6 Ways to Cut Wasted Hours in Your Payroll Department

Are you spending too much time in your payroll department?

It’s a common problem in many businesses.

With timesheets, expense reports, overtime pay, and everything else that goes into the payroll process, it’s easy to see how hours can slip away without accomplishing much of anything. To save money in your payroll department, try implementing these six strategies to cut wasted hours in your payroll department.

Use Paperless Applications

Any time you need to hire someone, be sure to take advantage of technology and use a paperless system like cloud based payroll software. This saves your HR department countless hours each year and makes it easier for everyone involved (hiring managers and applicants). It may not seem like a big deal, but those hours add up quickly! And let’s face it: we all know how much paperwork is already involved in hiring new employees.

You don’t want to make it any worse by still filling out forms on paper. It doesn’t matter if you’re hiring one person or 100—when you don’t have someone manage all of your incoming applications, you’re losing valuable time that could be spent elsewhere. So what are you waiting for? Make some changes!

Automate All Forms and Reports

You can save hours on payroll tasks by automating as many of them as possible. For example, it only takes about 30 minutes to create a new employee log-in account for your system, yet if you’re adding a new hire every week you’re looking at about 250 total hours per year.

In addition, if you automate time-off requests and changes within your software package, employees will spend less time logging their requests and managers won’t have to dig through numerous e-mails from employees seeking approval. In turn, that saves a lot of man-hours throughout your HR department. Automation is a critical component of any sophisticated payroll or HR software system and will allow for more efficient operations across your entire business.

Maintain Rigid Systems

Instead of manual checks, implement a secure online system. Employees can check their balance and view pay stubs—which eliminates excess time spent logging into an HR portal and reduces errors that occur when employees send paper checks or direct deposit forms back and forth.

Many companies report that their end-of-year labor costs plummet as well, as employees who receive paychecks early don’t need hours spent waiting for those checks to clear.

This solution also allows companies to save money by reducing security concerns (e.g., skimming) as it’s impossible for someone not involved with payroll processing to access employee information like bank account numbers and social security numbers via an automated system.

Move Away From Manual Checks

Automated systems and software can help you become more efficient and cut down on wasted hours. For example, an automated employee time-tracking system will free up staff members to concentrate on other tasks and projects. This is important because employees who track their own time feel accountable for spending it wisely—and when workers are focused they’re more productive.

Overall, freeing up your team’s time by automating your payroll processes is a great way to save money without sacrificing much-needed efficiency or productivity.

Avoid Excess Interviews

The time and expense of hiring a new employee is largely due to guesswork—you’re trying to figure out if they’ll be a good fit, and they’re trying to decide if you’re a company where they’d like to work.

But when you eliminate unnecessary back-and-forth interviewing, your process becomes much more streamlined.

When hiring for an administrative position, for example, it’s unlikely that either party will learn very much from an interview anyway.

Asking someone about their experience doesn’t tell you how well they can do what you need them to do; and asking them how likely they are to stay with your company isn’t helpful because it’s really hard (if not impossible) for them to know whether or not that’ll be true in six months or even six weeks.

Get Rid of Slacking Workers

If your company’s payroll department is anything like mine, you’ve got at least one slacker. This person barely works and does even less when they do.

Slackers take up way too much of your time and resources. While it may seem tough, it is possible to rid yourself of slackers without breaking their spirit or morale.

Make sure that when you offer them a new position in another department, it’s actually a promotion with more money and responsibilities. Finally, if all else fails and they refuse, ask them to go back on unemployment so they can find work elsewhere.

There’s a lot of room for improvement in your payroll and HR processes. Unfortunately, it often takes an outside perspective to identify these problems. Implementing these practices can cut hours of wasted time out of payroll and help you better serve your employees and organization as a whole. But remember: It’s all about how you use what you have. These resources won’t do anything if they don’t work for your business or department; figure out what fits, then get creative with it!