The responsibilities for a small business owner can seem a tad overwhelming at times.
There is not only overseeing employees, making your customer service needs are met and offering the best product and/or service at the best price, but also seeing to it that your employees are properly compensated.
With all there is to do, some small business owners find it a challenge to meet in-house payroll needs, so they outsource the matter. While there is nothing wrong with such a decision, finding the right payroll provider is key in order to keep employees happy and properly paid for their hours spent working.
In the event your small business is looking to outsource its payroll needs, consider some of the necessities and benefits of such a move:
* Savings over time - For those smaller businesses (less than two-dozen workers), outsourcing your payroll can be a win-win situation over time. By dedicating the time spent to doing payroll in-house for one or more of your HR employees, that time can be moved to other tasks that are of importance to the business. Your business also saves on expenses tied to printing and dispersing checks, along with putting together tax and insurance documents;
* Lessening chances for in-house errors - One of the major problems you can run up against if your small business payroll is not properly recorded is tax penalties. According to a BusinessWeek report, some 40 percent of small businesses compensate the IRS on a yearly basis for improperly filing their year-end payroll taxes. In most cases, using a dedicated payroll service will lessen or even altogether remove this from possibly happening, plus many such providers offer guarantees against such a problem;
* Shop around - If the benefits of using a payroll provider sound good to you and your small business, how do you go about finding the right one? First and foremost, take the time to review a number of providers in order to have choices. Among the things to look at with payroll providers is their financial history, their customer service record over time, and how big or small of an operation they run. You want someone that will work for you and put your needs first, not their needs. Some companies will not be overly forthcoming with a great deal of information on their history, so take the time to do a little research on your own, typically the Internet and from referrals, checking to see if there are any red flags related to customer services and/or finances;
* Decide how compensation will work - Once you have chosen a provider, determine how your employees will be compensated, be it through weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly payouts. Also give employees the option of direct deposit or a regular check. If you can get all your employees on the same system, i.e. direct deposit, it can eliminate the hassle of a check here and there for some employees;
* Emphasize security - Finally, make sure that security is stressed to your employees when it comes to their payroll needs. Given the fact that personal information like social security numbers, salaries, home addresses etc. are available to those handling payroll, employees need to know that such information will be handled with the utmost privacy. If a payroll provider does not take the time to prioritize security when you are considering them, move on to someone else.
With the right payroll provider in your corner, you and your small business can focus on other matters of importance, allowing your decision to outsource payroll pay off over time.