Managing payroll within your organisation can be complicated. Research has shown that outsourcing payroll duties is an economically sound choice enabling businesses to cut costs, reduce manual errors, and improve business efficiency.
Managed payroll solutions provide many benefits including long-term cost savings, improved business efficiency thanks to improved and streamlined processes, the removal of single points of failure, and consistent delivery of service. For larger businesses in particular, outsourcing payroll support can play a key role in reducing and preventing human errors and making previously inaccessible data visible to decision-makers.
Outsourcing payroll and tax duties provides long-term cost savings
According to the 2021 Payroll Benchmarking Survey, the average annual salary of a full-time, Payroll Officer in Australia is $72,587. This should be considered in addition to the costs of system maintenance and support costs.
Outsourcing payroll services can result in significant savings, helping to improve an organisation’s bottom line. This includes reduced expenses across software licensing, installations and upgrades, an overall reduction of HR effort, and reduced IT overhead.
As organisations face an increasingly unpredictable market, the practicality of outsourcing responsibilities increases, providing a proven alternative to in-house models with the added benefit of reduced costs and increased efficiencies.
Accurate labour-cost reporting
The intricacies of payroll duties leave room for error, especially as responsibilities expand in line with organisational growth. However, visibility of accurate and timely labour costing is essential to organisations of all sizes.
Advanced payroll service providers provide complete, real-time costings reported at any project level, regardless of payment cycle. This enables managers to compare their budgeted daily labour costs with actual costs as they occur, allowing them to make adjustments and reduce wastage.
A comprehensive payroll service also enables the entry of complex data such as project, task and job numbers, as well as costing codes. Managed payroll services also enable the streamlined input of timesheets and employee records, including sick days and annual leave. Automated accruals can also be reported, providing visibility and analysis by the minute, by person, and to any project-related task.
For organisations that rely on fault-proof processes for the smooth running of operations, manual errors are costly and time-consuming to rectify. To overcome this challenge, some managed payroll providers have developed their systems to identify potential errors so that they are discovered before they occur.
Automation reduces human error, supports compliance, and mitigates risk
Errors are usually a result of manual data input. This can lead to a loss of trust in data and organisational efficiency — especially from employees. More seriously, internal payroll and tax errors can expose businesses to legal and financial penalties.
According to research published by Industry Super Australia, Australian employees missed out on a total of $5 billion in employer super contributions in 2018-19. It is estimated that unpaid super averages around $1,700 per affected worker and impacts more than 25% of all employees.
All businesses must adhere to changes in government legislation and legal frameworks. Breaching these laws can have a significant impact on organisations and executives. Automated technology available through a payroll service provider provides transparency, compliance enforcement, accountability, and a reduction in manual errors.
New technology provides increased transparency and data sensitivity
The new technology available through managed payroll providers often comes with a wide range of time-capture options along with employee and manager self-service functionality. It can also provide immediate visibility of resource allocation, allowing for the planning of future capability and budgeting.
In addition to safeguarding against human error, new payroll technology can provide automated data for terminations and new employees, including generating complex records, documentation and certificates where required.
Extended analysis and visibility
As organisations grow, so does their requirement for visibility and immediate opportunity for action across all departments.
Managed payroll services can provide real-time alerts that provide insight into budget blowouts, licence expiries and excessive hours by way of employee overtime. This information can then be used to balance current budgets and make adjustments in the future.
Access to these tools means action can be taken fast, reducing the possibility of future errors, potential breaches and loss of revenue.
Managed payroll services optimise your workforce while reducing costs
Outsourcing payroll support is ideal for HR managers. Moving from manual processes to automated, real-time data reporting provides greater visibility and supports the business in becoming more efficient.
For finance managers, managed payroll services cut costs and optimise workforces to improve productivity. Comprehensive payroll solutions achieve this by improving organisational efficiencies and refining management practices across the entire payroll operation.
By utilising new technology systems and removing the human variable, errors are reduced and processes are streamlined. These elements are crucial to the on-going success of growing organisations.
For over thirty years, Affinity has been a trusted partner for mid-market and enterprise businesses in Australia and New Zealand, empowering them to transform their payroll operations. With a focus on turning payroll from a cost into an asset, we have established ourselves as industry leaders in delivering innovative cloud-based payroll software and exceptional payroll services.
