Breaking News! As per The Economic Times, the Marcellus Investments managers believe “Companies that have labour on payroll will return to normalcy much faster than their competitors amid the global pandemic.” Once the rough storm of COVID-19 settles down, organizations that were rowing their own boat as far as payroll management is concerned will come out on the other side as the winners.
Now, what do these self-driven companies have in common that makes their payroll process so smooth and efficient even during these tough times? An automated solution to mechanize more than half of the tasks involved in payroll management.
Despite knowing the answer, most of the employers don’t completely understand what they are missing out on by not investing in a payroll system.
The 7 main features that payroll software should have in the context of the Indian market:
- Time & Attendance
- Calculations & Accounting
- Salary Structure & Validation
- Single-Click Payroll
- Tax & Compliance
- Direct Deposit
- Employee Self-Service
Now, let’s begin a walk through each feature in detail!
Time & Attendance Integration
Time, leave, and attendance and indirectly related to the payroll processing. The number of paydays can be recorded and calculated accurately only if the T&A system is well-integrated with the payroll solutions. Online payroll software in India usually comes with this feature as it is one of the most basic characteristics. When the attendance and payroll go hand in hand, then only the final payout can be released fairly and on time.
Payroll Calculations & Accounting
What is payroll, if not the accurate calculation and release of the salary? After all, the whole point of having an automated payroll system is to get the numbers right and a clear representation of each component. Besides, before buying the system, it must be ensured that payroll accounting can be carried out effortlessly. For example, filing & tracking employee compensation data, and taxes & benefits that the employees receive.
Salary Verification & Structure
Once the salary is correctly evaluated, the next thing to check is whether it can validate the same and present the salary break-up in a clear format. Since we are talking about the Indian working professionals, as sources reveal, perfect payroll processing is what the workforce expects and appreciates the most. So, look for the payroll software that has algorithms to verify and produce correct payout and a detailed salary structure/report so that employees can review it later.
One-Click Payroll Processing
When all the pre-payroll functions are done, make sure that the rest of the process doesn’t take much of your time. Single click operations are easily facilitated using automated payroll systems today. For instance, everything from salary computation, and tax calculation to payslip generation simply become one-click processes with a payroll solution.
Taxes & Compliances
Many people don’t understand that payroll is more than just calculating and depositing salaries. Online payroll software in India must have the feature of appropriately assessing and filing taxes that are applicable to each employee. Moreover, the statutory compliances must be followed for EPF, ESI, professional taxes, among others as per the latest guidelines laid out by the government. In fact, in the modern payroll systems, this function of auto-updates is automatic.
Direct Online Salary Deposit
When you are investing in one of the most advanced HR software, why not make the best and maximum use of it. Many companies face the issue of delayed salary release and post-salary processing issues due to an inefficient product. Such problems can be easily resolved if you look for software that has the capability of direct deposit. And with the competition in the market, it wouldn’t be tough to find one.
Employee Self-Service
Lastly, along with streamlining the payroll activities, your payroll software should also take care of employee engagement & satisfaction. This can be achieved by the ESS (Employee Self-Service) feature of these systems. It enables the users to perform a host of payroll-related tasks on their own, thereby saving the time & energy to run back and forth to the HR or admin office for every petty matter. In turn, it also allows the HR & admin professionals to utilize their saved time and focus on the more important stuff.
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To sum it up, from the Indian market perspective, payroll software must have the 7 aforementioned key features present for the overall payroll process to be a success every time.