How You Can Use Your HR and Payroll Systems to Help Maximize Employee Happiness

Employee happiness may be one of the single most important metrics within a company. Why? Because happy employees are more productive—they work harder and longer because they know that they are valued and that their work has meaning. But, how do you help to maximize employee happiness? While there are many ways to help ensure your employees stay happy, we like to think that we here at Wise Consulting know a thing or two about employee happiness. After all, we are a 100% employee-owned firm, so we are invested in the happiness of every single individual on the team.

Inefficient and outdated HR and payroll systems are not a winning recipe for employee happiness. No employee wants to have to struggle through a disorganized onboarding system or worry that they aren’t going to be paid correctly—or worse yet, not paid at all. By optimizing your HR and payroll systems, tedious and time-consuming processes are now automated, making for far happier employees. This includes both the payroll and HR staff and the company at large.

Leah Potts, one of Wise’s Ultimate Software team consultants, discussed how a software like UltiPro could help to promote employee happiness.

“It’s a one-stop shop,” she said. “Employees are seamlessly transitioned from recruiting to on-boarding when they are hired. They will only ever need to log into one system, UltiPro. This will allow them to enroll in benefits, see their payroll history and paid time off (PTO), view last year’s and this year’s goals and more. Nothing is hidden from view and there is no need to waste time tracking down information manually or on three or more platforms. It makes every employee’s life easier, which makes them happy.”

And while we have lots of good things to say about UltiPro—after all, we are their first and longest term Certified Implementation Partner—any HR or payroll software system can be optimized to maximize employee happiness. Leah went on to discuss how simple modifications to a system could make a big difference in employee morale.

“We previously worked with an education company whose payroll system was completely outdated. An admin had to manually enter each employee’s pay rate, which needless to say, led to a lot of hassle for the admin each month and left a lot of room for error. The Wise team came in and reconfigured the system to automate employee pay rates. This left the admin free to get lots of other critical work done and significantly reduced the chance of errors.”

These systems can be optimized and automated in an infinite number of ways. Another great example is a time when the Wise team created a template for year-end bonuses, significantly reducing the amount of time payroll employees needed to ensure each employee received the correct bonus. This meant that the payroll team worked less overtime and had more time to get more important tasks done.

“Some of the modifications we make to HR and payroll systems are simple, but management doesn’t have time to dedicate to streamlining the system. They get so far in the weeds that they can’t see the forest for the trees,” Leah said (we like a good mixed metaphor as much as the next person). “They don’t have time to look for the best solution.”

Fortunately, Wise does. We know you have more important things to do than modify software systems to maximize efficiency. But, we also know that you know that increased system efficiency leads to less stressed and happier employees. Our team is dedicated to helping companies make the most of their HR and payroll systems. Let us help you find the best solution possible so that you can lead a happy company with confidence.