Payroll is about more than just cutting checks to your employees, although that’s certainly part of it. The term “payroll” can refer to a few different things: a comprehensive list of a company’s employees; the records of a company’s employees including wages, salaries, and withheld taxes; the amount of money in total an employer owes all of its employees; or the department itself which takes care of these things. It goes without saying, then, that company’s need additional help providing these payroll services. This is where payroll providers come in.
What do Payroll Providers Do?
As previously noted, payroll providers handle virtually every aspect of the exchange of funds from business to employee. This includes maintaining data such as tax withholdings, bonus calculations, changes in wages or salaries, and direct deposit. They are also well-versed in the different regulations of states and countries. The payroll laws of Canada and the U.S., for instance, differ greatly.
Why Payroll Providers?
The main focus for businesses is first and foremost the products and/or services they provide. While it’s important to make sure employees are properly compensated, it isn’t necessarily in a company’s best interest to keep payroll in-house. There are several rules and regulations that must be followed, which payroll companies understand well. It can be difficult for a company to expand or move into Canada from the U.S., for instance, since payroll regulations aren’t the same in both countries. This is where payroll services come in. If a businesses doesn’t outsource its payroll processing to one of these companies, it risks making a mistake which can become financially and legally costly.
Like any service, it’s always best to invest in the people and providers who know best what they’re doing. By outsourcing your payroll services, you reduce the risk of making a fatal error and also save yourself the time and stress of processing all of that information yourself. With a payroll provider, there is simply one bill for a business to pay and one report to approve.
Beyond Mere Money
Some businesses find it helpful to outsource more than just payroll services. In fact, some payroll providers also offer human resource (HR) services as well. For companies who wish to focus strictly on their products and services, outsourcing HR is often also a good investment that saves time and money in the long run.
Ultimately, whether or not you decide to keep payroll, HR, and other employee services in-house depends on your willingness to undertake additional work as well as your expertise on these matters. Many business decide that it isn’t worth the headache to take on all of these extra tasks and choose to outsource them instead. Employees are the backbone and life of any company, so keeping them happy and fairly compensated is important. Having the best payroll and HR services for them is a great way to ensure a healthy business and company culture.
