Many small businesses underestimate just how much work and time is taken up by processing their own payroll. By the time you have employed more than a few people the payroll function is already starting to get complicated and you might find you are spending time away from customers and your core business. In our view, there are many benefits to outsourcing your payroll.
- 1. Avoid HMRC Penalties. The HMRC aren’t the forgiving type, so if you have made errors in your payroll calculation, no matter how innocent, they will charge you, and probably implement a penalty.
- 2. Reduce Costs. Maintaining your own payroll software and ensuring proper training for the person responsible for processing it can be very costly. By outsourcing you will only be charged a small amount per employee, which will easily reduce those costs.
- 3. Pay Employees directly. Outsourced Payroll Companies may also offer a bacs payment service which will enable you to pay employees automatically and not wait 3 days for bank clearing
- 4. Alleviate Pain. Why worry about what is really a distraction from your core business. Worrying about whether the office runs smoothly on payroll day should not be your concern
- 5. Free up Valuable resources. Payroll processing takes time, and this time might be better spent on customers or other more essential and important tasks.
- 6. Avoid Technology Headaches. Payroll software is upgraded and updated regularly, and when you add in the requirement to transmit information to HMRC over the internet, technology problems can cost whole days of nonproductive time
- 7. Benefit from outside payroll expertise. Many times complications will occur particularly with sick pay, attachements of earnings, or other adjustments. Rather than having to research and find the answers yourself, you just let the outsourced service look after it.
- 8. Don’t lose payroll knowledge out the door. If your bookkeeper or payroll clerk leave, or go on maternity leave, or even on holiday, you have to find a replacement. Not with an outsourced service
All in all we often wonder why a business should run their payroll at all, there are just so many benefits to outsourcing what is really a completely non-productive part of running business. Outsourced companies run payrolls all day, every day, and can handle the job so much more efficiently that the cost savings alone will warrant the change, never mind the ability to free your staff to focus on the real important goals you have set for your business