The company-wide ramifications of payroll errors

By Tammy Hibbert, BPO Manager

Any disruption to payroll can be hugely damaging to both the organisation and its employees. As much as employees can love their jobs and the company, they want to be paid accurately and on time every month. It’s unfortunate that this isn’t always the case.

You might remember that in July 2022, UK supermarket Asda came under fire for underpaying 5,500 of its staff, in some cases by £500 or more, leaving them unable to get through the month without using food banks or taking out loans. The underpayment wasn’t the only issue as some employees reported being overpaid that month which left them short in subsequent months whilst the error was being corrected, causing them to skip meals and fall behind on their mortgage repayments.

The majority of employees rely on their salary coming in on a certain day in order to pay bills on time. If there are delays or significant miscalculations in their wages, this can quickly translate to low morale, reduced engagement, lack of trust, and eventually - quitting. And that can have serious ramifications on the business.

Now isn’t the time to make payroll mistakes

Nation-wide, wages are failing to keep up with the sky-high inflation and record-breaking prices, with the UK said to be on the brink of recession. The current economic circumstances are already stressful for employees who are still expected to keep their home and work lives separate, so will only amplify the consequences of even the smallest payroll errors.

For businesses, mistakes in payroll can have a damaging impact on their brand reputation and lead to potential tax complications and contract breaches. With many organisations still battling skeleton staffing levels, they cannot afford to lose any more employees and continue offering great customer experience. And for already stretched payroll employees, these mistakes might make them feel threatened by the possibility of losing their jobs.

So, what should organisations do to minimise payroll mistakes?

Right on time, every time

The single most important thing businesses can do is to put their payroll technology and processes under the microscope and evaluate whether their inefficiencies could be driving the payroll errors. This is often the case if businesses still rely on old-fashioned tools like Excel spreadsheets that require payroll staff to manually input data and spend unnecessary hours fixing pay-related errors, wasting precious time that could be used to evolve payroll processes.

Injecting payroll departments with more automated capabilities will reduce the burden of payroll admin, streamline their efficiency, and ensure compliance with latest legislations. With a reliable payroll process and supporting expertise, both payroll teams and wider staff can benefit from peace-of-mind, knowing they will get paid accurately and on time, every time.

Choose a trusted payroll partner

At Symatrix, we know that mistake-free payroll relies on accurate and complete data that comes from the rest of the business – typically HR, employees, or managers. All our services embrace a single HR and Payroll technology layer to allow the team to focus on supporting your employees better.

Symatrix SymplyPay harnesses the power of Oracle to automate and remove unnecessary activities, meaning we can deliver a highly effective, operationally efficient and employee enhancing payroll service to you. Because we’re an end-user of Oracle HCM in our own managed payroll teams, we know what truly great Oracle payroll feels like and what it takes to deliver.

That means our team can become a true extension of your team. Together we can ensure no pitfalls in payroll ever occur, your employee engagement and team morale stays high, and your business reputation remains intact.

If you’re interested in finding out more about our managed payroll services, get in touch with one of our team.