It pays to be precise. Fashion retailer Next recently found this out to its cost, following a payroll blunder that saw employees being reportedly underpaid by up to £200 a month. The company now faces an HMRC inquiry into the botched implementation of its new payroll system in February and has apologised to its 40,000-strong workforce.
Such an error would have generated negative headlines at any point in time, but it seems infinitely worse during a cost-of-living crisis. Leaving employees out of pocket when so many are already feeling the pinch can severely impact motivation, trust and productivity.
In these challenging times, it is vital that businesses pay their staff correctly, on time, and in compliance with regulations. But to do this, they need the right tools at their disposal. With an integrated payroll and HR solution, organisations can streamline and deliver much-needed payroll accuracy improvements.
The costs of getting it wrong
Employees are a company’s biggest asset. As such, the onus is on businesses to engage, develop and retain talent by meeting their needs. And staff expect consistency as a bare minimum – they rely on payroll to deliver them exactly the right amount of money at exactly the right time.
Inaccurate or late payroll can have devastating effects. At a time when a quarter of Britons have no savings at all to combat the cost of living, there is little financial buffer for people hit by payroll mistakes. What’s more, such errors often cannot be fixed with a few simple tweaks and swift backpay. As Asda staff found earlier this year, regular payroll mistakes have cumulative and far-reaching consequences, forcing many employees to miss household bill payments, take out loans, and even skip meals just to get through the month.
Unsurprisingly, errors in calculating pay often erode employee trust. Even the most simple administrative mistake can be taken very personally, causing employees to lose motivation and morale. Not only does this harm productivity, but it can also cause employees to look elsewhere, which ultimately costs the company even more in recruitment costs.
Payroll errors are an unnecessary drain on time and resource. HR and finance teams have to spend excessive amounts of time correcting any errors, rectifying payments, and dealing with enquiries from disgruntled employees. This time could be much better spent on critical business activities, such as strategy and planning.
Then there are tax complications to consider. Under the watchful eye of HMRC, businesses need to keep up to speed with evolving payroll legislation and regulations or face heavy financial penalties. Therefore, it is critical that organisations recognise and comply with every regulation when processing payrolls.
Getting it right with Liberata’s payroll services
Having an efficient and reliable payroll system in place ensures that obligations and deadlines are met with minimal stress. The key is to streamline the process. And with deep, tech-driven expertise in HR and payroll, Liberata is perfectly positioned to help.
Our Payroll Services offer an integrated solution that is highly secure, flexible, and accurate. Liberata already processes over 1,000,000 payslips per year for both public and commercial sector organisations and has been honing its industry-leading expertise for over 40 years. With an outstanding service accuracy of over 99.8%, Liberata specialises in the delivery of highly complex and sensitive payroll solutions.
Businesses can choose from four tiers of service – Payroll Bureau, Fully Managed Service, Specialist Services, and a Premium Service – to best reflect their current and anticipated payroll needs. This flexibility ensures that employees are paid accurately and on time – every time.
Using automation and the latest innovations in technology to drive efficiency, Liberata’s solution shrinks errors in payroll runs to virtually nothing, saving organisations untold amounts of time, energy, and money. Burnley Borough Council has been among the latest to discover these benefits, after moving away from their old system due to inefficiencies and duplications of effort. Since leveraging our integrated Payroll Services, the Council has seen vast improvements in quality and accuracy, with errors in the payroll service falling from 3% to less than 1%.
In fact, organisations stand to gain from more than higher accuracy rates. The heightened efficiency brought about by a more intuitive, customer focused service inevitably leads to greater value for money, especially when complemented by a proactive, responsive, and engaged support team.
The importance of timely and accurate payroll cannot be overstated. The good news for businesses is that processing payroll needn’t be a complex and time-consuming task. With the support of a seamless and integrated HR and payroll solution, organisations can gain the peace of mind of knowing that all processes are fully compliant, and employees are being properly rewarded for their hard work.
Contact us to find out more about how Liberata can improve your payroll processes.
