Payroll and Employee Experience, How do they go Hand-in-Hand?

If you ask an employee what benefits they look in a company, most will probably list:

1. Growth
2. Inclusion
3. Technology
4. Innovation
5. Flexibility
6. Support etc.

Yet, the most vital component of a satisfactory employee experience is the payroll.

Surprisingly, employees would not list that, even though it forms the forefront of a company’s relationship with its employees and service providers.

Recently, companies, at a global level, have observed a shift in employee payroll system handling. In fact, the pressure endured by Human Resource and financial teams universally, during COVID has initiated this conversation. It changed payroll management needs by revamping its methods, promoting technological involvement and prioritizing employee payroll system experience.

Current Payroll Issues

The recent uncertain times have brought underlying causes of efficiency drop to the front row. And employee payroll system is observed to be the most apparent one. The current employee payroll issues are:

1. The recent uncertain times have brought underlying causes of efficiency drop to the front row. And employee payroll system is observed to be the most apparent one. The current employee payroll issues are:
2. Delay in payment due to manual handling, which slows down the calculation and processing.
3. Inability to keep up with rapidly changing regulations and law around employment, payments, wages, etc.
4. Lack of formalization of payroll management.
5. Inability to integrate technology to their benefit. Employee payroll software’s can optimize on cost and time. Additionally, technology can also mitigate the risk of accounting errors, and attendance records.
6. Poor user experience when handling payroll via software, because of maintenance limitations.
7. Hidden cost hikes, loss of time, unnecessary investment and low transparency due to manual handling.
8. Lack of communication between employees or service providers and the payroll management team.

Payroll management and it's direct effect on employee payroll experience

Trust: Employees are onboard, and have faith in the company’s working as long as the payroll distribution is punctual and error-free. Most employees will tolerate at most two erroneous or delayed pay. Post this, they will look for alternatives.

Security: Proper automation is needed not only to login attendance, and record reimbursements, but also for employee information security. When working with automated payroll a company should ensure that their employee’s information privacy is not breached.

Reputation: Employees attract potential talent. Nothing works stronger than word of mouth, genuine-praise marketing, here payroll plays a grander role than you think. Consistent bad reviews of a company, especially surrounding payroll, will drop the quality of talent. Subsequently affecting productivity. Organisations will not lose existing employees, but might also fail to attract the talent they require.

Employee Engagement: Though it sounds similar to employee experience, one can classify it as a consequence of employee experience. And payroll management affects this heavily.

If payroll management is not monitored well, employees will lose interest in their company and their vision. This will make their employee experience questionable, resultantly affecting employee engagement and finally dipping productivity.

Changes that can improve employee payroll experience

1. Transparency and communication:Companies can achieve more by communicating with their employees and service providers about their payroll experience and concerns. Technological implementation can open a line of communication, along with keeping the process that goes into payroll clear to the receiving end. Keeping transparency as the focal point of employee experience can help companies avoid errors. Resultantly enabling payment on time, along with understanding the preferable method of payment. Not getting paid on time is frustrating, topping that off with a lack of communication can push employees and service providers to look for alternatives.

1. Complete software reliance:Software integration in terms of attendance, accounting, calculation, tax-considerations, strategizing, and reimbursement can help solve innumerable problems that currently exist in payroll management. It can also inhibit the chances of security risk. Companies can opt for enterprise HR software solutions or outsource it to a payroll company.
2. Adaptability:Keeping the payroll management adaptable can prove beneficial and loss-curbing in the long run. For example, an unforeseen halt of in-office working, created a pause in payroll processing. Consequently, finance teams and talent management might have to work in-office, instead of working from home, to solve such problems. This not only brings unsatisfactory feedback from a payment perspective but also forces employees to work under risks. Hence, a payroll strategy should also consider emergency situations and keep the processing environment flexible.
3. Flexibility:Once adaptability is included in a strategy, flexibility is also expected. This implies that you provide variable options for payment, as not everyone would be accustomed to a specific payment process. The global workforce expects the option of remote working, with flexible hours, and payment in local currency. Hence, flexibility should be a priority when choosing a payroll software.
4. Security:A consistent and punctual payment can go a long way, especially when it comes to retention of the best of talents. It would help build a sense of security among your present talent but also draw the attention of potential employees. This also means that the software chosen ensures security not only in terms of reliance, but also in terms of privacy. Employees share numerous confidential details, making the payroll data absolutely vulnerable. Hence, the choice of payroll software should implement encryption of sensitive data, and end-to-end encryption of email communication. Consequently, a company also has to give cyber security briefs and training to its employees to reduce risk from their end. Additionally, a secure data storage or platform should be utilized, hence a reliable HR software provider is essential.

Final verdict

The relationship between employee payroll experience is extremely delicate and close-knitted. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked. But recent developments, changing circumstances, and new workforce expectations are helping organizations realize that they need to up their game in terms of payroll management.

Companies can do so by moving to software solutions, and making the right choice of the same. Shifting their perspective to employee’s experience can help them spot the current payroll hurdles. One can notice a risk of security, delay in payment, irritability with manual payroll management, formalization, and hidden costs prevalent in the current strategy, which might hinder progress. But the integration of technology and problem-solving strategy can help organizations recover from these and keep them prepared for sudden work-mode changes or emergencies.