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Payroll Automation Benefits

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The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedAug 20222 min read

Managing payroll manually takes a significant amount of time, and often results in errors. Payroll automation can help to simplify and streamline the process and cut down the hours previously spent on payroll. In this post, we’ll outline some of the ways having a payroll automation process in place can boost your productivity, and make sure employees get paid accurately every time.

What is automation payroll?

An automated payroll system helps businesses to pay employees accurately and on time, taking away the burden of having to manage things manually using spreadsheets. This allows owners and finance team members to spend their time focusing on other aspects of running the business.

Benefits of a payroll automation system

Reduced errors: Payroll automation software can calculate the correct deductions, overtime pay, commissions, and anything else affecting an employee’s pay in a flash, without the risk of mistyping or duplication. With a fully automated payroll system, payments are certain to be correct, which means there will be fewer employee pay issues to deal with, freeing up HR staff time.
Saves time: Automating repetitive payroll tasks can save companies a lot of time. Payroll automation can quickly and easily perform all kinds of calculations in the background, leaving payroll managers free to concentrate on higher level business activities.
Increases security: Spreadsheets are not very secure places to store important payroll data. Payroll automation software will keep sensitive data encrypted and password-protected, so no-one other than those managing the payroll can access it. Documents that are held digitally free up office space too, and there’s no chance of records being mislaid or damaged.
Includes reporting features: When you’re making strategic decisions based around predicted labour costs, payroll automation can be invaluable. Having to unearth lots of payroll information and organise it manually takes a lot of effort. Many payroll automation systems can create customised, downloadable reports to help companies with their business strategy.
Simplifies taxation: Taxes are complicated and staying on top of changes can be time-consuming. Plus, getting things wrong can lead to fines, so it’s essential to meet the correct deadlines and calculate taxes accurately for employees. Automation can help alleviate the burden, and ensure your taxes are filed correctly and on time.
Accurate record-keeping: Businesses are required to keep several years’ worth of pay records, including total hours worked, payment rates, payroll dates, and more. Automated payroll software can keep your data organised, so you can easily stay compliant and ready to be audited. Having a payroll automation process is also useful when it comes to keeping accurate new and leaving employee data.
Single, intuitive platform: A payroll system should be able to Integrate with a range of payment providers, allowing companies to send funds automatically to employers, pension providers and HMRC. Payroll automation vendors like Xero, Gusto, QuickBooks and Sage 50cloud all partner with payment providers like GoCardless to create transparent and efficient financial workflows.
Saves money: Companies can save money with a reduced need for personnel when using an automated payroll system. This means there’s the opportunity to lower operating costs and boost the bottom line. Companies that currently outsource their payroll can reduce costs significantly.

Streamline business workflows with payroll automation software

If you want to run your payroll efficiently, payroll software must be part of your tech stack. You can use it to calculate what’s owed, and to whom, while also staying on top of employee benefits and deductions. Since it’s cloud-based, it’s also easy for employees to access their payslips from any device, and it will keep data safe and backed-up.

Payroll automation can help you eliminate the repetitive, time-consuming activities that come with a manual system, allowing employees to focus on the revenue-building activities that will help develop your company further.

We can help

GoCardless is a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with. Find out how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.