News
by Beam
|20/06/2024
Understanding and managing payroll is a tricky job. Even experienced teams of payroll specialists struggle with interpreting employment awards and employer super obligations.
Large corporations often have entire departments to manage payroll, but what about organisations without dedicated payroll specialists? Or worse, no designated payroll employees? How can they be expected to stay on top of their payroll obligations?
They can with the help of robust and reliable software with the right processes in place.
Based in Brisbane TRACTION for Young People (TRACTION) is a not for profit (NFP) charity organisation that deliver hands-on learning programs aimed to ‘spark’ young people to realise their potential. TRACTION gets young people ‘on the tools’ in a real workshop environment, working shoulder-to-shoulder with a team of trained mentors – building trust, developing confidence, earning core life skills like planning, focus, and self-control, and encouraging respectful relationships.
I knew we (TRACTION) had the potential but didn’t know it was saving lives. Nine years in, and we’re seeing young program attendees becoming young adults, who then grow into careers and professions. It’s been rewarding, but we know there’s more to do.
Running over 50 programs a year across a Southeast Queensland footprint and reaching over 350 young participants means a lot of admin. From onboarding people, managing payroll to paying super correctly for a mixture of part time, contract and full-time staff adds up to a considerable amount of time and effort.
While managing payroll is a challenge for any organisation, for TRACTION it’s a problem when it means endless paperwork gets in the way of caring for the community.
People are the heart of TRACTION, but they’re restricted by budget and resources. That’s why TRACTION’s support teamwork within the tight resources and at times the team are wearing many hats so that scheduled programs can run safely and in a positive working culture. Recruitment, onboarding, training, rostering and paying wages are just some of daily tasks the support team are managing.
Like many other charities and NFPs, they’re doing as much as possible without increasing resources or costs. Particularly when it comes to payroll processes.
In TRACTION’s case, their payroll includes frequent onboarding, both regular and irregular payroll and super payments. It’s an important part of their business operations that they must get right.
It’s not just NFPs that face these challenges . When a business grows, so does the workload and risk to the business if it’s wrong.
Getting payroll and super payments right isn’t just a legal obligation, it’s doing the best possible for your people. And this is something that is at the heart of what Beam cares and values – getting people closer to their super”
Australian Payroll Association discovered that only 6% of businesses studied prioritised training and education within their payroll departments[1]. Adding to this, the same study found that only 11% of businesses will focus and invest in payroll and award interpretation technology.
With awards and regulations regularly changing, it’s not surprising that cases of wage theft or missed super payments is on the rise. It’s estimated that $1.35 billion is underpaid by Australian companies every year[2].
With increased penalties being levied by the government, payroll processes need to be a priority for any business.
TRACTION recognised that they needed to find the right payroll solution for their business. With limits on resources, hiring internal payroll specialists isn’t a realistic solution.
Many other small and medium businesses share the same problem. Hiring a dedicated specialist to manage payroll is a luxury that many can’t afford. Often, these responsibilities fall on admin staff or even the business owner.
TRACTION’s main priority is providing great community programs that make a difference to the community. Getting stuck with admin and paperwork is not ideal. That’s why the team relies on technology and outsourced solutions to meet their payroll commitments.
For TRACTION, it was finding the right technology and process to support their business, instead of changing their business to support their payroll.
Limited by funding, we’re working hard to make the community happier and healthier. Managing on a tight budget isn’t an easy pathway”
Salli Walker, TRACTION Operation’s & Governance Manager
As small and medium businesses grow, they’re finding themselves stuck between the two extremes of payroll and accounting technology.
Too small for dedicated platforms, but too big for one size fits all software.
Switching software can help. Software with integrated tools to make payroll easier is how you can bridge the skills and technology gap as a smaller business. TRACTION have looked to external accounting and payroll specialists to fill the gaps.
Software like MYOB has the functionality but requires skilled professionals to use them at this scale. Super is the same. It’s normally managed by complicated systems, and employers are left to manage on their own. Software with a lower skill barrier and integrated products makes it easier on our clients.”
Janet Collard, Account Manager, Reconciled
Super payments can be confusing for businesses without a dedicated payroll team. And even then, many large businesses get caught out doing the wrong thing.
The governments proposed payday super legislation on the horizon, the rules on super will continue to change and evolve.
New reforms like payday super brings their own unique challenge for business, particularly changes to super payment processes. Businesses that traditionally don’t employ payroll specialists will have navigate through the changes while trusting in their technology and processes to get the job done correctly.
Simple, integrated products are how employers can stay ahead of the curve without sacrificing productivity, growth or scale.
Employers have been at the mercy of outdated systems and processes to pay their super. This gap in skills and resources is leaving small and medium sized businesses vulnerable when changes happen.
Moving from quarterly to fortnightly super payments is only complicated if the process to pay super is. Businesses will need to increase the frequency of payments while decreasing the time spent doing it. Small and medium businesses want software that doesn’t need years of training to pay fortnightly payroll.
Important information
Beam is issued by Precision Administration Services Pty Ltd (Precision) (ABN 47 098 977 667, AFSL No. 246 604). Precision is wholly owned by Australian Retirement Trust Pty Ltd (ABN 88 010 720 840, AFSL No. 228 975) as trustee for Australian Retirement Trust (ABN 60 905 115 063).
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