Paybooks

Paybooks is one of India’s leading, budget and user-friendly online payroll solutions. The biggest attractions are its simplicity, easy-to-use pre-configured modules and user-oriented interface, making it appropriate even for administrators/HR professionals who are first-time payroll software users.

Along with the desktop software, it has an online self-service app for employees. Paybooks strives to provide the best online payroll services while complying with the requisite statutes, making payroll processing and distribution of salaries less time-consuming and more resource-efficient for your payroll/HR Department!

Various Offerings that Paybooks Payroll Solutions Provides:

Paybooks hosts two separate portals: for employees and administrators.

1. Employee Portal

The employee can log in to his/her employee self-service portal through the desktop or mobile app version of Paybooks. The mobile app is easy to use and lightweight.

• Leave Requests

Here, the employee can apply for a Leave Request by selecting the kind of leave he requires (sick/paid/casual). He has to mention the date/s of the leave required and the reason for the same.

Once the leave request is sent, an email goes directly to the reporting manager, who can approve it. The status of the leave approval is also visible to the employee. The process is simple and quick, and the need for any paperwork is eliminated.

• Expense Management

The employee can submit the work expenses for which she requires reimbursement. The type of expense and the amount is input by the employee, and a receipt/proof for the same can also be uploaded if necessary. The same approval workflow as the leave request is followed here as well.

• Payslips

An overview of the monthly payslip is visible to the employee here, and a more detailed version can be downloaded by him in PDF format.

• Tax Planning and FBP

A unique and incredibly useful feature of Paybooks, tax planning makes life easier for employees and employers. The employee can view taxes and deductions available under different heads, such as House Rent, Medical & Leave Travel Allowance, Other Income & Losses, Provident Fund, Insurance & Mutual Funds.

It enables employees to control their taxes fully and helps them make an informed choice regarding various avenues of investment and savings available to them.

Similarly, employees can choose their benefits from the allowances available to them. They have to submit a claim and its proof and then wait for it to be approved.

Apart from these main modules, the employee can access various other reports such as Form 16 and the Income Tax computation report.

Paybooks allow your employees to stay abreast of various developments that affect their earnings. It gives them an easily accessible, transparent platform to help them manage their leaves, expenses, benefits, and taxes at their own convenience.

2. Admin Portal

This is where the actual payroll processing and release take place. The Admin portal necessarily has more extension modules that are loaded with functionalities. This is evident from the dashboard, which gives you the payroll summary (the net/gross salary paid to date), compliance reports, the most recent joiners added to the system and quick links to your most used functions.

You can manage a few vital payroll processes (such as adding new employees) from the dashboard.

• Initial Configuration

Before you start, you need to perform a one-time configuration of a few important components, such as:

Company Profile: details such as the name, logo, and statutory compliance details.

Company Roles: Employee logins and basic salary according to the role.

Locations: Configure settings for different branches of your business.

Leaves: Configure the leave structure according to your company policy

Holidays: Set weekly offs and adds the general company/public holiday list

PF Rules: Configure the Provident Fund according to the requisite statutory requirements.

Salary Components: This is the CTC breakup for each of your employees. Add/delete the components as per your company's requirements.

• Adding Employees

1. Add a new employee simply by clicking the ‘+’ icon.
2. You are required to add the relevant photo, Personal (name, contact details, address) and Official details (employment type, role, reporting manager, department), PF/ESI information, leave details (pro-rata basis/other), and any other relevant information.
3. Under salary configuration, all you have to do is enter the CTC; the rest is taken care of as the structure has already been configured for the whole organization.
4. Once these details have been submitted, the new employee will appear on the dashboard.

• Run Payroll

Paybooks has a simple, easy-to-follow sequence of steps for when you want to go through with processing the month’s salaries.

1. Firstly, select the branch you want to process and run the payroll.
2. You will be directed to the attendance section, where you can upload the basic/detailed attendance in the Paybooks Excel template if you keep manual records. In the more likely event that you have an integrated biometric attendance solution, the Biometric Sync Attendance option will import all the biometric attendance data to Paybooks.
3. If any adjustments, such as bonuses, incentives and etc, are to be made, you can do so with the Adjust Pay option.
4. Now, you can run payroll for a specific employee or in batches. If necessary, you can also keep specific employees’ salaries on hold.
5. The next step is to confirm the payroll. You will get a summary of the earnings, deductions, and net pay each employee will receive. A preview of the payslip is also available.
6. Now all you have to do is ‘lock’ the payroll and publish the payslips to the employees. Your payroll has been processed!

You can always ‘unlock’ the payroll in case any changes are required to be made.

Run Payroll ensures that your salaries are released on time and with 100% accuracy.

• Reports

A host of different reports are available on Paybooks. Its library of 65+ standard reports ensures that you never face an incorrectly formatted or inaccurate report again.

Choose from among various salary reports, statutory reports dealing with TDS, ESI and etc, leave reports, attrition reports, and reimbursement reports, to name a few.

If your organization needs custom reports beyond standard reports, you can easily create professional reports on the Report Designer.

So, that concludes the basic run-through of how Paybooks essentially works and its most prominent functionalities.

Two bonus features that are unique to the software and must not go unmentioned are:

1. ICICI Bank Integration

Paybooks has gone the extra mile in making payroll processing much more convenient for its clients. Its partnership with ICICI Bank allows users to pay employees and have salaries credited instantaneously to their ICICI accounts.

When you initiate the payment from Paybooks, login to your ICICI Corporate Internet Banking Portal to approve it, and voilà, your employees receive the payment within minutes. It eliminates the need to visit the bank, prepare checks, issue payment orders, or do any tedious tasks previously associated with payroll processing.

2. Payroll Outsourcing

Although this is a paid service separate from the standard user package, it is remarkable nonetheless. Your organization can outsource its payroll functions to Paybooks, whose payroll experts will handle all your payroll processes. At the same time, you can focus on other facets of your business.

Paybooks will take care of the end-to-end payroll activities for your firm while implementing best practices in payroll implementation and compliance with payroll laws. You don’t have to worry about payroll functions again; let Paybooks take care of them for you!

Paybooks streamline your payroll processes without burning a hole in your pocket. Moreover, its pricing makes its plethora of features even more significant: they are a steal at this price!

Bottom Line

Paybooks has provided a payroll solution appropriate for businesses of all sizes. Still, suppose you run a startup or a relatively new business looking to make its way up the ladder. In that case, Paybooks ensures that getting your employees paid on time and making the right benefits available to them while complying with the requisite statutory laws takes place in a smooth, cost-effective and simplified manner.

Any functionality you could ask for in an ideal payroll solution, Paybooks has it. Features such as payroll outsourcing and the ICICI bank integration exemplify Paybooks's commitment to making payroll processing a smooth, hassle-free activity for its users. So if your business is looking for a product to supercharge its payroll activities, Paybooks is the way to go!