C-suite leaders are always busy making blueprints to enhance business operations, outdo targets, improve market strength and adopt any kind of overhaul that may be necessary for the growth of the organisation. Surprisingly enough, the HCM divisions are the last to get technological facelifts, even if it’s the bare minimum.
If one takes a closer look, HR departments are the ones that handle a multitude of operations, ranging from recruitment, onboarding, payroll, compliance, leaves, claims, training and every minutiae of the employee's lifecycle at the company. Apart from the mounting paperwork, HR personnel are also in charge of their department's role in transforming the way the organisation operates as a whole.
In many cases, digitisation of such departments isn't a favourite proposition, even as managers struggle with global recruitment and compliance issues. A key component worthy of reform is payroll. As a function that has always been overlooked, payroll can speak volumes on the organisation's ability to drive employee engagement and strengthen human capital management (HCM), if only it were disrupted better.
HR handles huge amounts of data and, payroll in itself, handles large swathes of numerical data that is prone to change all the time. Even in the most forward-looking and tech-driven companies, one would be surprised to see the use of outdated systems and spreadsheets to tabulate payroll and tax deductions. The transformation from documents to digital is a move that will change the course of payroll execution and employee engagement in the future.
Transferring payroll data electronically to a unified central system that can be obtained by both HR personnel and employees is one of the ways payroll can be modernized for our digital age. By automating repetitive processes, monitoring errors and allowing automatic calculations as per the latest tax deduction rules, HR can offer a more accurate and consolidated dashboard of salary-related info for every employee.
With businesses focusing more on outcomes and branding, the HCM sector is focusing more on employee experience by introducing agile environments that apply collaborative technology to satisfy the information needs of its workforce stationed in every corner of the globe. Building internal payroll processes may not be feasible for all organisations as it is cumbersome and time consuming.
Payroll infrastructure is backed by applications in Big Data, analytics and cloud-based software that enables HR to track, view and offer functional reporting in a phased manner. It also gives users a more comfortable and reliable opportunity to gather information at their own convenience and using digital tools that they are already accustomed to.
Digitalisation of payroll also gives the HR department an upper hand in strategic decision-making, one that is backed by data and machine-based accounting. Software employed to compute payroll data is also licensed and backed by approvals, which makes it secure and credible. Often, companies who cannot offer holistic payroll data to their HCM departments employ the services of payroll outsourcing firms, that have experience dealing with large data formats and digitally syncing them with the organisation’s tracking devices to make data available all the time.
Transition to payroll services may seem like an expensive and tiresome process. But digitally and strategically, it’s one of the best bankable solutions currently trending among top-performing organisations. Headcount really doesn’t matter when the digital stride you are taking can be valuable for your HCM needs. There also needs to be visible participation from the executive level to outsource these functions so that businesses can focus on their key projects and scale in other areas.
A fully synchronized digital environment is the real game changer not just for companies but also for the workforce they employ. HCM today is wholly reliant on user experience from a wide variety of fronts, payroll taking the centre stage of every-day operation. As all functions go digital, appliances talk, cars become smart, teams more cross-functional, payroll is one of the processes that will redefine the way we look at human resources – from crinkly pay stubs to SaaS enabled digital tools that are customized and reciprocative with every touch of your finger.
