Questions to Ask Before Purchasing a New Payroll System

Comparing business payroll software is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a business leader or payroll professional. Everyone in the company relies on payroll to work seamlessly, which is why there are a number of factors to consider when selecting a full-service payroll software solution.

Don’t settle for ready-made solutions; you need a partner that matches the complexity of your business and can grow with it. Ask these 10 important, relevant questions to ensure they’re up to the challenge.

10 Questions to Ask About Payroll Services Support

1. What experience do you have working with companies the size of mine?
2. Will I have a dedicated support team for my business?
3. How many other clients do they support?
4. When I call for support, will I immediately be routed to my dedicated team?
5. Can you review the implementation process with me? What’s the timeline? Who exactly is involved?
6. As part of our demo, can you run through payroll and show one-time changes such as direct deposit, payroll deductions, and payroll calculations?
7. Can the system support multiple rates of pay, bonuses, or shift differentials that would create a need for blended overtime calculations?
8. Can your system manage employees who work in multiple tax jurisdictions?
9. Can you facilitate data transfers between my company and our healthcare and/or 401(k) brokers?
10. How do you plan to keep my systems up-to-date?

The right partner can answer these questions and help you achieve success in the long term. Your unique business needs shouldn’t be an inconvenience. Ensure your payroll provider is capable enough to support your growth over time.

Payroll Compliance for 2023

In addition to your unique needs, your system should also manage compliance regulation updates or tax rate changes in 2023.

You want to avoid entanglement in the web of ever-evolving governmental regulations. It is a risk that could have serious consequences without someone to keep an eye out for compliance. To ensure peace of mind during audits, having an internal resource devoted exclusively to navigating this tricky terrain can be invaluable.

You need a partner with an online payroll solution, such as Paycor, to help you adapt and stay ahead of what’s next, so your team can act quickly as the regulatory environment evolves. Consider how tax recommendations, compliance alerts and frequent product releases could help your team stay on top of tasks.

Did you know: Forbes listed Paycor as The Best Payroll Software (January 2023) for Human Capital Management.

Payroll Software with a High Usability

By listening to the needs of employees and managers, payroll systems can stay on top of their game with innovative technology that adapts and improves based on feedback – creating a powerful cycle of progress. Does the company you’re evaluating respond to user feedback? Can you see evidence of that?

Every payroll system vendor you speak to will undoubtedly tell you that their platform is user-friendly and easy to use, but don’t be fooled by any salesperson attempting to downplay the complexity of these systems.

Have you taken a closer look to see if your system is user-friendly for everyone? Make sure you are asking these questions so that no stone goes unturned in uncovering any areas where improvements could be made.

• “Login screens and dashboards are important, but can you show me the behind-the-scenes details that make up those screens, since that’s where I’ll be spending most of my time?”
• “Do you offer a single sign-on? If not, how many usernames and passwords does an admin/manager need to access the system?”
• “Can I access all relevant employee data from a single employee record or will I be required to switch between products or modules (time, payroll, benefits, etc.)?”
• “How long does it take to perform basic functions, such as payroll or time entry?”
• “Can an employee clock in and clock-out the minute that they are hired, and will they have mobile access?” (Pro tip: If your salesperson says no, that is a telltale sign that the systems are disjointed and not truly unified.)
• “Can I easily make changes to the system on my own, such as tax filing changes, GL changes, earnings, etc. without contacting the payroll provider or sending them a spreadsheet?”

Payroll Reporting and Analytics

Analyzing your payroll data can also help you more easily understand and manage common payroll concerns.

Digging into your payroll data can help you gain insight into how to efficiently manage and reduce labor costs; unearth the cost of unplanned overtime, as well as pinpoint teams or locations that are particularly incurring unrestrained overspending in this area – all while saving time spent on manual analysis.

When payroll data is unchecked overtime, it can be an unwelcome surprise in a company’s accounts. But with the right data, you can quickly cut to the heart of it and pinpoint which departments or managers are responsible. Taking control of your compensatory costs is achievable when near-instant analytics help reveal where changes need to be made.

Important questions to ask include:

• Who is most likely to overwork?
• Which teams are exceeding their budgets for overtime hours?
• What patterns can you spot in terms of times and days when employees are taking on extra hours?
• Can you create a custom report for me on the fly as part of the demo?
• Do you provide unlimited payroll runs?
• Is it possible to run a report that includes both HR and payroll taxes data?
• Do you provide truly unified HR reporting, or do you rely on a third party to deliver that functionality?

Having easy access to all of this information is key to being able to make quick decisions and changes when needed. The ability to drill down into specific details within each employee, team, or department’s overtime data empowers you to pinpoint exactly where savings can be made, and quickly identify any areas that need improvement.

At the same time, it’s important to ensure that your employees are not overworking themselves or being forced into taking on overtime without proper compensation. Data analytics can help you stay on top of this by providing clear insight into how many hours each individual is working and allowing you to take corrective action if needed.

With Paycor’s decades of payroll processing expertise, you can trust that our payroll taxes and payroll system is the easiest and best way to manage small-to-medium-sized businesses. Get time back in your day by quickly and easily paying your employees from wherever you are and never worrying about tax compliance again – it’s the powerful solution for all organizations. 

Switching to a New Payroll System

Finding the right business payroll solution is not easy. However, if the right steps are taken and the payroll setup is done carefully, transitioning to a new payroll system can be an efficient and successful process.

Check out our Small Business Guide to Switching Payroll Providers, which can also be applied to medium and large-sized businesses.

When deciding to switch from one payroll software company to another, it’s important to consider all of your business payroll software needs as an organization. Think about payroll taxes, mobile access for employees, business operations, tax liabilities, and salaried employees.

Know your business goals—are the new payroll solutions going to help you meet those goals? Think about cost—will switching to this new payroll system save you money? Also, consider the time it will take to implement the new system.

Once you decide on a particular business payroll software company, make sure that your staff are fully trained on how the new system works with the support you need to make the payroll setup transition run smoothly, including payroll taxes.

Selecting the best business payroll software for your company is one of the most important business decisions you’ll make as a payroll professional. Your payroll system can make your team and employees feel as if there’s no easier system to use, or it can make them feel as if the company is trying to cost them time and cause stress.

Paycor as your Payroll Software Choice

Paycor is a unified HR and software solution for every business built for efficiency and compliance. For more than 30 years, Paycor has listened to leaders, incorporated feedback and refined tools to ensure they’re the most useful on the market. Discover how Paycor can help you streamline HR.