While most of us never give payroll a moment’s thought until it is closer to pay day, there are unsung heroes working tirelessly to ensure your next salary is credited into your account without a hitch. Most HR professionals will tell you that it is a thankless job and no one ever thinks about HR till its payday.

We take it for granted and forget the enormity of the job HR handles each day to ensure our pay is on time and accurate. However HR & Payroll holds the very foundation of shaping a company’s culture and how it operates. As we think about the fundamental aspects of corporate culture, we need to look at what builds that culture.

Unravelling that thread will actually allow us to see what an important role payroll outsourcing plays in a company culture and its people.

Reputation
Your company’s reputation is solely reliant on its ability to pay your employees on time and without error. A trustworthy, reputable and qualified payroll team prevents fraud while adhering to strict deadlines. This is vital for building a good reputation within the company. With social media being the forefront runner for communication these days, all it takes is the stroke of a few keys to let the world know what a bad paymaster your company is. And let’s not forget the ever present word of mouth which can damage a prospective employee’s image of your company.

Compliance
Compliance in payroll and employee welfare is a complex labyrinth of regulations that cannot be solved through internal audits. There’s more to payroll than merely paying your employees. Hiring and firing, compensation, leave dates, benefits, bonuses, and other matters are all covered by payroll. Should you fail to comply with the letter of the law you could find yourself facing a rather expensive legal suit.

Morale
Ever heard the saying ‘No Money No Talk’. This could not be any truer when it comes to running a company. No employee in their right mind will stay on if their pay is late or even worse, they don’t get paid at all. If this happens the financial aspects of the company comes into question which leads to insecurity. Just like familiarity, insecurity can also breed contempt which could leave you employee-less and leave your reputation at risk.

Fraud
Payroll fraud is when employees wrongfully manipulate the payroll system to receive payment they haven't earned which is more common than you think and undetected, could essentially tank a company. Studies have shown many small businesses that lack internal controls makes them an easy target to payroll fraud, therefore, extra attention must be made towards establishing a system to ensure it doesn’t happen, which could easily be over looked by HR that is trying to juggle a million other things.

Enhancement
Keeping track of salaries is time-consuming. This can be assigned to a trusted payroll team, which would allow better use of HR resources. By outsourcing your payroll, your HR department could benefit from better time management which could be used to focus on achieving more strategic objectives such as employee engagement and trainings to enhance morality and productivity within the team.

Payroll doesn’t always seem to be the main star of the show for many companies, however it plays a vital role in company culture. Employees are always on the lookout for the best benefits and perks and more and more employees are demanding work-life balance.

The right outsourcing partner will be able to cater to these concerns to enhance your company’s culture and values and will guide you through the twists and turns of modern-day employee engagement. If you’re a novice, outsourcing firms can draw up a bespoke plan so that your HR can scale within the cost parameters that you choose to set. They work by re-routing your HR services by way of automation so that your HR manager can oversee all tasks via integrated dashboards without having to put in manual effort.

Propay Partners is an HR outsourcing company specialising in payroll and employee mobility solutions through SaaS pay-per-use models. For over 20 years Propay Partners has helped companies and their HR departments automate functions across payroll, compliance and time and attendance needs.