When in a job interview, there is quite often the somewhat indulgent question asked by Employers which is:  Why do you want this job?  Often, this is the cue for the interviewee to gush about how wonderful the employer is or how they've always wanted to work in a supermarket check-out since they were six.  But the pragmatic employer already knows the main reason – the would be employee is rather hoping to get paid for their skills and talents. 

Mercenary as it may seem to some, nobody can live on job satisfaction alone.  No matter how much your workforce may love you, if they're not getting paid than the need to eat and keep roofs over their heads will drive them away.  That is why running your organisation's internal payroll system is one of the most fundamental parts of operating a successful business. 

Challenges to a Successful Payroll System.

Certainly then, proper thought needs to be given to the operation of the payroll part of the business.  While it may seem relatively small at first for a startup or small business, as the company grows it will become a larger part of somebody's role, often someone with a role in bookkeeping already.  At larger multi-national companies, entire departments are set up just to ensure staff are getting paid appropriately and on time. 

Inevitably then, any organisation that enjoys some success will need to put time into developing the practices and methods by which it will run its payroll.  Many factors need to be taken into consideration and there are many options that can be pursued.  For example, there are multiple software packages and solutions that can reduce the need to hire expensives staff when dealing with payroll, but the use of these systems and best practice will still required investment in training and equpiment. 

Other concerns for a payroll system are the tracking of Employee abscence.  For sickness, holiday and other reasons, the payroll systems are a good way to keep track of the relative productivty of a workforce across the organisation at a whole.  Employees with a significant number of sick days or unexplained abscences can be highlighted and addressed. 

Security is another major issue.  Data protection legislation in most countries demands that the personal financial details of employees be treated confidentially and protected.  This will require both computer countermeasures and physical ones, which, for a company using paper records, can quickly become expensive in terms of storage space needed.

One more reason is the need to comply with Government regulation in the territory that the organisation is employing in.  Whether for tax or other purposes, this will vary from country to country and even region to region within a country, making it more challenging to develop a payroll system that is efficient and processing wages, yet complies with the needs of differing countries' legal codes. 

What This Means For You

All of this is why businesses of all sizes need to give serious thought to their payroll systems and how their activities in other areas of the company, such as expansion into new territories, will effect them.   While outsourcing much of the work is one solution some companies turn to, it is still important to have some expertise on hand within a company in order to understand the results and to ensure that the client company is abiding by the hiring one's requirements. 

In both cases, investing in the current workforce by providing training to employees brings benefits to the company including:

• Organisational expertise on payroll management.
• Better compliance with national and international legislation
• Savings on hiring new staff to take on the responsibility
• Proper oversight on how wages are being paid out and spent.

An affordable online course offers the means to get these essential skills to any organisation quickly.