Look after your payroll staff like they look after your salary

The South African tax year-end is around the corner and many businesses are scrambling to get their affairs in order.

This period amplifies the value of comprehensive managed payroll solutions that take the stress out of your business processes.

Not only do these solutions make periods such as tax year-end convenient, they also provide major operational benefits to your organization.

Happy jugglers that won’t drop important balls

“Periods such as the tax year-end have a massive impact on the workload of your employees”, says Jeff Ryan, MD for AWCape, a Sage Business Partner.

Many will have only returned to work in mid-January, and adding the extensive responsibilities that come with managing your organization’s payroll overloads these employees.

Not only must they deal with a time-consuming new set of tasks; they must also take a variety of specific measures to ensure that they are not subject to any penalties that would come from non-compliance.

These include highlighting employees that have not taken enough leave so that they are mentally and emotionally fulfilled, logging and managing all overtime, aligning your activities with the latest payroll legislation, and managing workplace pensions.

These and many other responsibilities are crucial if your organization is to remain compliant, but put an incredible amount of pressure on your payroll staff if you are not using an intuitive cloud-based payroll solution.

Jeff adds: “The resulting problem of overworking your payroll team is not only a human one, but one that can also have an adverse effect on your business, as overworked employees are often disillusioned and are more likely to seek a new job.”

It is therefore a matter of operational stability that you implement automated, cloud-based, and comprehensive managed payroll solutions which take the stress out of your employees’ hands so that they can rather focus on growing the business.

Efficiency

Organizations which still use internal, manual, and offline systems to manage their payroll also risk making small mistakes that have big repercussions.

For example: a simple mistype in an Excel sheet can result in an employee not being paid, or their tax being misrepresented.

This is why, according to Sage’s white paper titled “Payroll and HR in SA: Rising to the challenges of change,” 70% of payroll and HR professionals plan to switch to cloud-based software in the next year.

Jeff additionally highlights that “many organizations do not consider the importance of segregation of duties – as those who are processing payrolls may have a conflict of interest.”

“The best payroll solutions provide built-in processes and measures that ensure this does not happen, and managed services protect you against any internal biases.”

“Manual and offline systems leave strategic value on the table, too, because they cannot generate reports which provide valuable insight into your payroll situation,” Jeff adds.

This is why 62% of payroll and HR professionals agree that embracing technology and analytics should be a top priority in their departments.

Your payroll – compliant and sorted

There are many options when it comes to payroll and HR solutions. However, there are very few that offer both functions in one system like Sage 300 People.

“Sage 300 People Payroll functionality not only ensures your pay run is precise and your business is compliant, but also provides powerful tools that enable you to gain valuable insight and connect with your employees,” said Jeff.

Sage 300 People is accessible online though the Sage 300 People Managed Cloud Service (MCS).

Many providers of these HR and payroll systems have very little experience in the payroll industry, so it is important to invest and partner with companies with many years of experience to ensure compliance and knowledge that will overcome any issues that may arise.

AWCape is equipped to take the hassle out of your business’s hands, as it is an expert in Sage’s industry-leading payroll solutions and is dedicated to providing its customers with superior and compliant payroll management services.

Its consultants have worked on hundreds of payroll tasks – which means they’ve seen it all – and are better equipped to handle any payroll-related obstacles your business may encounter.

As a further option, by outsourcing your payroll to AWCape, your employees can focus on important strategic tasks – saving you money in the long-term.

Contact AWCape and book a consultant to help get you ready for the New Tax Year.