Once an efficient payroll system is up and running, businesses of all sizes can set up a series of standards that allows for easy and consistent processing. One of the important details to remember is how benefits and other additions to an employee’s salary are attached and administered every cycle. Depending on the employer, there may be many new benefits and deductibles that need to be tended to each time.
This is recognized as one of the key steps in establishing a functioning payroll system by the Small Business Administration. While there are some industry norms that can guide how your business structures time off, healthcare and other benefits, the specific solution you use is likely to differ in some way. Because of this, the SBA recommends that employers take responsibility and track which payments go to which department.
Outliers to standard benefits structures will always exist. WBALTV 11 reported recently on a restaurant in Pittsburgh called Bar Marcos that will soon go against tradition by forbidding employees from accepting tips and giving them up to 44 hours of work time per week. In exchange, they will receive base salaries, stock and health coverage.
Another example is Costco, the wholesale chain that was profiled in Businessweek in 2013 for its unusually generous compensation plans. Employees for that company get health insurance and make more on average than the usual hourly worker, along with overtime. This helped it stand out among the competition.
Such policies require an approach to payroll that is both standardized and tuned to the company’s particular quirks. Because of this, the HR system selection process should be careful and precise, so that HR professionals know they can make adjustments based on their unique circumstances.