How to foster trust with employees via payroll – even in moments of change in summary:
- In this blog, Payroll journalist Dan Cave explores how payroll software can be used to build trust with employees.
- HR software with native payroll can offer a seamless transfer of data, which is brilliant for data accuracy. And, payroll software can also drive wider business efficiencies.
- Great payroll software can also help people professionals navigate complexity, offer a great remote-working user experience, and ensure data privacy and security.
GenAI. Managing the multi-generational workforce. Evolving jobs to project-based roles. Understanding (and alleviating) burnout in a boundaryless working world. When it comes to the latest changes that impact HR, the list is endless… and growing!
Indeed, in the world of HR there’s always a new challenge to contend with. And, with new challenges, there’s always a fancy new solution being offered. You’ve probably spoken to HR software vendors who’ve told you the need to integrate automation into every part of your HR work cycle, or that you need the latest digital collaboration tool or to give over all your workforce-facing services to chatbots.
Of course, we’re not here to say they’re wrong – there’s lots of research to suggest software solutions to the latest problems deliver great benefits. But, look past the flavours of the month and what’s hot in tech… you need to focus on the basics, too.
For example, consider how your staff might react if every month, you’re telling them there’s a new software they need to use, a new interface for accessing meetings, or a new performance management process… but each month their pay is wrong, or they can’t even easily access their own pay slips!
Obviously they’re going to feel frustrated – and that’s without considering the transformation they’re having to deal with. It’s no wonder that almost a third of employees who want to leave their job are doing so because they’re having a poor digital experience.
Getting the HR technology basics right
How you approach technological improvements amidst a landscape of continual workplace change is critical. Employers must consider how any new tech – be it a new HRIS platform, a new absence management module, or a new element of the tech stack – primarily delivers for staff, building trust and seamless experiences of work while ensuring security, safety and compliance.
Here, your payroll function is a great place to start. This is because if your payroll software works is reliable, adheres to regulatory frameworks, and boosts HR team efficiency, it’s enabling HR to truly deliver for the business and employees amidst change.
So, let’s dive in to how it can do that.
Building employee trust with payroll software
Without sound too morbid, death and taxes are the two things pretty much everyone can be certain of in life… But being paid on time should be one of these, too.
If employers guarantee that staff can (at the very least) get their pay on time, every time, it shows a commitment to the workforce and they’re at the centre of your thinking. And, research shows that employers who care about the financial wellbeing of their staff enjoy better rates of retention, and have more engaged workforces, too – driving performance and quality.
BUT, this can only happen if payroll always delivers in an error-free way.
As such, many employers are using solutions native HR & payroll software to ensure seamless real-time and accurate data transfers, and time-saving automation to deliver pay in a timely manner to support employee workplace satisfaction. What’s more, when payroll is native to an HRIS with employee self-service, employees can access pay information at will, giving them autonomy over their pay data – another win!
Payroll software for navigating regulatory complexity
In the past year alone, there’s been talk about raising the pension age, discussions around auto-enrolment and a headline-making cut to national insurance. For people professionals and finance managers, this can cause payroll headaches. Get it wrong, and errors can result in having to pay interest on wrongful payment and deductions and even penalties – as well as, of course, losing vital employee trust.
And it’s not just about making the right deductions… Those responsible for payroll must ensure completion of statutory reporting, visibility of payslips, and updating of HMRC tax codes.
It’s a lot to contend with: however, with the right payroll software, you can have all your payroll rules – such as tax codes – automatically updated. That means no more keeping up-to-date with a fast-changing legislative and regulatory landscape, and instead using that saved time to figure out how best to deliver for staff.
Using payroll technology to drive efficiency
One of the ways that HR, finance professionals and the wider workforce lose time is having to change between systems and manually process data. Indeed, the majority of workers reckon they could save six hours a week if freed from such tasks.
The right integrated payroll technology can help here. It means no double entry of data from other systems as data can be shared between payroll, performance, attendance and other critical employee information hubs.
The right vendor will also do initial data set-up and upload for you. Meaning data suddenly becomes an efficiency driver not a time sink. Best-in-class solutions will also come with comprehensive API and webhooks, which can connect to all other systems with seamless ease.
Using payroll to adapt to a long-term remote work world
Though it may not dominate headlines as much anymore, there is still a battle over top talent. Savvy firms are pulling out all the stops to retain and attract staff, including allowing them to work from anywhere, Spotify and Airbnb amongst them. On paper, it sounds good: younger demographics especially want flexible, remote work and delivering can help create trust, engagement and a positive employment culture. But it can cause issues for HR.
Luckily, great native payroll software can avoid potential problems. Not only can it ensure that pay is delivered seamlessly – and if part of a wider HRIS, employees can access pay information anytime and anywhere.
Using payroll software to ensure data security and privacy
Security over data is top of mind for employees – and rightly so. As such, employers need to looking for payroll that comes with super-secure web services hosting, has a platform uptime higher than 99.9% – meaning they can access their own pay information practically whenever they want.
Here, an HRIS with single sign-on is also useful. This is because your people can enjoy a frictionless, intuitive digital experience, which is seamlessly updated to ensure the best possible user experience, made secure with dual authentication, data encryption and regular security testing so they know their most sensitive data is kept secure. Trusting in the technology, and trusting in the employer.
Dan Cave
Dan Cave is an award-winning HR journalist and editor. He’s been reporting in the HR space for over five years and works across the national business press.
