and Solutions for Payroll Automation Software

Problems and solutions always come in pairs. There is payroll automation software available to ease your stress. But many of the payroll automation freeware come with glitches and loop holes. 

Payroll is a crucial system for any company, and having glitches in that system means financial problems. You may get attacked by account hijackers, ending up losing all your hard-earned money. 

Data Security Concerns:

In 2013, Target’s data breach made history. The event led to 70 million PII (Personal Identifiable Information) and personal bank account information theft. 

Choose a software that minimizes data security concerns. Let’s talk about the E-Work Force payroll system that comes with two step verification and end-to-end data encryption. In simpler terms, your data is protected perfectly with our digital security walls. 

Managing Change:

Most of the organization already maintains records of employees and attendance. Although these systems are more manual, still feeding all the information into a new database becomes a big task. 

It is recommended to opt for a system that allows easy data transfer while maintaining security. You can consider E-Work Force for easy data transfer. There are tons of templates available. Moreover you get the option to import and export your employees data through Excel files.

Future Trends in Payroll Automation

The future of payroll is all about automation and accuracy as the world is rapidly evolving with technology trends. We can predict pretty much all the trends of payroll automation processes. Here are some details for your reference. 

AI and Machine Learning:

With the help of AI and machine learning, AI systems will become more powerful and reliable. It will become easy to analyse data and make future predictions. Additionally, as AI is developing more sense day by day, more enhanced automation features are expected in the near future. 

Cloud-Based Solutions:

Well, a cloud-based solution isn’t the future anymore, it’s now! Most of the web-based systems, including E-Work Force, are available to add value to your company and save time. All the data is backed by strong servers, so data breaches and breakdowns aren’t a problem anymore. 

Additionally, the scalability of payroll systems is not limited to a specific size, as the system is evolving and improving every single day.

Enhanced Employee Experience:

The last but undoubtedly amazing trend in payroll automation systems is employee experience. With stand out technology, user experience is getting better. Now users can access all the information via a mobile device. Additionally, advanced self-service options will be the game changer!

The Wrap-Up

Payroll automation means saving a lot of time. Furthermore, it opens a whole new world of possibilities for automating tasks that take hours of manual work. The benefits of an automatic payroll system can’t be justified by words. However, you can try the E-Work Force payroll system to automate things to the next level. And experience it in action.

So, stop scrolling and jump to the quote form. Fill out that short form and wait a little to get a response from our sales teams. You can also try other available automation solutions in the market, but ultimately, you will land here for the best. The E-Workforce system is continuously evolving, and new features are being updated on a regular basis for your ease. So, you can get, all in your software. 

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