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Payroll requires comprehensive knowledge, skill, and cooperation — and not just anyone can do it. In fact, having a properly trained and accredited payroll team is essential to avoid legal issues resulting from the underpayment or overpayment of employees.

Recently, several Australian and New Zealand organisations have come under fire for alleged staff under and overpayments across industries such as retail, higher education, healthcare, and food and beverage.

Most businesses aim to pay their employees fairly, so it’s essential to ensure that your payroll team has the necessary knowledge and skills to comply with the diverse laws and regulations that govern payroll, and that they and recognise the significance of this.

Conducting a skills-gap analysis

Conducting a skills-gap analysis is an effective way for finance and HR leaders to identify missing skills across payroll teams and create a plan to address them.

The typical steps in conducting a skills gap analysis include:

  1. Defining the skills and knowledge required: Identify the skills that your payroll team needs to perform its job effectively. This may involve reviewing job descriptions, industry standards, and regulatory requirements.
  2. Assessing the current skill level: Evaluate your team’s current skillset by analysing each employee’s job performance, conducting surveys — which could include a self-assessment of employees’ proficiency in payroll-related tasks — or gathering feedback from staff and managers on the effectiveness of the payroll process.
  3. Identifying the gaps: Compare the required skillset to the current skill level of your payroll team to identify any gaps.
  4. Prioritising the gaps: Prioritise the gaps based on their level of importance, urgency, and impact on the business.
  5. Developing a plan: Create a comprehensive plan to address the prioritised gaps, which may include training programmes, coaching, mentoring, hiring new staff, or outsourcing payroll functions.
  6. Implementing the plan: After developing the plan, implement it and regularly monitor progress to ensure that your payroll team’s skills and knowledge are improving as intended.

Sometimes, after conducting a skills-gap analysis, you might come to the realisation that your payroll team is missing some vital skills. In such cases, outsourcing your payroll to an accredited team might be the best solution to bridge the skills gap and ensure compliance.

The advantages of an accredited payroll team

Ensuring your business remains payroll-compliant is critical, and an accredited team can help you achieve this. However, it’s not always practical for organisations to invest the time, budget, and resources needed to train a team to handle payroll in house.

Outsourcing to an accredited, fully managed payroll service provider offers a practical solution that lets your organisation benefit from the expertise of experienced payroll professionals without the need for extensive training.

By outsourcing, businesses can enjoy a range of benefits. These include:

  • Access to specialised expertise in payroll processing and tax regulations.
  • Accurate and efficient payroll processing.
  • Time and cost savings.
  • Reduced risk of errors and penalties resulting from mistakes in payroll processes.
  • Improved data security and protection of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII).
  • Compliance with tax laws and regulations across Australia and New Zealand.
  • Streamlined payroll processes that free up resources to focus on core business activities.

Want accredited experts?

Your business can no longer afford to make payroll mistakes. Understanding the value of having an accredited payroll team can help prevent legal issues that may arise from under or overpayment of employees or other compliance issues.

Outsourcing to a specialist payroll services provider gives you access to a team of accredited and highly skilled industry experts who administer all payroll-related tasks. Accredited payroll providers have an inherent understanding of tax laws and regulations and are experienced in ensuring compliance with these requirements.

Affinity Payroll’s managed payroll service delivers an automated solution that lets you streamline payroll processes while limiting errors and achieving compliance. Our modern, world-leading technology delivers employee self-service and manager dashboards, while our team of experts provides helpdesk and direct staff support.

Having an accredited payroll team isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’: it’s a must-have. To engage a professional and accredited payroll service provider, contact the Affinity team today.

 

 


 

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.