What Challenges Modern World Is Facing In Payroll Processing?

Payroll departments manage the most important aspect that comes in between a company and its employees: error-free payments to the employees. In addition to this, payroll serves as a valuable strategic component that helps in understanding the company’s labor costs and overtime trends. But, like any other department, a thorough knowledge and understanding of the key challenges that might occur, is extremely crucial to ensure successful implementation of the core processes. Following are the common challenges that companies are facing while processing payroll in the current era.

1. Avoiding The Use Of A Payroll Software : It’s an undeniable irony that, although payroll is one of the most important components of human resource but most of the companies don’t value its importance and keep doing it in the old traditional ways. Most of the organizations still rely on paper processes that make professionals feel burdensome. Thus, using a payroll technology will definitely make the process easier, faster and error-free, thereby freeing-up valuable resources for more strategic tasks.
2. Processing Taxes Accurately : Along with processing payroll seriously, it’s important that it is done accurately without any glitches. There has been a continuous pressure on companies of every size to adhere to corporate governance or else be ready to pay heavy penalties for non-compliance. Thus, it is vital that payroll system must comply with regional legal frameworks as well as other industry-specific requirements. Whether you choose to operate payroll in-house by purchasing your own software or outsource it to a third party, payroll tax laws must be mandatorily followed.
3. Software Is Confining Opportunities: Usually, business owners don’t pay much attention while selecting a payroll solution for their company, which eventually leaves them with an inefficient tool. These kind of tools lack the integration capabilities with other systems already in use by the organization and this leads to data discrepancy and errors. Thus, it is necessary that adequate controls are guaranteed while processing payrolls and data privacy is kept on high priority.
4. Providing Enterprise-Wide Visibility: A comprehensive view of enterprise-wide payroll data is extremely necessary for any company’s accounts managers to perform payroll effectively. This allows HR pros to analyze the data and create reports with minimal issues. But it is estimated that only 39 percent of the companies have this kind of visibility in their organizations. Thus, payroll leaders need to work hard in getting and maintaining this visibility to acquire more sophisticated analytical capabilities.

Implementation of successful global payroll technology is although a challenging task, but if it is done carefully and with the right tools in hand, then an organization can benefit from the enhanced efficiency and better decision making capabilities. TeamWise Payroll provides comprehensive and well-integrated payroll processing technology, which makes it a vital asset to a successful global organization. It helps you streamline all the time-consuming payroll tasks with utmost ease and without any chances of errors. So, overcome all the payroll challenges with the best payroll processing solution and leave your worries behind, for a never like before satisfied workforce, stress-free HRs and definitely a better company future.

Enhancing Employee Satisfaction Through HR Strategies

There is a huge change within HR industry in the recent times – a vast professional shift from regular day-to-day transactional tasks to more strategic concerns.

This has made HR function more than a business rather than merely a source where employees approach for some information or seek support. But, is this the right environment we needed from all those years? Are the employees satisfied enough with this change?

The answer can sadly be slightly, negative!

The kind of environment an employee experiences in his/her organization with a proper work-life balance, decides the employees’ satisfaction. Although both the parties work towards a same objective, but the path is entirely different. The perspective that an HR uses to create an ideal environment is entirely different from what an employee grasps it; which is creating a sense of dissatisfaction among the employees. This calls for a high-level corporate support in which technology can prove to be very effective. Thus, you need to adopt a technology that:

Listens to their problems

Employees spend most of their day’s productive time at the workplace, thus getting a healthy environment and getting all problems resolved is a must for them to work effectively. Offer a proper grievance handling solution where they can raise their complaints and the same can be escalated to the concerned person for a solution. Employees must also be able to track their complaint and know its status at any point of time.

Regularly monitors their performance

Grievances and problems also affect one’s performance, thus a system to track employee performance can help in analyzing the problem areas. This kind of solution will also keep a record of the previously filled reviews so that not only HRs or senior managers but even the employees can themselves compare their own performance and the up-gradation or de-gradation over time.

AND most importantly: Help you not overlook their feedbacks

Traditionally, organizations had a trend of asking employee feedbacks quarterly or annually in a one-to-one meeting; some don’t cater this facility at all. Employers, who wait for monthly, quarterly, or yearly meetings, are often too late to be effective in correcting the concerns which their employees might be having, say 6 months back. Thus, the proper way is to provide a portal to your employees, which they can access at any point of time and raise their concerns or provide some progressive feedbacks.

The data that is collected through such an analysis will be very helpful in analyzing the current situation and making plans for the future, but HR must also keep alive that human side in them. Spending time with employees, conducting employee get-togethers and team-building games will help you in engaging the employees and keep them satisfied at job, like never before.

SaaS-based HR technology has seen an exceptional outburst in the past years aiding a broad spectrum of human resource, like recruitment, new employee on-boarding, managing their performances, Employee Engagement and techniques to retain talent. But, along with all this technology goodness, there comes a major challenge of maximizing the most important component of any business – its people. Thus, adopting a technology, that not only eases out an HR pros work life by diluting the daily routine complexities but also helps in keeping employees happy, satisfied and engaged, is what every business must target. Remember, none of the available technologies will do any good if ‘people’ are not kept at forefront of the business.

Employee Information, Just A Click Away!

How often do you think- Is technology a Blessing or a Blight??

Everything just a click away..and blah blah!

We have been enjoying all the ease and comfort offered to us by the technology from past few decades now and still curse it when it takes the same ease from us.

Yes, you guessed it right! I am talking about how accessible it makes us when we are on a vacation! Here, my discussion is not on cursing the man-made gift we all have, but how it saves us from becoming the culprit of a lost business deal or company facing terrible losses or becoming unable to overcome a disaster as the concerned person is unavailable!

Same is with an TeamWise-Feature that you can monitor anywhere, anytime! Suppose one of your subordinates need your approval for his urgent leave and you are on a vacation. What will he do?

The answer would be- Go to HR department, give them all the explanations and then if they understand your concern, may give an approval but, if he doesn’t have that time, then?

Here, our point becomes valid that says, technology is a Blessing!

With TeamWise HRMS, you can access the application even when you are on a vacation and catch all the action going on in your absence. Approve/reject leave applications; check employee updates, etc. just on a single click!

The bonus is you can enjoy the beach too!

Beat ‘The Peter Principle’ & Pick The Best!

How do people get selected for promotion in your organization?

Are they judged according to the new position’s requirement or do their past performances in previous roles play the major role?

If you agree to the latter, then your organization might be a victim of ‘The Peter’s Principle’

The Peter Principle, formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their book The Peter Principle, conveys that employees, in a hierarchy, sooner or later gets promoted to higher positions which they are probably not capable to handle.

This simply means people keep on getting promoted until they reach a certain level of incompetence. However, people do need some hierarchical uplift to stay motivated, yet this promotion cannot always be vertical and what today’s workforce looks for is a more expanded and wider self-development along with career growth.

Then how companies can put the principle aside? Have a look at some tips:

1) Give Promotion Accompanied with Proper Training Session:

A person who is being promoted to a senior position is almost entirely new to that position and will take time in understanding new roles and responsibilities. Best way is to have the person shadow the current position holder for few days, say a month before the effective date, so that he/she can have a complete idea of the position’s roles and responsibilities. Another way is to have them attend formal training sessions.

2) Reward Employees Based on Their Performance & Efforts:

It is not always necessary to promote employees with a change in their designation. Sometimes, without any drastic change in their responsibilities, you can reward them for their hard work by offerings some free trip, a big gift or a salary hike. Providing them more responsibilities within their roles, like giving a chance to lead an important project, can act as a great morale booster and will also help in avoiding departmental stagnation.

3) Take a 360 View of the Employee’s Performance:

Employers often become myopic when considering an employee for promotion. Giving consideration only to his/her recent accomplishments or former track record is not just enough to take the final decision. These aspects don’t guarantee their success in the future. Take decisions based on the individual’s expertise and assess him/her on decision making capabilities and technical proficiency. This will help you decide what type of role that candidate will fit in!

4) Talk About the Employees’ Expectations and Career Aspirations:

Talking to employees about their career expectations and interests about holding a higher position, will help in analyzing where they would like to see themselves and whether they are satisfied with their current role or not. In this way they won’t be compelled to do something that they are not comfortable about.

Promotion is a kind of positive strengthening for the employee being promoted. It helps them analyze that they are performing well and their hard work is properly recognized and rewarded accordingly. But, the promotion process must not be taken lightly as the consequences can be hazardous for the entire organization with unwilling candidates on top positions. These tips, when applied successfully, will definitely help in combating ‘The Peter Principle’ and its after effects. Moreover, having a Performance Management System integrated in the organization will provide data to analyze each individual’s performance in a much better way and on a regular basis.

As millennials continue to enter the workforce at a rapid pace, employers need to transform old traditional methods and create an environment best suited for this generation. The Gen Y employees don’t just settle for a promotion, they need proper scope and advancement in their career and value only what interests them. This provides a perfect chance for the employers to get rid of The Peter Principle and develop new and engaging principles of their own.

It’s Time To Level Up Your New Hire On-boarding!

Well Done! After a long search for the ideal candidate from the pool of resumes, you’ve finally managed to find that perfectly qualified, intellectual and hard-working species to fill the gap lying around for quite some time. But that doesn’t mean that your job is finished! No matter how intelligent your new hire is, he/she won’t have the slightest idea of how things get done in your organization. You need to make efforts and get the job well done.

Every organization has their own way of compiling the Onboarding Process; some make it a trumpet blast, some try to make it grand by investing money and some just want their new hires to get on work ASAP. But, amidst all this, employers tend to make some mistakes which lead to an increase in overall turnover, lessen employee loyalty and decrease in productivity.

Here are some of the common employee reactions that occur due to employer’s onboarding mistakes.

Why am I fed with all this information at once? I don’t think I remember what was there in the first slide, already!!”

Employers or HRs usually try to convey all the organizational information to their new hires at once; as a result of which, employees feel overloaded with information and more commonly feel disconnected. To make this process better, have the information transferred to them in pieces as and when required and through various means.

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do?”

New hires are often enthusiastic about their new company and their new job. Don’t diffuse their energy by telling them to browse through your website or the products’ manual for the next few days. Rather than this, assign a mentor or make the new hire sit with a colleague to understand the actual work that he/she is supposed to do.

I didn’t feel welcomed at my new office!!”

Often new hires feel unwanted or strange in their new workplace. Thus, it is the responsibility of the HR or the team manager or the team leader to introduce him/her to his/her team mates and instruct them to make the new hire comfortable by showing them around, taking them for lunch, etc.

What? They hired me just because of my gender!!”

Some employers require a gender-specific candidate for a particular job, but specifying this to your new hire might put a negative impact. He/she must not be judged on the base of gender; the judgment must be made solely on the candidate’s performance and knowledge.

I was told before that he isn’t a friendly material. I rather feel otherwise now!!”

Let you employees get to know other employees’ positives and negatives on their own. Speaking negative about someone else on their very first days might make a bad impression for you and your company. This might also result in unnecessary conflicts arising in the workplace between your employees.

Hiring a new candidate is just the beginning of a significantly lengthy onboarding process. This is the perfect time to familiarize the new employees about the company, technology, their roles and responsibilities within the organization, impart company’s culture, values and best practices. It also provides an opportunity to make a good first impression and prepare the new joinee for a long, successful tenure with the organization. If this time is optimized effectively and proactively, then a company can save money as well as spare themselves with the headaches that are likely to occur in the future.

What Mistakes In Choosing HR Technology Can Jeopardize Your Business?

From industry giants to emerging start-ups to a broad range of solutions available in the market, with technology offered in such volume and variation, making a perfect choice from the crowd can be an extremely confusing situation . This confusion sometimes results in a complicated and an unreliable technology which fails to fulfill the basic purpose of its selection.

To help organizations avoid these pitfalls, try not to make these common mistakes while selecting an HR solution.

1. Failure in determining basic organizational needs.

When it comes to choosing a HR Solution, majority of the employers make hasty choices without determining their business needs beforehand. The main problem behind this is poor planning and requirement gathering.

Usually most of the decisions are made with a focus only on the micro-level organizational needs, leaving behind the long-term strategic benefits that the solution might bring to them.

How to do it better?

Make a list of all core processes currently running and then determine which part needs to be automatized or require a solution. Make your selection criteria based on thisanalysis.

2. Shortlist the software list on the basis of offerings & your needs, not by its popularity.

Most of the businesses blindly choose a system just because it is popular and everyone’s using it, without realizing whether it fulfills their specific organizational requirements or not. This result in software that isn’t compatible with the basic needs and the whole idea of switching to tech-solution becomes useless with major financial and time loss.

How to do it better?

Once the list of potential solutions is prepared, align their features and offerings with your organizational needs. Moreover, performing this step will save you a lot of time as you can schedule demo sessions with only the ones that can cater your needs.

3. Not able to manage data security properly.

Data security issues are a big concern for any organization, especially for cloud-based HR solutions. But, majority of the organizations fail to administer the data security accurately which might lead to potential security threats like unwelcoming breaches in the cloud resulting in data corruption or loss. This could be extremely costly for your business by putting all the data at stake.

How to do it better?

Do not forget to determine a proper balance of security and scalability. Also, confirm with your software provider that what security measure they provide to safeguard your business-critical data.

4 .Unsuccessful in realizing certain legal requirements.

The biggest mistake that many of the organizations make is failure in understanding the legal requirements associated with the data, processes and HRIS structure like local labor and certain corporate mandates put forth by the government, which when not abided by, result in heavy penalties and sometimes, even lawsuits.

How to do it better?

It’s better to consult your local legal experts before making a selection or having any discussion with your selected potential software providers. These individuals can give you a proper and complete knowledge regarding the laws and any required mandates.

5. Thinking just about what’s under the feet.

Thinking only about the current requirements and avoiding any future needs, can drastically reduce your selected HR solution’s lifespan. It is not confirmed that the needs you think are important today will remain important in the future too. Business environments keep changing andthe same is with the requirements.

How to do it better?

Make your selection a successful future investment by considering your business’s expanding needs and changing risk factors. Make sure that the system you select has the capability to get updated with changing times and the technology does not get obsolete any time soon.

Selecting right software doesn’t guarantee success but making a wrong selection can ensure failure. Thus, by keeping these tips in mind, businesses can avoid the pitfalls and costly mistakes which not only eat up a lot of your time but also do not fulfill your basic workforce management needs.

Want to Make Customers Happy? Keep Your Employees Happier !

Wouldn’t it be just great if you could have truly satisfied customers and people all around talking about you, positively?

Every employer seeks such high-level customer satisfaction and work hard towards achieving the same. But, are you doing enough? ‘Or’ Is your strategy lacking a crucial aspect – ‘Employee Satisfaction’?

Keeping employees happy and engaged at work is the key to deliver truly great customer service and encounter a high quality customer experience. The more satisfied your employees are, the happier your customers will be. And when customers are happy, they seem to build a sense of trust in your brand and give you more profits; it’s as simple as that.

But, the fact is somewhat uglier than most organization strives for. It has been found that only a mere percentage of employees are actually engaged and satisfied with their work; and the facts are not from a particular place, it’s all over the world. So, where are things going wrong?

Actually, most employers fail to provide an ideal work culture where employees are given enough importance. Thus, there’s an urgent need for employers to analyze their existing workplace culture and Employee Engagement strategies and give them a total reboot with more effective ways to encourage employee satisfaction that is long-lasting. Here’s a list to name some few –

1. Let them know that you’re “All Ears”

To create a positive and supporting work environment, it is extremely crucial that communication is transparent and open to all. Sometimes, all that an employee wishes for is to be heard and feel their importance in the organization where they spend most of their day’s time. Employers and managers on the decision–making positions must actively listen to their employees’ concerns/suggestions/valuable ideas, let them know that their voice is valued and take appropriate actions if required.

2. Lay down SMART goals so that they “Go the Extra Mile”

No goal can be achieved overnight. Thus, employers are required to put forward goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Time-based and don’t make unachievable expectations from employees. Each big goal must be broken down into small-small milestones to help employees remain focused, engaged and motivated.

3. Ensure they remain “Bright-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed”

Constant motivation is extremely essential to keep employees’ interest up to the mark, thereby increasing productivity. Support their ideas, help each employee excel in their role, regardless of their position, never miss an opportunity to acknowledge them for a job well done, encourage them to learn new skills, identify each individual’s personal skills and make efforts in creating a friendly and happening environment where people will love to work.

4. “Sky’s Not the Limit” – Train, empower and provide ample room for growth

Never let your employees think that they have reached a dead end in their career at your organization. Best way is to invest in your employees’ professional development and train them on the areas of their interest. Show them that they have plenty of room for growth and advancement and organization will help them at every step.

Employee satisfaction is the ultimate key driver for customer satisfaction and repeated business. The only thing that matters is how you keep your employees happy, satisfied and engaged to achieve your organizational goals.

How Can Job Hopping Affect One’s Career?

“It looks bad on your resume”

“It shows that you lack the sense of commitment.”

Have you ever heard these comments when someone reads your resume or an HR pro saying this during an interview?

These days, job hopping is a practical way of life. Gone is the idea of spending entire professional life at one company and ultimately retire with a gold-plated watch and a pension plan. If you talk to the Baby Boomer generation or older people, it’s not a surprising fact that they have worked for maximum 2-3 organizations in their lives. On the other hand, present generation employees, if we talk about those between 25-40 years age bracket, might have already switched 3-4 jobs.

In the present era, employees are more focused on finding their dream job which makes them fail to realize that such frequent job switching might jeopardize their entire career. Employees today are so much impatient that they don’t give their present jobs a chance to gain necessary skills and required maturity to succeed in their career. They don’t even realize that the next time they’ll face an interview, what questions might be red-flagging into their interviewer’s mind?

• You’re potentially a bad investment.
• You’re restless and will not stay for long.
• You’re unfulfilled no matter how much ever is given to you.
• You’re not focused on the long-term goals.

Frequent job hopping might hurt your career growth drastically. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), employees who stayed in the same job role in 2014, earn way more than those who left the job for a better opportunity.

But, what makes an employee to switch jobs?

Professionals have a long list of reasons for departing from a company; including corporate downsizing, insufficient career growth, unfair employee treatment, desire to get advanced degree, more money or completely switch to a different field.

Here, organizations too need to take important measures so that employees don’t feel deprived of growth. Companies can retain their employees for a sufficiently longer time by supporting their value systems, providing them meaningful work, becoming more social and understanding the generation differences. All this can be done by properly managing each employee’s performance through a Performance and Talent Management System.

Employees want to have an assurance of long-time career which only the organization can provide by giving a diverse career path to its employees.

Is Sick-Selfie the New Leave Application?

Yes, you read it right! The SICK-SELFIE!!

The recent incident that took place at a renowned restaurant search service company has become the talk of the town! This started when an employee accidentally sent her sick-selfie to her colleagues.

Though a funny event, but this took up on everyone and every member started getting involved in and created an ‘un’-official policy of sending sick-selfies to prove illness. Now it’s a tradition there- click your pic when you are sick!

Amongst the stringent leave and attendance policies in almost all companies and employees having to really fight tough to get leaves, this came as a rib-tickling event that might have even gave finicky managers a good laugh!

Jokes apart, every company has its own policies for Leave And Attendance Management, and they must be robust enough to help employees apply for leaves easily and also get approvals (or rejections) on the same on real time basis.

As an effective employer, you must provide your employees with right resources and technology so that they can easily manage their leave accounts and don’t use such funny tricks to get leave.

Thus, to have a workforce, that is always thumbs up when it comes to following policies, give them the mobile application that makes them perform all HR functions (and not just apply leaves) on real time basis. With a mobile HR app, employees can even track their time-offs, schedule future leaves, manage payroll accounts, personal information and what not!

This will empower them to stay connected through accelerated information transfer, alerts and notifications. Moreover, this will help get quick insights during critical decision-making and letting employees optimize the facility for maintaining the organizational decorum and integrity.

The Astounding Cost Of Making Wrong Hiring And How To Avoid One?

“If you don’t have time to do it right in one attempt, how will you have time to do it again?”

Although your organization might be a growing one and you are in a great rush of filling positions; the process of hiring an employee shouldn’t be rushed in any way. Split second decisions might lead you to hiring a wrong employee for the job that can eventually end up costing you a significant amount of money. Moreover, your good employees may have to work harder in order to compensate for that single bad hire; this can lead to the risk of losing a good employee too.

The actual cost of hiring a wrong employee varies widely, ranging from one third of the employee’s salary to more than a million dollars, depending upon the position. There are some costs that cannot be measured, like the cost of negative interaction with clients or a sudden drop in team’s morale and thereby productivity. Bearing such a heavy loss just because of a wrong hiring cannot be afforded.

Why Do Companies End Up Making Wrong Hiring?

The major reason for ending up hiring a wrong candidate is the urgency to fill open positions. In this course, the employers fail to perform adequate research on the new recruit, his / her skills and the past experience. Sometimes, the cause could be failure in doing proper reference checks. Basically, sometimes recruiters miss out important stages of the process and therefore end up paying heavily for that mistake.

Bad hire incur some direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs include exit interviews, overtime pay for employees who perform the duties of the employee who is leaving, hiring a temporary employee from a staffing agency, cost included in advertising and searching for the new employee and investing time and money in on-the-job training.

Indirect costs include reduced productivity as the departing employee spends most of his/her last days performing poorly or completing exit interviews, work quality reduces as the new employee takes time in learning the job responsibilities and you might lose significant clients as a result of customer service gaps.

What Can Help To Avoid The Costs?

Performing effective interviews can significantly avoid the chances of a bad hire. It is also important to know that an effective resume doesn’t mean that the candidate is efficient. Professional resume writers can make anyone look good; so it is better to conduct the interview process cautiously and most importantly, verifying the past employer references.

• Conduct 10-15 minute phone interviews while screening the candidates
• Prepare a checklist of specific questions crucial to the position
• Pay attention to the answers and the candidate’s body language while answering
• Rephrase the questions if the answers you receive are insufficient or vague
• Don’t forget to take notes during the interview process

For the assurance of performing the hiring process effectively, a Recruitment Management System can come handy. It caters HR with a complete end-to-end hiring cycle, right from requesting open positions to finalizing the appointed candidate. With a system like this, maintaining candidate’s data and other crucial information like the candidate’s status, etc. will definitely be extremely simple. Every minute detail will be in front of you that will be helpful in making right decisions for your business as well as workplace culture.