New features to make your life easier

1) See how the tax was calculated
On the payslip screen(employee>payslip> payslip month) there are two hyperlinks that take you to how the payroll has calculated each component on the payslip. The second will give you a detailed breakdown of how the tax was calculated. click on the link. This will open a pop up window with all the details. By clicking on the page icon (top right) a drop-down menu is seen. These pages can then be printed for your records or saved as an electronic record.
2) Employees reporting to me
The manager now has read only access to the payroll information of all the employees reporting to him. This includes all the history. So he will have access to all the leave records, including all the leave applications. He will have access to all the employees personal information on the payroll. He will have access to all the payslip information on the payroll.To access the managers view, Navigate to Employee> Managers’s View and choose the employees information you wish to see.

3) Capture Comments on every transaction
The ability to capture comments on a component is now fully available. You are able to capture a comment on a specific component that will automatically pull through to the employee’s payslip for information purposes. Some examples are to record what a loan is for, what a commission payment entails or what a bonus relates to. Comments can be captured on a recurring payroll component so that it pulls through to the payslip every period or comments can be advised on a specific period’s payslip that will only appear for the given period. If there is a comment present, it will be highlighted by a small icon next to the relevant component on the Edit/Audit payslip screen, simply hover your mouse over this icon to see the details.
4) Password Aging
We have released a password aging feature that allows you to configure after how many days you would like a user to change their password. This is good practice for security reasons but we also recognise that it may mean that employees regularly forget their passwords so this feature is optional depending on your organisations security policies. Also note that an employee will not be able to select any of their last 3 passwords used should this feature be utilised. To turn on this feature navigate to Company > Basic Company Information, click on the UIF, SDL, Other tab, a value of zero in the field labelled “password expiry period” means that the feature is switched off. Enter a value in days for the system to prompt the user to change their password and click save.
5) Salary Payment File – Terminated Employees
Many clients choose to pay their employees that have given notice of termination during a month at a later stage in the month compared to their “active” employees. This allows them to finalise their pay in terms of leave pay etc and also ensures that the employees work right up until their termination date. We have enhanced the salary payment files screen (Company > Financial > Salary Payment Files) to have the ability to draw the EFT file for all employees excluding terminations that need to be paid on your regular pay date and then to run the file for only terminated employees at a month end.

5 Steps to Achieve Professional, Efficient, Payroll Immortality

Accurate efficient and deadline driven. Words that should make you feel challenged and confidant at the same time. This is the foundation for all payroll people and departments. Without these three words we cannot hope to become or remain relevant. In fact, if we are not accurate, efficient and deadline driven we will not survive the new era .
1.Communicate your expectations to line management
Line management have a reputation for ‘Forgetting” that the payroll department requires information. It is not unusual, as you know, to have to beg management for information. So, set up meetings, walk the floor, use your e mail, start a payroll department Facebook page and/or sms them the day before (some payroll programs have this built in). Just keep on talking to your customers about what you expect from them to enable you to deliver an outstanding service.
2. Agree deadlines in writing
I know this is obvious but you need something ( a contract or agreement) to make sure that the information arrives on time. Remind them gently when they miss they deadline. A funny e- mail or text showing a snail for example. In the same way reward those that are on time. (create a honor board on Facebook or send a chocolate)
3. Plan your workload
We know when we will be really busy, so plan what needs to be done , when. As the plan comes together so the monthly routines fall into place. As these routines start to become effective, and the payroll department develops a reputation for excellence, so everybody wants to make sure that the routines and procedures work. Nobody will want to be the person who does not follow procedure.(or receives the snail mail)
4. Prepare for the unexpected
Always make time, leave time to deal with the unexpected. It will happen and It will always be at the worst time. So leave yourself some time to deal with the employee who nobody knows about, or the time and attendance system not recording properly, or the unpaid leave documents that suddenly appear on your desk. to maintain your sanity, don’t take these interruptions personally.

5. Check Your Work

Lastly reconcile and balance. Make sure you have totals to balance to, and do the last month versus this month variation report. Check and investigate those funny numbers before releasing the payroll to management for approval.

Next week: Payroll automation – how that can save us from extinction.