That welcome warmth in the air, bright green shoots pushing up through the soil, and the increase of daylight means Spring is (finally!) here. Our thoughts naturally turn to making vacation plans to enjoy the warmer weather, especially after another stressful year. This desire to plan valuable time off in the Spring and Summer fuels the spike in PTO requests that happens nearly every year. Every worker can benefit from using their vacation days—and that includes members of your HR and payroll departments.

 

Payroll staff, in particular, are known for not feeling free to plan vacation time. The relentless nature of payroll means that, unless reliable backup is in place when key payroll staff are out of office, everyone’s paycheck is at risk. Payroll continuity is crucial for business continuity—when a company misses or makes an error on even one payroll cycle, it can quickly spiral into a loss of employee trust, increased compliance risk, and low workplace morale. In the age of “The Great Resignation,” it’s more important than ever to keep your payroll process smooth and secure to ensure that employees have the confidence to want to stick around.

 

But what about incentivizing your payroll team to stick around? Do you have a plan for covering payroll when a key employee uses their vacation days this summer? Below, the Wise team details steps you can take that will 1.) enable your payroll team to happily use personal time off, and 2.) protect your payroll process from risk when key team members are out of office.

 

Don’t Put Your Eggs in One Basket

 

There’s nothing worse than finding out that a team member who is out of office—or worse, quit their job— was the only team member in the company who knew how to do X, Y, or Z. If you only have one employee who knows how to process payroll, for example, you may be setting yourself up for a multitude of issues if that employee were to leave the company, suddenly get sick, or even just take a vacation. 

 

While many large corporations have entire teams dedicated to managing payroll, most small businesses run lean, which can make it harder to designate a backup payroll processor. But even small businesses can benefit from documenting processes and training more than one person on the intricacies of their payroll just in case someone needs to step in unexpectedly. Not only will this make your key payroll processor happy—they don’t have to worry about running payroll while they’re sick or relaxing on a beach somewhere—but your employees’ paychecks won’t be in jeopardy.

 

Document Internal Processes Ahead of Time

 

When you’ve been performing the same job for years, it’s natural to develop your own systems, shortcuts and efficiencies for managing your workload. But when there is no record of how you complete certain day-to-day tasks, it can cost the company time and money when you take time off. That’s because no one will have a keen understanding of how to perform your duties while you’re away. When it comes to your payroll staff especially, there should always be up-to-date documentation of your team’s day-to-day operations and critical processes available so that if someone else needs to step in they have a shortcut to success.

 

When it comes to maintaining business continuity, having your payroll team create and maintain detailed process documentation and checklists will ensure they can survive a co-worker’s PTO absence or sudden permanent departure. They’ll have peace of mind knowing that essential payroll know-how hasn’t just walked out the door.

 

Ride the PTO Wave with Ease: Invest in Temporary Payroll Support

 

As many busy managers know, it sometimes takes more than internal backups to keep payroll running smoothly; there are only so many hats people can wear at once! Not to mention, even with detailed records of how to process payroll, your backup employees may not have a proficient understanding of payroll complexities and compliance, opening up possibilities for mistakes.

 

That’s why Wise Consulting offers temporary, short-term payroll support to keep your payroll running smoothly when staff PTO or departures occur. In many emergency situations, our certified payroll professionals can learn your payroll process in just one shadow session and keep it running indefinitely. Our payroll experts have years of career experience in the payroll industry and possess both the knowledge and the commitment to accurately and efficiently run even the most complicated payroll cycle.

 

The benefits don’t stop there. In addition to jumping in and making sure employees get paid, our consultants can create necessary process documentation and checklists for your team to use in the long term. That way, when temporary support is needed again, you’ll already have a head start. 

 

What Are My Next Steps?

 

Wise Consulting’s team of payroll professionals offers reliable coverage to keep your payroll running no matter what. To learn more, call us at 800-654-4550 or fill out the form here.