Payroll Tips for Small Businesses

by Gena Sanford SEO Executive at eBetterBooks

Payroll management is an important task, which is part of the administrative routine of the company, although in many cases its complexity recommends outsourcing it, usually using the services of an agency or labor consultancy. Be that as it may, the management of payroll includes its calculation, preparation, and other bureaucracy, to a punctual payment, according to the criteria established in the employment contract. Adequate management, on the other hand, allows you to have control of all the collections and payments made, in addition to allowing payment without delays, within the law, punctuality that will also result in greater worker satisfaction.

Being punctual: forecasting payments

Respecting the payment date is one of the keys to good payroll management. Either by payment on a specific day or within a specified time interval, the objective is the same: except for justified exceptions, workers must receive their salary on the agreed date. Logically, it is not enough to have goodwill or an efficient administrative department. To achieve this, it will be necessary to make a good forecast of payments to have sufficient liquidity for the payment of payroll, which also implies adequate collection management and, in general, budgetary control. To calculate payroll, we have to take into account accruals and deductions. In practice, beyond the base salary, personal income tax withholding, and Social Security contributions, its preparation requires taking into account a series of elements that should also be included in it, such as the performance of overtime, allowances, mileage, proration extra payments, availability plus, agreement plus, for night time, among other variable concepts.

Outsource, yes or no?

In large companies, there is a department exclusively dedicated to payroll management, but in the case of small and medium-sized companies, it is generally the same person who keeps the accounting or the decision is made to outsource it. When deciding whether to outsource the administrative management of staff (procedures related to employee salaries, registrations and cancellations, reports, etc.), we have to assess whether this will result in greater efficiency, measured in time savings, tranquility, and economic savings.

Data protection

If we opt for outsourcing in payroll management, we must be cautious about the tricky issue of data protection. Since the contracted company necessarily has to access the personal data to manage the payroll, this implies the transfer of the same to the agency or borrowing company. Specifically, the processing of data by third parties is legally regulated in detail in article 12 of the Organic Law on Protection of Personal Data (LOPD), which establishes the need to formalize a contract in writing or in any other way (no verbal) to prove the order. The same precept defines its content and the obligations of the parties.