5 benefits the best payroll services provider should deliver for your customers

Don Draper. The Wolf of Wall Street. Alec Baldwin’s turn as Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross.

Some of the most dramatic characters in film happen to work in the sparkling realm of marketing, advertising and sales, nudging more traditional (dare we say boring?) areas of business out of the limelight. Except for 2016’s The Accountant, which made crunching numbers look very cool.

The same can be said of business technologies. Marketing automation and CRM platforms get a lot of buzz and have a lot of interesting, cutting-edge features. And sure, they’re important. But, they’re just a few pieces of the puzzle. When it comes to building a great tech stack for managing your customers key business needs, payroll processing and human resources (HR) tech could steal the show.

Two people standing around a laptop and pointing at it.

Look for cloud-based payroll software that empowers small business owners

Payroll and managing HR may be among the least glamorous parts of any business. But the truth is that whether employers streamline paying and managing their people can make the difference between growth and stagnation. Here are just a couple of wins you can deliver for your customers by partnering with the right online payroll services and HR services provider:

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Pay people and payroll taxes accurately and on time:

Keeping up with payroll tax rates, calculating liabilities, and making timely payments in accordance with tax laws is time-consuming and headache-inducing. It’s also prone to error. Each year, more than one-third of employers make payroll mistakes. And even minor ones can result in costly fines. According to the IRS, in 2020 they assessed more than $6 billion in employer penalties.

Small business owners need a full-service payroll solution that eliminates the guesswork, so they can quickly and confidently submit payroll and payroll taxes on time — anywhere from any internet-enabled device. Using a cloud-based payroll processing and tax filing management solution frees business owners from the administrative burden and risk that comes from manually running payroll.

A great solution will include ways to pay employees via direct deposit, prepaid cards or paper checks, and make administering garnishments a breeze.

An icon of the outline of two people.

Quickly find and hire the employees they need:

It’s no secret that sourcing talent has been an uphill climb for most businesses lately. To combat the hiring crisis, your customers need access to a larger talent pool and an application process that’s convenient for everyone.

That’s why it’s important to partner with a service provider that offers a mobile-optimized solution that makes it easy to recruit and interview efficiently, identify top candidates with ease, electronically onboard new hires and manage compliance and tax credits. It should also give your customers’ budget a break by helping them claim Work Opportunity Tax Credits. The best small business payroll software solutions will make screening, completing tax forms, and more, simple, fast and easy.

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Win talent via flexible scheduling:

While sourcing great candidates is easy with the right solution, your customers need a differentiator to stand out from their competition and win the best hires. Offering employee benefits like flexible scheduling can help.

It’s possible with the best employee time tracking software. The right partner should provide a user-friendly solution that allows managers to build and manage employee schedules, move shifts and approve requests. Look for an integration that also empowers employees to view their schedules with employee self-service, and request shift changes.

Managers should be able to approve or deny those requests — and PTO — with the click of a button, anytime from anywhere.

An icon of a clock.

Prevent time theft and keep labor costs in check:

When it comes to hard costs, most business owners tend to accept them as-is. But what if technology could help them shore up hidden overspending within their labor budget?

Time theft is a form of attendance fraud and unfortunately, it’s pretty common. Up to 19% of employees report engaging in some form of time theft, with the average employee stealing up to 4.5 hours every week. On the other hand, unplanned overtime is perfectly legal. But it can drive a business’ labor costs through the roof if it's not being managed strategically.

Consider offering a solution that makes it easy for your customers to track employees’ time without wasting any of theirs. Whether they employ a handful of employees or a few hundred, they can easily build and manage employee schedules, move shifts, approve requests, forecast and manage overtime expenses and so much more.

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Comply with a multitude of employment rules and regulations:

Did you know that 70% of businesses are likely noncompliant with federal wage-and-hour laws? Or that there are seven types of employee information records companies are required by law to keep for more than one year? Or that during HR-related legal proceedings, the employee handbook is one of the most requested items?

No one could blame you — or your customers — for answering “no'' to any of those questions. Because while it’s important, the truth is that keeping up with legal employment and HR requirements takes a lot of work. But partnering with the right provider can make it so much easier.

The right solution should provide the foundation, HR tools and HR support your customers need to thrive. The right HR feature set improves employee management, protects their business, empowers them with industry knowledge and keeps them compliant with guidelines and labor laws.

When should my clients get started?

Ideally, your customers would adopt the right payroll services provider and HR solution in Q3 or Q4 — more commonly known as year-end. It’s truly the best time of year for them to do so. That’s because on January 1, businesses can literally start fresh: There’s no historical data to move into the new payroll system. Business owners also don’t have to go through the steps that can make onboarding a new solution painful, like collecting year-to-date and quarter-to-date information. Your customers can hit the ground running with a clean slate.

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Empower them with a robust, full-service solution

Even though small business payroll and HR isn’t always the most glamorous or interesting area of the business, getting it right is crucial to any organization’s success — including yours. Partnering with the right payroll provider empowers you to offer the best solution and increase:

Retention: The more value you offer to your clients outside of your software, the more likely your clients will stay with you.

Trust: Partnering with your clients to help solve more needs shows them you’re invested in their progress, and prepared to go the extra mile.

Your offering: In addition to everything we’ve covered above, working with the right provider will give you and your customers access to important software integrations that make it easy to manage:

  • compliance with the ACA and other health benefits requirements
  • retirement plans, like 401(k) required reporting
  • workers’ compensation reporting
  • benefits administration (health insurance elections, etc.)
  • time tracking through a variety of time clock providers and POS solutions

Even though a payroll solution and HR support may never be the headlining act or dashing main character of your offering, it is a crucial one for every business owner and a must-have for any modern tech stack. If you’re ready to connect with a stellar payroll and HR services provider, contact us today.

Amy Double-Trent

Senior Copywriter

Amy is a seasoned writer for Heartland Payment Systems, a Global Payments company with expertise in payments, payroll and point of sale technologies. She is passionate about sharing how SaaS applications and emerging digital trends help entrepreneurs make the best decisions for their businesses.

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