It is no secret that a successful organisation often stems from an engaged and highly-motivated workforce. And there are many factors that contribute to high satisfaction levels among your employees – collaborative workplace culture, competitive pay and innovative benefits are just some examples.
Timely salary payments also play a critical role in employee satisfaction levels. After all, organisations are obligated to pay employees’ salaries on time. According to PwC’s annual wellness survey 2019, financial matters are employees’ biggest concerns. There are bills to pay, groceries to purchase and for some, even children’s school fees or loans to pay. Late salary payments may result in employees undermining the robustness of existing payroll processes and lead to unhappy employees. That would not be ideal!
Here are some reasons why and how accurate and timely payroll contribute to employees’ overall satisfaction levels.
Timely salary disbursements reinforce employees trust
Being paid on time is an employee’s entitlement. And when organisations are committed and able to consistently pay employees on time, it reinforces employees’ trust in the organisation. Hence, it is critical to have in place a payroll schedule for the year so that the payroll team is able to plan ahead of schedule in order to meet important payroll deadlines. Alternatively, automating payroll disbursement with a payroll software or engaging an outsourced payroll provider helps to ensure timely salary payments to employees every month.
Accurate paychecks is as important as punctual paychecks
Accurate paychecks are equally as important as paying employees on time. When employees have clocked in additional hours to complete an urgent task or perhaps closed a major business deal for the organisation, the last thing they would want is for these efforts to go unrecognised from a compensation standpoint. To maintain error-free payroll calculations, organisations can consider unifying multiple internal platforms, such as time attendance, claims platform and human resource information system to ensure seamless transfer of information. Introducing employee self-service portals are also a great way to ensure error-free payroll data. Employees have the flexibility to enter the platform and update their personal information or submit benefit claims and leave applications – all of which can be linked to the payroll software . Accurate payroll calculations, inclusion of allowances and overtime payments that employees have rightfully earned – these should always be as accurate as possible to earn employees’ trust and reassurance.
Deliver paychecks with a tight seal to instill confidence
Data privacy is not something to be taken for granted, particularly when it comes to employees’ payroll and personal information. While data protection methods become increasingly secure today, the methods that hackers use to steal these highly-sensitive data are becoming more sophisticated as well. Employees are unlikely to react well when they realise they are a victim of identity theft or data leak. It is imperative to have in place robust data protection policies and procedures and review them periodically to ensure relevancy. If your organisation uses an external payroll provider, be sure to check with them their existing data protection protocols and the measures they have in place to minimise data leaks. Concurrently, it is worthwhile to educate and train employees on the importance of data security and steps to maintain a strong data protection culture. This helps to assure employees that the organisation is indeed taking precautions when it comes to data protection and ensuring employees’ well being.
Exemplifies investment in robust internal processes and workflows
Timely and accurate salary payments to employees reflects robust payroll workflows and processes internally. It signals to employees that the organisation takes steps to ensure consistent and quality outputs from the payroll function. This may include upgrading payroll software to meet the growing needs of the organisation, training payroll staff and putting in place well-defined procedures to minimise and address payroll issues. Employees are likely to feel reassured that the organisation invests in its existing processes and workflows to ensure optimal productivity levels.
There are many statistics supporting the notion that a highly engaged workforce contributes to a profitable and productive business. Successful organisations focus on employee satisfaction by ensuring timely salary payments that commensurates with employees efforts.
i-Admin