All You Need To Know About Payroll Software

What is payroll software?

Payroll software is a premade system used to automate processes within payroll such as calculating payments, tax contributions, and creating reports such a bank file reports which can be used to disperse salaries, and WPS files that are ready to upload.

Types of payroll systems

If there is one thing that technology has taught us is that there is never one of something. There is always a variety of concepts or activities when AI is involved and most times, we aren’t even aware of these variants. What follows are some different payroll systems that you can potentially use in your company.

In-house

Companies with larger infrastructure or technical ability can choose to create their own payroll software in-house. This also means updating and maintaining the software in-house and usually, hosting the software on their own internal servers, rather than opting to host in the cloud.

Bookkeepers and accountants

If you choose to outsource your bookkeeping and accounting to an external firm, they will usually offer payroll management under these circumstances, and record the data within their finance/bookkeeping system.

Outsourced payroll services

Outsourcing payroll can also be another great option for processing your payroll. As with other knowledge and time-intensive business activities (such as marketing and digital marketing, accounting, recruitment), it saves you time, money, and gives you the expert knowledge to remain compliant, and have your employees paid on time every month, and accurately.

Any Payroll Outsourcing company worth their salt will process your payroll using payroll software. 

Online payroll software

These are internet-based platforms and are accessible through secure internet connections and login through a user software application. These store your data on servers that are run by the payroll software provider and allow you to perform functions such as running payroll, compiling paychecks, and running necessary payroll reports, tax calculation, and compliance. However, the use of these platforms may require you to adjust your payroll process to fit their software, which may have complications further down the line.

Why do businesses need payroll software solutions?

Running your payroll is one of the most labor and time-intensive activities in HR. it requires attention to detail, multiple reviews of data and reports and as such, require a large portion of your time. When you use payroll software, you can automate many of these activities and reduce human error, make your payroll more accurate, and most importantly, save you time to focus on your core business.

Is payroll an HR or finance service?

A lingering and rather interesting question in the business context is whether payroll should be the responsibility of HR or the finance department. The payroll function holds elements of both departments but with it being an employee-facing function, it is no surprise that the argument is that it should be an HR responsibility. However, the popular approach to this argument is having both departments share the function and allowing both to have full control over the employee data.

Advantages of payroll software

Implementing a payroll software is the equivalent of giving yourself a superpower where you don’t make any errors in your processes, and you have an 100% accuracy rate within your payroll activities. Without the payroll software, it is easy to go wrong in so many places within the process, but when you run your payroll with the software, you can rectify those pain-points with the following:

Remain compliant

Labour laws in The Middle East are complex and ever changing, with very definite regulations that must translate into payroll. A good payroll software should have the parameters pre-defined in the system, and highlight any noncompliance: for example, if an employee takes their first day of sick leave in the calendar year, and variable data classes it as unpaid leave, the system should be configured in a way that that is not allowed.

Access business information from anywhere

Just like the convenience technology provides us, payroll software that is hosted in the mysterious cloud holds the same convenience because you can get access to your information from anywhere. Gone are the days of only getting access to business information from an HR personnel or directly from the office, now you can access all the information you need from your device whenever the need be. If you opt for a payroll software with more functionality (like gulfHR) that has modules like Employee Self Service, employees can get access to things like payslips on the go and the ability to change their personal details without having to contact HR.

Improve productivity

When you move to digitize lengthy manual processes, you’re bound to save more time and therefore become more productive, and payroll is no different. Adding in automation within the payroll process further increases that level of productivity, as not only does it speed up the process, but with the reduced amount of manual work, it, therefore, reduces the amount of checking and duplicate verification needed.

Save time and money

One advantage of payroll software that you may have heard again and again is that it saves you time and money, but this is true. When you use payroll software, you only need to enter the employee master data during your initial implementation, and all you need to do is input any variable data you may have each month. You don’t need to waste time on drawing up long payslips and the system will automatically generate these or performing what may seem like endless calculations because these are all automated with the system.

Although there is a cost involved with payroll software, you look at the manpower hours saved, and the fact you can relocate manpower to core business functions from payroll instead.

Secure timely pay processes

Using payroll software can allow you to be more reliable with your payment timeframe and always have employees who are satisfied and are glad to get their correct payments on time.

By creating system-defined user access, you create a delegation of authority of who can approve payroll transactions such as salary disbursement to ensure fraud does not occur.

Increased security

With a manual payroll system, there are a lot of risks involved because of the lack of encryption. All it takes is an unconscious email to the wrong person and suddenly all your employee data is leaked. Using good payroll software helps you to avoid this risk because all the data is stored and encrypted within the system and you can control the information that you make accessible to your employees.

Costs of payroll software solutions

 Well, now that you know about all your advantages with payroll software, let’s talk about what it takes to implement it into your process.

You need to consider your employee density and the features that you need to ensure a smooth payroll process. If you choose to use an external provider, they may charge a per month, per employee model which comes with several tiers and can be affordable because you get what you pay for, in term of features and operation. There is the option to use a perpetual license where you deploy the software in-house and don’t use a vendor, however, this will mean that you will need to budget extra costs for maintenance of the software.

How to choose the best payroll software solution for your business

Now, the gears in your mind might be overworking right now because you have all this information but still don’t know what to do with it or how to choose. Here are some key factors to look at when you consider the kind of payroll software solution for your business.

Company size

Perhaps the most important consideration is the company size, as most software providers will quote based on the number of payslips (which is dictated by the number of employees). Company size also comes into play, as the rule of thumb tends to be the more employees you have, the more complex your payroll becomes and you will need a payroll system that can accommodate that. Scalability of software also needs to be factored in under company size, as your processes will change as your headcount increases, so customizable software is a big benefit when this happens.

Cost structure needs

You need to find payroll software that is suited to your expenditure. You will need to consider the ROI of the software and its relevance to your company. It needs to provide value in terms of being efficient during the payroll process but also needs to be scalable; your software needs to match the employee density of your company otherwise you will have a compromised process and no real progress with the software.

Integration needs

When dealing with any software, it is important to think about the integration needs. To implement your payroll software, if you don’t have integration needs immediately, you may need to plan for the possibility for the future, and therefore you may need a tool that can assist in this process and provide the type of integration that you need, be it either a two-way integration where data is synced over multiple databases or a one-way integration where information is migrated between apps.

Do you need time management services?

Now, not all companies may need this, but for most companies, you will need to accurately track over-time data to feed into your payroll. If you are a company that needs better control of your time data, then you need software that can accurately track your times and makes your process easier. If you use time cards and punch-in machines, then you need a clear way for this data to translate to payroll, whether it’s through integration or upload. Another option is checking payroll software that has this as an added feature (like gulfHR through its new time and attendance feature on the mobile app), to save on manual work or paying for the integration.

Have you got various locations?

The software that you choose will need to be able to accumulate the data from all the locations and be able to sync it in a central place where the information is secure and not at risk of being lost. Here, the software that you consider must have the capacity to be spread out across your multiple locations so that it can be accessed by all your HR departments.

Do you need employee self-service?

The software that you choose should not only be a good fit for you but also for your employees. You need to consider software that will allow your employees to also have access and control over their data and can view their information or put in a request at moment’s notice.

If you are still considering what kind of payroll software solution would be perfect for you, gulfHR is the #1 choice in the region for payroll software, that comes with a whole suite of complementary modules to help automate your payroll process, along with a scalable, customizable design that can integrate with any existing software your company may have.

We provide you with a complete range of modules such as payroll, employee self-service, time management capability, secure facilities, seamless integration and HR admin and analytics. We are your entire toolkit that ensures your HR functions as it should and that you focus on the other activities of your business.