3 Ways Payroll Innovation Can Drive Business Success

We live in a world of technology, where it has advanced to every aspect of society. This is most noticeable in businesses, where companies rise or fall due to the successful (or unsuccessful) adoption of technology and software. Nonetheless, most companies regard these technological disruptions as well worth the cost.

One notable exception to this technological disruption is payroll innovation. Given the sensitive nature of payroll and employee details, many companies and senior leaders are hesitant to innovate in this area. That is a huge pity given that the benefits of payroll innovation are tremendous. This results in companies continuing to operate using administrative, clunky, and outdated payroll systems.

What is payroll innovation?

The world is constantly evolving. Businesses, regardless of industry or nature, need to be adaptable in order to survive. And those that are hesitant to adapt will fall prey to competition. Payroll is no different. Payroll innovation seeks to ensure that critical technologies and software used by business and HR departments are always on top of their game in order to effectively manage the sensitive nature of payroll data and employee records.

Payroll innovation can take various forms. It can also be specific to a particular context. For instance, in some cases, organisations may only need to change certain payroll processes or workflows. For other organisations, payroll innovation may mean revolutionising their existing payroll systems and technologies.

Why is payroll innovation important?

Based on Ernst & Young (EY) 2017 Global Payroll Survey, it found that while the use of digital technologies (RPA, AI, blockchain, chatbots etc) were rapidly being adopted across many parts of the organisation, survey results showed that HR may be slow to adopt them.

This is a worrying trend. Given that we are now accustomed to living in a digital age, it has left us with changing expectations from the processes we experience in our daily lives. Most of us are used to having quick and simple access to various sources of data. This convenience of having information readily available at our fingertips also means that our tolerance for slower and cumbersome systems is limited. In the context of payroll processing, backdated processes and systems can reduce our tolerance even further. An ineffective and clumsy payroll process can have dire ramifications on the organisation.

In order to ensure high levels of motivation among employees and to drive internal efficiencies, it is important for organisations to look for effective ways of managing payroll.

Benefits of payroll innovation.

There are plenty of benefits associated with payroll innovation – be it from an organisational or operational point of view.

1. Increased productivity

Automation is an integral part of payroll innovation. In fact, this has already been in-built into the very best payroll software in the market today. HR and Payroll teams today play a more strategic role in addressing and solving the demands of the emerging workforce, as well as designing attractive remuneration packages to attract and retain key talent. Automation plays an important role in managing the administrative and mundane payroll matters while ensuring accuracy, freeing up valuable time for the ever busy payroll department.

2. Improved employee experience

Electronic payslips (e-payslips) were introduced to organisations more than a decade ago. Today, it has become a norm for most businesses. Going paperless is a payroll innovation that organisations can truly benefit from. For example, introducing self-service employee portals allow employees to access their personal HR data, such as leave records, past payslips or common payroll queries, anytime without having to go through the HR or payroll department.

3. Drives actionable business insights

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic notion. In fact, most of us are encountering AI in our daily work, from Google predictions of search terms to suggested shows to watch based on your Netflix watch history. Combining AI as part of innovative payroll solutions helps to analyse massive amounts of data and draws predictions based on the data available. This provides HR and Payroll with game-changing and meaningful business insights such as high-risk leavers or turnover rates for critical business functions, that will help to facilitate strategic business decision-making.

There are certainly numerous tangible and intangible benefits of payroll innovation. If organisations are able to maximise payroll innovation intelligently, it will help to improve business performance, attract and retain talent while future-proofing the organisation for the changes yet to come.