Outsourcing Payroll

unknown

My HR department (I'm on the technical side) has asked me to get a sense of how many companies outsource payroll, and what your experience has been with it.

If you know it would also be helpful to know what the effort was involved in setting up the interfaces to the payroll vendor.

chip-bennett

Outsourcing payroll can work, as long as the limits associated with doing it are not an issue. When we looked into it, some time ago, the timely processing of thousands of timecards was a deal killer. ADP simply could not meet the processing deadline, so it wasn't an option. Another possible issue is in reporting. Not all processors give you access to the database for ad hoc reporting and a static payroll report is not always sufficient. You may also lose the ability to deal with immediate payroll issues, and the larger the organization, the more this can be an issue. Add to that the need to synchronize your HR data to keep pay and benefits up-to-date, and the cost-benefit may not work out. You should develop a business case for the outsourcing and make sure you have the right people involved, which can be a challenge. That's my .02. Good luck.



In regard to interfaces with the vendor, be sure whatever is developed meets all HIPAA, data security and other privacy requirements and scrutinize the providers data security as well.