HR is stressed.
Specifically, four out of five respondents, in a 2021 survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Paycom, agreed they were. The survey included 300 U.S. HR, payroll or accounting professionals who work regularly in the payroll process.
Between juggling multiple tasks, necessary compliance guidelines and constantly evolving employee needs, daily functions place your payroll team in nothing short of a workplace pressure cooker when they’re struggling with an outdated system.
And when your accounting and payroll administrators’ nerves are on edge, this anxiety often seeps over into your workforce. This might be evident in face-to-face interactions, but the biggest impact will likely be where you need it least — your payroll.
But stress doesn’t have to be part of HR’s job, and your payroll doesn’t have to be fraught with errors. In fact, with the right employee-driven tech at your team’s disposal, you could convert stress and frustration into confidence and, ultimately, progress for your enterprise.
Dissecting stress
HR is responsible for delivering many of the initiatives that keep employees happy and thriving, but they’re aware that even their greatest efforts are upended when core operations are in jeopardy. According to our survey, 91% of respondents agreed that when payroll is incorrect, it breaks the trust employees have in their employer.
When your employees’ trust is broken, it could lead to disengagement, stagnation and even turnover — all of which are heavy blows to your bottom line.
Given recent findings, the risk of fracturing trust through faulty payroll is still alarmingly high. The same study found that 64% of respondents have had to retroactively correct payroll due to an oversight or miscalculation.
Additionally, a survey conducted by The Harris Poll and commissioned by Paycom revealed that nearly as many employees (73%) have experienced an error with their paycheck at least once in their career. Among the top discrepancies identified were miscalculated overtime (35%), failed direct deposits (27%), past due expense reimbursement (22%) and incorrect tax deductions (21%).
And while this data details the kind of mistakes employees have experienced with payroll, it doesn’t dive into the consequences that may follow. In our OnePoll survey, over half of the surveyed HR professionals said they or their employer incurred fines from an incorrect payroll.
But what’s perhaps the biggest payroll pain point of all? The fact that all of these problems are preventable.
Stress-free payroll
Solving HR stress isn’t achieved through hindsight or countless hours of extra payroll review. Rather, it’s resolved by giving employees greater insight into their pay.
In our survey conducted by The Harris Poll, 74% of employees — roughly as many as those that experienced payroll errors — said they would prefer the ability to update and verify the information that impacts their paycheck themselves. And this makes sense. After all, aren’t they the ones affected most by payroll?
Think of the stress and trouble you eliminate when you use the self-service checkout at a grocery store — or better yet, when you circumvent the store entirely through an app for effortless pickup or delivery. What if you were able to deliver this same level of convenience to your workforce with your payroll process?
Through Beti®, our employee-driven payroll experience, this notion is more than just possible — it’s proven.
“I’ve worked with a lot of different payroll companies, and I really like Beti. It really simplifies the process and helps employees and managers not miss anything,” said one corporate accountant who was able to cut her company’s payroll processing time in half using Beti.
Beti allows employees to view, verify, troubleshoot and approve their own paycheck, thus empowering your workforce and drastically reducing HR’s stress over the process.
When your enterprise’s data flows seamlessly across a single software, HR doesn’t need to bog itself down with constant data reentry. Rather, your HR professionals are able to focus on more strategic initiatives that drive your business forward.
And this increased employee involvement doesn’t come at the cost of your payroll’s accuracy. In fact, giving your employees more insight into the process helps shield your payroll from the errors that require costly corrections — such as voids, wire transfers and check reversals — as well as noncompliance.
Taking it a step further, Beti also provides payroll warnings with detailed descriptions of potential issues through its dashboard, helping HR easily address the issue and, ultimately, relieve themselves of the anxiety-riddled guessing game associated with a paper-based or otherwise manual payroll.
Are you ready to give your HR team the relief they need? Learn how Beti helps.
DISCLAIMER: The information provided herein does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional legal, tax, accounting or other professional advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation and for your particular state(s) of operation.