Best Payroll Management Software in 2017

What is Payroll Software? Why one should have Employee Payroll Management software?

Payroll software is a tool that aims to restructure and automate the method of paying the employees of a company, making the task of processing payroll less time-consuming and convenient. Payroll management system can be acquired from a human resources management vendor or is contained within as a module of a larger enterprise resource planning (ERP) package.

One of the most fundamental functions to oversee a business is taking care of the human resources. Further more, among the issues one would face about human resources is managing the HR payroll. Managing payroll manually is a tedious task; an organization with few individuals can keep up with a manual process, but, it will however be a time consuming task with loads of data in the excel sheets!

Payroll management software is a trouble to small organizations and simultaneously an important activity which is repeated consistently including complexities identified with computations, derivations and statutory regulations. Small organizations may process the payroll of employees physically, but it will not be possible when the company grows. A potent and practical business payroll solution is an absolute necessity to handle payroll process which in turn simplify the task and to capitalize on the efficiency in the long run of the business.

HR department are not relevant for the small-scale organizations (as they do not justify the cost of employing one). In such cases the obligation of hr payroll administration can fall on anybody, from the managing executive to an administrator. While they can manage payroll manually up to some extent, however this is not the right way. A payroll management system used from the beginning in the business can help save two most important resources which are money and time.

Processing payroll causes a lot of blunder. Calculating salaries is an easy task if an organization have only one or two employees but the same task becomes cumbersome as the business begins including workers. Blunders commonly occur in the full and Final settlement (separation management) and increases when the workers join in the middle of the term as the process is being manually done.  In the end, organizations may realize that without the right salary software, business cannot grow as expected.

Also payroll management system has the capability to improve the functioning of small and medium scale organizations, improving the general operational effectiveness. HR Payroll management software helps in Computing pay rates including statutory reckoning of PF and ESI, Reimbursements according to CTC norms, the employee documents management, managing emails and documents in an organized way, Keep track of Employee leave taken and loans & advances.

The second motivation to consider this kind of employee payroll management system is that it makes tax obligations much effortless. Estimation of Income tax is another regular and burdensome activity that needs to comply with government regulations and standards. A decent payroll solution can help to robotize this with more productivity and precision.

How Payroll Management Software can help your business?

Looking into the benefits of payroll software:

1. Effective Costing:  When employees themselves work on the salary management software without seeking help of professionals a lot of money is saved in this process. Thus, no expertise is needed to use the software; making it very user-friendly
2. Notifications and Updates:  The salary software keeps reminding you of important notifications like tax payments and salary due dates. There are reminders too which keep you in loop about the different tasks to be done.
3. Employee Calendars:  These calendars are an easy approach to manage different aspects of employee status like check on sick leaves, absence and overtime. Time management software with payroll helps employees to make plans and decisions on a particular day. At a single glance all kinds of information on the employee can be obtained like how long they have taken leave, whether to allow more leave or how much leave is entitled to them
4. Pay slips:  This salary slip software helps you to generate pay slips so that your employees and company can keep the payment records
5. Time Saver:  Automation of the data management in this payroll management software helps speeding up the process of your work and saves a lot of time
6. Negligible Errors/Mistakes:  Errors/mistakes are minimized due to computing and automation benefits
7. Customer Services:  With saving of time and money your employees can focus on the customers better thereby improving your business standards

The disadvantages:

1. The salary software needs a lot of data inputs about the employees. Since this is done manually, this may lead to errors/mistakes
2. If the employer outsources the data work to the service provider;  they have to pay for these services which might be expensive
3. If the salary management software data task is done by service provider, one cannot expect immediate help from the service providers since they might do providing similar services to many other clients too.

Important features of a Payroll Management Software

Payroll technology consolidates and automates the process of paying salary and other compensation/dues to company’s employees.  Now a days, the software does more than calculate salary. It supports you in giving you updated information about the total cost of employment and also keeps track of the individual employees. You can add more features to your software as your company grows – this is the beneficial option in buying payroll management system.

The software now a days can be customized to your requirements and employee capabilities. Using this software enables you to cut administrative costs and also aids in a number of HR tasks. It can automatically and accurately perform a range of tasks. You can monitor your employees and their performance, manage office data and records and even decide on employment opportunities that might arise.

1. Customization:  This employee salary software can be customized for any kind of business. You can even add the different departments for increasing the software data usage across your enterprise and also be updated on all employees’ information
2. Payroll Management:  The most sought-after feature which allows you to customize or change payroll calculations based on the prevailing financial scenario. This is done by altering the formulas for taxation and allowance benefits.
3. Generate Pay slips:  You can easily generate pay slips for all the employees through payroll management system or salary slip software. All the necessary calculations like taxes and allowances/benefits too are added in these slips. You can also print these slips without any hassles.
4. Employee Management:  The employee salary software also helps indirectly in managing your employees especially in terms of their work and leave status and the related attendance records. Some software also have the feature of providing leave encashment and also transfers the data/tasks for the next year too.
5. HR Management System:  The software is really helpful in providing support to manage several HR activities through following features:

1) One essential feature in this software is that it helps employers in monitoring the employee performance and also keeps records of these.

2) The office documents needed by the employees are managed effectively so as to enable the employer or any other user to access it anytime. These documents are related to employee records.

3) Records are saved about the employees who had appeared for the interview in the organization. This comprises of details of candidates, their interview status and results and the status of the job offered.

4) Several reports related to payroll, performance and leave of the employee is generated and any decision in this direction is then taken.

Which One Should You Select: Payroll Software or Payroll Service?

1. Staffing:  Staffing is essential in order to decide the managerial roles. Payroll service processes are sleek and upto date. But keeping track of and submission of the number of hours worked to the payroll service is necessary. With the software however, the person in charge of payroll ends up investing time in only managing it, because all the functions will be done internally.
2. Cost:  Cost is an important factor associated with payroll services as well as payroll software. Since payroll service takes most of the work-load off your shoulders, it costs more. You just need to make sure that the pricing info is inclusive of all the required functions. There are several add on functions that can incur an additional fee hence, receiving a quote for all the ordered payroll functions will save time and keep you from bearing new expenses down the line. Also, with fewer employees, the cost for payroll service becomes inexpensive but as your employee number increases, payroll service costs can go up.
3. Data Security:  Payroll information needs to be protected with strong security. With payroll service, the internet is used to access your data, hence make sure that your connectivity is safe. In case of payroll software, you want to keep a limited and controlled access to the system. Menu level security feature enables the employees to access only those screens that you deem necessary.
4. Reporting and Special Considerations:  The setup and reporting flexibility that comes with a payroll software attracts a lot of users. If you need a customized payroll with features such as multiple pay rates for employees or reporting from every department, then a payroll software is more suitable for you. In simpler words, a payroll software offers more business control over a company's operations, whereas a payroll service can only reduce some burden.

Reasons To Select Payroll Software Over Payroll Service

There are many reasons to select a payroll software over a payroll service. There are many powerful applications that a payroll software can offer. Hence, it might not be too late to reconsider your strategies to handle the critical tasks of payroll generation.

1. Internal Control:  With the growth of an organization, it may become necessary to control your payroll processing, save money and eliminate partner-management tasks. A nominal fee might just expand into payroll complexities. With the help of HR and accounting professionals, it can be even more cost-effective to get payroll services under your roof.
2. Security:  Security is a recurring barrier especially with regards to salary and employee benefit data. Payroll service firms assure you that they will keep your data safe. But many a times, businesses may feel more secure with their own software. You will always need a guarantee of info access and security irrespective of the payroll type.
3. Efficiency:  While this may lead to a culture issue, it is recommended not to cede any control to external firms and many companies firmly stand by this belief. Sometimes, you need control due to the company's complex multi-national operations. Also, rapid shifts within the firm - such as frequent recruiting and laying-off of employees may also create a need for an efficient and adaptable payroll.
4. Report Generation:  Reports are an extremely important factor. A Payroll software lets you create smart tool to analyse,for eg. tracking salaries of a specific department, geography etc. A flexible payroll software enables the user to produce the most creative reporting and lets the managers export data from the reports into a spreadsheet, or any format for presentation and review.

Related Content:

• Best Payroll Software for Small Business
• Things You should Know before Buying Payroll Software
• Payroll Software or Payroll Outsourcing? What should you select?
• How do Employee Self-Service Portals help in Managing Payroll issues?
• How can a payroll software help you save money? with Infographic
• Comprehensive & Effective Ways of Using a Payroll System
• Best Free and Open Source Payroll Software for Small Business
• Payroll Software : Emerging Trends
• The Need For HR – Payroll Software And Its Benefits For SMEs