Not being able to pay your staff on time is one of the worst things that can happen as a business owner. When you have people relying on you for that regular wage, you want to ensure you can always follow through.
Not paying wages or paying them late not only has a negative impact on your staff, but it could also impact your business. Employees have a good case against you if you pay them late, and a serious issue could result in a fine or worse from IRD.
If you run a small business, chances are that you only have one person dedicated to your payroll, or perhaps you are even handling it yourself. So, if that person is unavailable, there isn’t much room for adjustment.
While it is possible to automate some parts of the payroll system, usually, there needs to be a manual check for things such as holiday pay and sick leave. So, you need to be vigilant about ensuring your payroll system works, but what happens if your payroll person isn’t available?
When your Payroll Person May not be Available
They are on leave
If the person who does your accounts and payroll is on holiday, then they may not have access to the appropriate systems to run your payroll for that period. And even if they could access the software remotely, you shouldn’t expect them to take time out from their holiday to sort things out.
They are sick
Illnesses happen, and there’s a high likelihood that your payroll person won’t be well enough to perform their normal functions if they are sick. If the illness is long-term, you’ll be able to organise cover by taking on a temporary staff member or contractor. But at short notice, this isn’t always possible.
They’ve had a personal or family emergency
Just like illnesses, personal emergencies can arise at any time. Perhaps a family member needs care, or your payroll person needs time off to attend a funeral or other event. At difficult times, the last thing you want to do is to add stress by expecting them to carry out their usual work duties.
Does it fall to you?
If your payroll person is unavailable or if you are handling the payroll yourself, there might be times when you, as an owner, are not in a position to get payroll done on time. Perhaps you are busy trying to sort out another issue, are out of the office, or perhaps one of the issues, like illness, is affecting you in person.
Benefits of Having a Payroll Backup Plan
So, how can you safeguard your payroll against the unexpected? You get a payroll backup plan in place, of course!
Having a backup plan for your payroll ensures continuity in your business and reduces the risk of non-payment and of accruing any fines from IRD. Plus, as the business owner, it gives you peace of mind that your payroll will be done correctly regardless of what else is going on at the time.
Having a second person trained to complete payroll if needed or, at the very least comprehensive documentation and processes for someone to follow can help. But, having a remote backup service that you can call on at any time can be a real lifesaver.
We promise that it will help reduce your stress as a business owner because there is a process to deal with a payroll issue if it arises.
Expert Payroll Backup with Admin Army’s Payroll Rescue Service
Waging war on payroll problems? Call in the army!
Reduce the risk of payroll being missed or incorrect without impacting your in-house staff by outsourcing your payroll either regularly or on a case-by-case basis.
By choosing to outsource, it removes the need to train multiple staff members on payroll systems just in case, and you’ll always have access to payroll expertise in a hurry.
Introducing our Payroll Rescue service…
At Admin Army, we know how frustrating it can be when your payroll processes fall over, whether it is because of staff absence or a technical issue with your in-house systems.
That’s why we’ve developed our Payroll Rescue service. This service gives you four pay runs each calendar year when you can call on us to do your payroll for you. You can rely on our experienced team to get your employees’ pay out on time and ensure all your Kiwisaver and IRD obligations are also taken care of.
Our backup service is ideal for businesses that usually handle their payroll in-house but want some extra peace of mind for those just-in-case moments.
Want to know more? Then get in touch to discuss signing up for our rescue package. And, if you would like to outsource your payroll fully, we can do that too. We can set you up with our preferred payroll system or work in with whatever you are already using. Contact the team today to see how we can help take the stress out of your payroll.