After the run
Payslips, the payment, the filings, and the records that have to survive the year.
A bureauif the person who does this is away
The Payslip People Actually Read
A payslip is a legal document and a piece of communication. Small employers get the first right and rarely think about the second.
Getting the Payslip to the Person
A payslip generated is not a payslip issued. How it reaches people decides whether an obligation is met and whether anybody can read it in three years.
Having the Money There
The step that is not in the payroll software, is prompted by nothing, and is missing from most written sequences.
Moving the Money
The payment is the part employees experience. Everything about it is mechanical, and most of what goes wrong is a detail nobody checked.
The Submission That Goes With It
The filing is usually a button and is forgotten precisely because it is a button. What it is, who is responsible, and why size is no defence.
The Money That Is Not Yours
Amounts deducted on somebody else's behalf sit in your account and spend identically to your own money. That is the whole of the problem.
What Has to Survive the Year
Payroll records are kept inside somebody else's software, in message threads, and in one person's memory. Only the first survives a year, and only while you pay.
The Question That Comes Back
Every run generates questions, and they arrive after the work is finished. Handling them well is a skill nobody counts as part of payroll.