It can be difficult for a payroll service to meet the complex needs of the construction industry. The burden to process payroll properly is often on the business owner. It’s important to ensure your organization is lowering risk and increasing efficiency when running payroll. These improvements are vital no matter which payroll system you use. Below are the four key areas construction companies and contractors should be looking to monitor and enhance as they process construction payroll.
User Friendliness and Data Security
Having access to a simple, easy-to-use payroll processing service brings peace of mind to not only yourself but also to your fellow team members. Payroll processing is already a monumental task for many companies. Your payroll service should help to alleviate this sense of overwhelm, not add to it! Having a streamlined and straightforward payroll service helps your team execute tasks more efficiently. This kind of service allows you to train new employees with ease and save your company time and money.
In addition, your team should have every confidence in their payroll service’s ability to secure all employee data, such as social security numbers. Your business’s information should be thoroughly protected, as cybersecurity remains a primary concern in today’s digital world.
Time Collection and Wage Compliance
Wage compliance is one of the most important aspects of your payroll. Failure to pay a single employee accurately could cause major issues for your business. Wages come under additional scrutiny when your company is contracted for government-funded work (e.g. prevailing wage). In this instance, your company is required to regularly certify that you’re meeting predetermined wage guidelines for workers, a process known as certified payroll reporting.
It is key that your payroll service offers the ability to calculate proper rates by job, by type of work being done, and by location when necessary. These tools should be automated within your payroll processing software, as a manual system presents many opportunities for error and delay.
Your current payroll service should also be offering flexible time collection capabilities, such as remote time clocking with enabled geocoding to capture worker time at job site locations. A simplistic time entry worksheet for employees to directly input worked hours with real-time validation would be a minimum requirement for a decent payroll service. These tools ensure time collection for contractors or field workers is as seamless as possible.
Tax Calculation and Reporting
Managing your company’s risk through proper tax calculations and reporting is vital. A business owner may be held personally liable for any unpaid payroll taxes. Your payroll service should help to manage your organization’s risk through complete payroll tax calculations, payments, and reports. These must meet federal, state, and local requirements.
Your payroll software should utilize an accounting expert to ensure returns are always reviewed and properly filed. Such oversight and expertise take the burden off of the business owner and team and minimize your tax compliance risk.
Custom Analytics
Without adequate access to analytics to help guide business decisions, your company cannot improve overall efficiency. Ideally, an optimized data system looks like customizable dashboards and summaries. Detailed data mining capabilities based on your preferences are incredibly useful. A robust and reliable reporting engine that is fully customizable for your business is also a plus.