4 min read
Getting payroll right is essential for delivering an exceptional employee experience and staying in compliance with tax and labor laws. Employees expect accuracy in pay, and when something goes wrong, they can lose faith in your ability to get it right or, worse, they experience financial hardship.
Even one small error can result in an incorrect paycheck. For example, the wrong benefits deduction, miscalculated overtime, or an incorrectly entered start date can result in hours of researching and fixing payroll problems.
Conversely, when you manage all of your payroll and HR management activities with one integrated payroll system, you can significantly reduce the errors and headaches that come with using disconnected systems to manage your workforce.
What Is an Integrated Payroll System?
An integrated payroll system is a software solution that merges payroll and HR activities into one easy-to-use platform. It allows you to manage your workforce across all stages of the employee lifecycle journey, and covers the following areas:
- Payroll management
- Talent acquisition
- Benefits administration
- Scheduling and time and attendance
- Employee onboarding and offboarding, and more
An integrated payroll system provides real-time visibility into payroll and other changes happening within your workforce. It gives you the tools to collect, store, and accurately report workforce data. By using one integrated system—instead of two or three or more—to manage all aspects of workforce management, you can get more insights from your HR data and realize the following benefits:
Less Paperwork
Having an integrated payroll system cuts down on the paper and duplication that occurs when you must enter the same employee information into different systems. Instead of generating separate forms or email messages for the payroll department when an employee joins or leaves the organization, you upload employee information only one time.
Fewer Errors
Employee data changes flow seamlessly throughout an integrated payroll system, reducing the occurrence of inconsistencies and information lags. As a result, you avoid errors and can easily reconcile payroll data with information related to onboarding, benefits elections, salary changes, and more.
More Accurate Reporting
With a system that integrates payroll information with other workforce data, you don’t have to spend time reconciling data from multiple reports. You can use one platform to run accurate reports on employee compensation and add other relevant data fields, such as performance ratings and benefit costs.
Consistent Updates
A single system of record allows you to ensure that employee changes for new hires, departing employees, and benefits elections are updated in real time across the entire integrated system.
Better Regulatory Compliance
With built-in compliance support and reminders, an integrated system can help you keep better track of regulatory requirements, such as:
- Overtime payments
- Payroll deadlines
- ACA requirements
- EEOC filing deadlines
A Better Employee Experience
When you combine accurate payroll data with self-service features, you can empower your workforce and provide employees with more extensive access to payroll, benefits, and other information.
Is an Integrated Payroll System Right for Your Organization?
If you recognize that your organization can benefit from better workforce data and analytics for HR decision-making, you’re not alone. A recent Deloitte study found that 71 percent of surveyed organizations consider people analytics a high priority.
Integrated payroll systems help you collect and update workforce data, so you can achieve better reporting and deeper analysis. Here are just a few of the reasons an integrated payroll system may be just what you need to boost your workforce management effectiveness:
1. You’re tired of managing the workforce with a bunch of systems that don’t integrate well.
Keeping multiple systems up-to-date wastes precious time and prevents you from reaching your workforce management goals. By switching to an integrated system, you keep all HR and payroll data in one place and have more time to develop insights from the data.
2. You want to reduce errors caused by conflicting HR and payroll data.
Needing to enter routine new hire data first into the HR system and then into the payroll system leaves too much room for error and makes it hard to sync reports. With an integrated system as your system of record, your HR and payroll data flow seamlessly together for consistent reporting every time.
3. You want to give employees more transparency.
Not every employee issue needs a sit-down with HR. Sometimes, employees just need an answer to a simple question about a pay stub or want another copy of their W-2. An integrated payroll system with employee self-service gives employees real-time access to forms and basic personal payroll data. It can also be configured to allow new hires to submit their new hire forms.
4. You need reliable customer support and regular updates about best practices.
Sometimes, chatbots and online resources just aren’t enough. Whether you have a payroll issue or a question about how to create new customized reports, support from a responsive provider can help you get the most from your integrated system.
An integrated system delivers the efficiency and accuracy you need to achieve error-free pay and workforce reporting. Instead of settling for an assortment of incompatible systems, you can use one integrated solution to effectively manage your workforce from hire to retire. For more insights, read The Ultimate Guide to Saving Time on Payroll.
