What is the Payroll Function?
If your organization has employees, you have to pay them. Payroll processing is an essential business function that ensures your people accurately receive compensation for time worked and taxes are appropriately withheld and filed. The payroll manager is also responsible for balancing and reconciling payroll data, while also taking care of record keeping, wage deductions, delivering pay checks and recording new hire paperwork. Guaranteeing accurate and timely payroll involves careful attention to detail and meticulous record-keeping, and it’s one of the main reasons why businesses remove the burden of payroll processing and turn to a partner with expertise to handle both complex regulations and the nuances associated with processing payroll.
What is the HR Function?
Ask any HR professional what’s keeping them up at night and you’re sure to hear a variety of responses. Finding talent in a competitive marketplace will certainly continue to be a challenge as unemployment remains at an all-time low, but more often than not, maintaining compliance rises to the top of the list. HR professionals are the keepers of compliance and have been counted on to protect the business from the myriad of federal, state and local regulations that span the entire employee lifecycle, from recruiting and hiring to workforce management and development. But compliance is just the tip of the iceberg.
HR has historically focused on compliance more than other business functions. But the role of the HR function is growing, with increased focus on attracting talent, employee development, retention and overall business strategy. With limited resources and time, organizations are investing in HR tools to simplify everyday HR tasks and monitor compliance.
Let’s take a look at the ways an HR solution can help the HR function mitigate risk:
1. HR Document Storage
If filing cabinets are your go-to storage method for critical documents and you’re tracking employee information via spreadsheets, errors are unavoidable and your chances of finding the information you need decreases significantly. What if an auditor walks into your business? Are you confident you can produce the information you need? With the right technology, HR leaders no longer have to worry about maintaining endless paper files and organizing them by hand. Instead, essential employee files and other compliance documentation can be stored electronically and easily accessible within an HR solution.
2. Employee Certification Tracking
If you operate in an industry where your employees are certified experts or licensed workers, tracking proper certifications is critical to maintaining compliance. Without an HR solution to properly store certifications within each employee record and notify you of expiration dates, you’re likely stuck digging through mountains of files and documents while manually reviewing the expiration dates on your own. The right HR software should provide proactive notifications for when documents are about to expire so you can ensure certifications and necessary compliance documents are current.
3. Are Your HR Forms Compliant?
With so many HR documents and compliance resources available online, where do you turn? Having a knowledgeable HR partner with a database full of policies, forms and document information can be all the difference to maintaining compliance. Do you have an employee handbook that spells out everything your employees need to know about your organization and clearly guides them through your expectations? Are your policies and job descriptions up-to-date? Relying on forms found online can be a recipe for disaster and leave your business exposed. Many HR solutions provide a complete knowledgebase of HR resources including checklists, sample job descriptions, sample HR policies and templates to start or supplement your company handbook.
Though we’ve highlighted specific areas of people management compliance your organization must follow, regulations impact all areas of the employee lifecycle from recruiting and hiring to benefits. And without the proper controls in place to protect against audits or employee lawsuits, you run the risk of costly fines impacting your bottom line.
For nearly 30 years, Paycor has maintained a core expertise in compliance. Our comprehensive suite of HCM technology was built to ensure compliance so our clients can focus their resources and energy on accomplishing their goals and making a difference in their organization. And as part of our commitment to helping HR leaders stay current in a fast-paced and changing environment, we’ve created action plans, expert advice and inspiration that can always be found on our dedicated compliance resource center.