As we roll on from National Payroll Week, we hope you continue to celebrate the amazing payroll professionals who have bravely battled their way through over six months of complex COVID-response legislation, COVID Act claims tracking, changing IRS forms, and who knows what next? With three and a half more months and a daunting year-end to get through before we can bid farewell to 2020, Wise is celebrating the unsung Heroes of Payroll.

As it happens, we have a whole team of passionate, seasoned, certified payroll professionals at Wise Consulting who understand everything our clients have been going through in 2020. Two of our own sat down to talk frankly about the struggles payroll professionals have been tackling this year and some of the ways Wise has been able to help.

Ana Woods-Hill, Manager, Managed Payroll: “This is a really challenging time. Payroll is changing, as we say, at the speed of COVID. Every industry and person has been impacted. Some of the teams we work with are losing staff or working with teams and it’s having a negative impact on payroll support functions. Wise has been able to step in and provide critical adjunct support for our clients. Every day things are changing, so staying on top of new and complex legislation as it develops allows them to make the right decisions during a sensitive time for businesses.”

Lorry Twisdale, Director of Managed Services: “Our Managed Payroll department formed a Legislation Task Force at the beginning of the pandemic to stay on top of things. As a result, we have been ahead of the curve for our clients. We’ve been able to help clients claim, on average, $348,000 in COVID Act credits that came back to them. Our Task Force developed an effective IRS Form 941 Tracking Assistant to help companies accurately calculate COVID Act credits and limits for clients, providing quarterly totals so clients don’t exceed limits.”

Ana: “It has been a journey from day to day in figuring out how to best support our clients when there are multiple changes in legislation happening that are not always as clear or helpful as they could be. Often payroll support is seen as something where you send in a time file and end up with paychecks, but this year has really shown how much value consultative, compliance-driven support managed services brings to a client. It really improves the client’s position from a business standpoint, sometimes even making it so they can continue operations.”

Lorry: “We focused on providing the support our clients need as they need it, not three months down the line.”

Ana: “They get a collaborative partnership. We are working with the client teams to find out what is new in their world and how to integrate it into their payroll strategy. Those conversations are critical to making sure that payroll continues to be on time, accurate and compliant.”

Lorry: “One of the things that I think sets Wise apart is that we continually invest in our payroll processers and consultants. We require them to maintain industry certifications and we find that it really does help them to perform their jobs and keep up with industry changes.”

Ana: “This year more than ever! The investment in certification is translated directly into the payroll support we provide to clients. Knowledge has been key to mapping and following all the regulatory changes we have had to understand fully to help our clients with accurate credit tracking and reconciliation.”

Lorry: “True! And clients have appreciated the flexible options we offer for managed service support. Clients who just want comprehensive handling of all their tax issues get what they need. Those who need quarter-end and year-end activities covered receive help with that, and we provide other clients with help in evaluation of new hire data, term data and garnishment administration or verification of employment. We meet our clients where they want augmentation of their skill sets. We can also do fundamental payroll administration. And we can perform those services for U.S. or Canada.”

Ana: “And something that we offer across the board is our compliance support.”

Lorry: “Yes, and clients get access to our whole team. They get nearly 100 consultants at Wise who are experts across software, implementation, processing, Canada, U.S., multi-state, unions, you name it. All Wise payroll professionals know how to perform an appropriate quarter-end and year-end, they know the difference between pre-tax and post-tax benefits and understand multi-state regulations. This means you don’t have one person just handling benefits and another only handling tax – we make sure when our consultants look at our client populations, they can see the big picture from start to finish, from hire to term, and our clients know that their employees and company are taken care of from a holistic viewpoint.

Typically, clients are assigned a dedicated team of five certified payroll professionals, but they receive such a wide breadth of expertise. It’s like having a big payroll department – and it does cost marginally more than hiring a single person in-house, but when clients look at their cost savings from reduced compliance and audit risk and increased accuracy and efficiency, it’s a value-add and they have the built-in security of knowing payroll will get done no matter what is happening in their company. We collaborate with them if they have to make internal changes in response to unforeseen circumstances or what is happening in the economy, so many clients see that as priceless.”

Ana: “Payroll is not something you can afford to get wrong.”

Lorry: “If companies are not sure if they have a need, chances are they do. If you are asking yourself, ‘could we be doing this any better?’ or if you already see issues that could be handled better, having that conversation with Wise is important. We will walk you through everything that we can do, what your options are based on your need. There is opportunity for cost savings, peace of mind and the ability for you to be able to focus on your work. Knowing that we are going to identify all the things you didn’t even know were issues, you will never regret working with Wise Consulting.”

The Wise Payroll and HR Software Consultants Know Complex COVID Legislation

Reach out to start a conversation at 800-654-4550 or visit www.wiseconsulting.com to learn more. You can also contact our team here.