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A Guide to Payroll Streamlining in a Post-Pandemic World – An Ezitracker Whitepaper

Executive Summary

 

Responses to COVID-19 have speeded the adoption of digital technologies by several years across all industries throughout the world. As we entered 2020, and before the pandemic unfurled, there was a huge technology shift already taking place, businesses were rolling out new digital strategies to meet commercial demands – in the way they sell, in the way market themselves and in the way they recruit. The gig economy was booming and employers were very quick to look at changing their business models to suit. No one could have anticipated the speed of implementation when COVID hit and lockdowns were enforced.

The cleaning sector emerged from ‘hidden’ workers to frontline workers overnight. If we were to get a handle on the virus, then cleaning was a number one priority if business operations were to continue. A British Cleaning Council audit of members in December 2020 showed that organisations and individuals had to adapt rapidly to the major changes brought by the virus.

A consistent theme throughout is praise for the dedication of the cleaning and hygiene operatives who have been doing vital work protecting the health and wellbeing of others and keeping key industries going since the pandemic began. The Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals (AHCP) represents many of the cleaning and hygiene key workers who have been on the frontline fighting the virus.

Delia Cannings, AHCP National Lead for Education and Training, said: “Cleaning operatives in the healthcare sector played a key role during the pandemic and have done an incredible job, with many going above and beyond, working longer hours, taking on extra responsibilities and adopting new standards and practices to prevent Covid-19 contamination. AHCP members played a vital role getting the Nightingale Hospitals set up and staffing them and will continue to operate them in the coming months as we strive to recover and avoid spikes in Coronavirus cases.”

Jim Melvin is a director at the Cleaning and Support Services Association (CSSA) and Deputy Chair at the British Cleaning Council (BCC). He echoes praise for cleaning operatives and highlights the uncertainty caused by the virus among cleaning contractors.

Mr Melvin said: “Coronavirus has changed the contract cleaning market significantly but it is different for every business. A great many buildings and businesses remain closed and many staff are furloughed. When clients have returned, they are at significantly reduced staff levels, which by definition reduces the service. Clients are changing their requirements on an almost daily basis and members are needing to be agile and flexible enough to reflect that. Our cleaning and hygiene operatives have faced an unbelievably difficult and fearful time responding both bravely and magnificently to all this.”

To top a very difficult situation, commercial cleaning companies who had not already embraced digitalisation for managing their remote workforce, all of a sudden they needed to have systems in place to track and schedule their staff and ensure payroll was fully integrated.

The method and frequency of how people are paid can have considerable impact on how they manage their finances and how they approach their daily duties. Add to that a pandemic, new key worker status, cleaning operatives needed the security and knowledge that they were being looked after appropriately by their employers. Financial stress can be a huge distraction at work for employees, and many employers recognise the direct impact it can have on productivity and engagement.

The notion of streamlining payroll was all of a sudden viewed essential by employers, regardless of industry or size. The emergence of new technologies started to roll out to help transform payroll for the benefit of both employers and employees, and more so in commercial cleaning and facilities management sectors where hours and locations can be varied.

 

Cloud-based automated payroll systems

 

If we assess the efficiencies of payroll processing across different businesses and roles, we need to establish what is important for payroll back-office staff, and what their key pain points are. Despite the rise in digital processes and the use of smartphones, there was previously some level of resistance from the payroll industry, who were reluctant to adopt online employee portals. But then remote working prompted by the pandemic, has meant many payroll teams are much more spread out geographically than they were 12 months ago, a cloud-based payroll solution was imperative to allow every member of the team to access all relevant data, whenever and wherever they’re working.

Furthermore, payroll is expected to take a more strategic role in reporting and compliance. For example, the UK government is expected to bring in compulsory reporting on businesses’ ethnicity pay gaps in the near future. This will require payroll and HR teams to produce accurate and timely pay gap information, both to inform business strategy and ensure compliance - access to real-time data in the cloud makes this considerably easier to do.

So, what does the future hold for payroll within this brave new world, especially given that working from home appears to be the new normal?

Streamlining payroll processes and adopting intuitive cloud-based management technology in your FM or cleaning company can be a two-fold initiative; meaning both the employer and the worker get to realise the benefits.  With many systems already under pressure, payroll is a drain on administration and often takes several days to complete.  Providing your employees with a portal, wallet or app that easily shows them things like wage slips, money transfers, PAYE, requests for drawdowns etc. means they are in control and responsible for their financial well-being and financial visibility.  As a business, you will benefit the rewards that automation brings and will quickly realise the value that cloud-based systems can bring to your cleaning or FM company. 

Whilst there is a wealth of research regarding employee compensation and its impact on recruiting, retention and satisfaction, how employees are paid has been an overlooked and undervalued dimension of pay. Employers have their work cut out if they are going to firstly attract and then retain key operational staff in a post-pandemic world.

As the world of work continues to change, so does the desire for greater speed, security, flexibility and financial security, driving people - regardless of the industry they work in, to question about how they work, why they work and how they are paid.

According to ADP Research** (The future of pay exploring the evolution of worker pay and talent management). Demographic and generational trends are also driving a shift in worker pay preferences. Millennials, for example, are accustomed to the immediacy technology provides and the flexibility of digital payment options. By 2025, this age cohort will make up 75% of the global workforce. As Generation Z (those born after 1996) enters the workforce, employers will witness the final cross over to a fully digital world - one whose employees were brought up alongside smart phones and social media.

“When examining the evolution of work and of the workforce, while there are universal values and priorities shared among employers and employees worldwide, in the quest to fulfil those needs no stone is being left unturned, no assumption is left unchallenged. Everything is up for re-examination.

Employers have many compelling reasons to explore alternative payment options, with cost savings being one of many drivers. 

Payment options, off-cycle payments and financial wellness support can help differentiate a company competing to attract and retain talent. In the end, when an employer can help employees improve their financial health, everyone benefits. The same holds true for the evolution of pay. For employers seeking to embrace change, who want to elevate their workforce and adapt to the new world of work, considering how employees are paid is just an important a consideration as how much they are paid.”**

What will advances in payroll technology mean for your FM or Cleaning business employees?

Financial Wellbeing Strategies

Financial wellbeing benefits and support are starting to gain traction amongst businesses and their employees. However, the subject is still not a high priority on every organisation’s boardroom agenda. Many are taking time to be convinced that offering a financial wellbeing program will have a positive impact on the bottom line and help its workers.

The starting point should be with employees. We need to understand the overall financial wellness position within the workforce; what help do they need? Why do they need it? Determining the need for financial wellness starts with understanding the impact financial woes have on a worker and ultimately, the company itself.

In the UK, based on extensive evidence and analysis, the Money Advice Service developed the ‘financial capability framework’, which captures the main elements of financial capability – the behaviours underpinning financial capability and the factors impacting it.

According to PwC’s 9th annual Employee Financial Wellness survey (2020) more than half (58%) of employees admit they’re stressed about their finances with 47% distracted by their money worries at work.

A Financial Capability Survey looks at current levels of financial capability based on this framework and in turn, the findings of the survey have been used to identify where the Strategy needs to focus its efforts in improving financial capability.

In the UK:

  • 39% of adults (20.3 million) don’t feel confident managing their money
  • 5 million have less than £100 in savings
  • Nearly nine million of us are in serious debt, and only around a third receive help.
  • Money worries cost the UK economy up to £51bn a year.

The pandemic has rapidly increased the adoption of digital working practices and is driving significant changes to business models, and this is expected to be the new normal post-covid. It’s imperative that designing the right employee financial wellbeing strategy and embedding it into workforce data, can help companies reduce turnover, lower absenteeism, and improve productivity.

Christian Berenger comments:

“Just like physical or mental wellbeing, financial wellbeing is a measure of your financial health and relationship with money. Most of us simply want to feel a greater sense of financial security and have a bit more flexibility and control over our finances.”

The pandemic has rapidly increased the adoption of digital working practices and is driving significant changes to business models, and this is expected to be the new normal post-covid. It’s imperative that designing the right employee financial wellbeing strategy and embedding it into workforce data, can help companies reduce turnover, lower absenteeism, and improve productivity.

It’s all about creating a healthy, happy engaged workforce, so they can be in control of their finances. Money worries are common a distraction at work, supporting the financial wellbeing of your workforce is not only good for your employees, it’s good for business.”

Stats: 

“Two in five of the working population have less than £100 in savings, putting them and their finances at risk if an unexpected bill lands.

(source: Money Advice Service***)

“Financial wellness entails budgeting and tracking finances, and 30% of employees say the availability of budgeting and money-tracking tools would make a difference in their decision to accept a job offer.”

(Source: ADP**) 

“Cloud and data will become critical. We’ve seen the popularity of cloud-based payroll software grow considerably over the last few years. According to this year’s Future Of Payroll Report, conducted by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals, 38% of organizations have now embraced the cloud in this way. (Source: Cloudpay****) 

Working with Ezitracker to ensure the best approach to payroll 

For over 20 years, Ezitracker has been developing innovative technology which challenges workforce management convention – reducing costs, delivering efficiencies and improving workforce productivity to ensure our customers can deliver a first-class service.  Our ethos is to facilitate the entire employee journey from onboarding, to flexible contract-based rostering and attendance verification in real-time, through to accurate payroll with powerful analytics available at each step. The web-based staff solution is trusted by over 100,000 users worldwide for real-time data capture. It eliminates the need for timesheets, streamlines budgeting, improves contract reporting and in-turn increases employee engagement and wellbeing. In February 2021 Ezitracker was acquired by The Access Group. The Access Group is global software company headquartered in the UK with a customer-centric culture and a strong track record of providing an extensive software portfolio for companies of all shapes and sizes, helping more than 35,000 customers across commercial and not-for-profit sectors become more productive and efficient.  

This will give Ezitracker a new level of expertise in the provision of remote workforce management software within the Facilities Management sector and provides our customers with the opportunity to explore a wider range of ERP and business management solutions from a single provider.

Ezitracker provides for the full Employee Journey from Onboarding to Payroll

EziPay takes the approved time and attendance data collated from EziBudget and handles all your taxation contributions through automatic calculations. EziPay will even generate payslips and send them direct to your employees for download or view through EziEngage.  Employees can use EziAdvance to draw down money and manage their finances from pay day to pay day.

EziPay

EziPay is a cloud-based workforce management and payroll platform designed specifically for outsourced payroll providers. EziPay is a fully automated payroll solution, providing exceptional time-saving benefits payroll management. With employee self-service, rota management, time and attendance and comprehensive mobile apps, payroll administrators can automate traditionally manual tasks and allow employees to manage their own payroll data. EziPay automates tax codes changes and effective dates, processes pensions in real time and removes the need for separate systems and manual data interpretation.

EziAdvance

EziAdvance makes it easy for employees to manage their money in between paydays, by providing each employee to draw down a share of their wages as they work, monitor their earnings and save.

It means your staff can come to work with less financial stress and keep their minds on tasks in hand.

Why choose Ezitracker for workforce management?

Ezitracker’s aim is to be a solution partner supporting your business in the day to day people management process. By providing a comprehensive yet modularised solution, designed for the proactive monitoring of your people wherever they are, we allow you to focus on service delivery and operational excellence. Unlike many, Ezitracker provides a solution that works for you and with our dynamic user billing model you essentially ‘Pay as you Go’ for your people’s usage of the system.

Employee Lifecycle

We start at the beginning of your employee’s journey with real-time field-based onboarding, your employee is welcomed to the business and key departments are alerted of a new recruit.

Effective Scheduling

Manage your workforce by geographical availability, personal availability and site/contract-based skill sets, whilst reducing absence and enabling work life balance.

Proactive Attendance

Using SMS/Email alerts proactively remind your staff of upcoming shifts or hourly check calls whilst also receiving alerts for lateness, no show, early departure or loan worker health and safety.

Data Capture & Connectivity

Irrespective of environment we can provide a cost-effective method of data capture from conventional landline, SIM Phones, Mobile App, SMS Text, Biometrics or Self-Service tablets.

Streamline back office administration

Simplify administration with automatic schedule approvals allowing managers and payroll to manage by exception with hierarchical views and approval workflows.

A single platform

Many providers dazzle you with functionality albeit through a plethora of solutions under a single brand umbrella. We truly have a single platform designed to provide you with what you want and more.

Corporate Reputation and Competitive Advantage

Reputation takes years to build and seconds to destroy. Protect your reputation by ensuring proactive service delivery and gain competitive advantage by having an effective real time solution. 

Corporate Social Responsibility

By using Ezitracker you can effectively ensure your Corporate Social Responsibilities are being met towards your employees and customers by ensuring fair pay versus fair service delivery.

Flexible commercial ownership 

Ownership shouldn’t be a barrier, we all know SAAS but we take it a step further, our dynamic billing model tracks actual user usage and bills accordingly, the peaks and troughs of your business are our peaks and troughs, this coupled with our HAAS (hardware as a service) models allows professional services and hardware to be deployed in a more conventional OPEX model.

Providing Transparency

Our standard reporting is powerful, but our analytics platform provides advanced reporting, bespoke reporting and dashboards, providing clear KPIs metrics which allow you to make informed decisions.

Accurate Auditing

Workforce management isn't just ensuring and validating attendance, it’s about ensuring quality service delivery. Onsite auditing provides activity-based auditing ensuring contract KPIs are being met and penalties minimised.

Integration

Ezitracker has a myriad of successful integration partners some using our solution with others using our real-time interface to present collated data in 3rd party solutions or dashboards.

Key Takeaways 

  • Reducing timesheet fraud or just simple mistakes and subsequent payroll discrepancies
  • creating back-office efficiencies and savings
  • streamlining payroll to support corporate social responsibility (financial wellbeing)
  • helping your business to utilise innovative technology to manage their remote workforce
  • robust, modular and fully scalable payroll solutions to grow with your business
  • reliable SAAS solution with no capital outlay
  • easy to implement with training on-site or online
  • efficient Helpdesk available to answer any queries
  • extremely cost effective with a dynamic billing model which ensures you only pay for what you use.

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References:

https://www.cloudpay.net/resources/the-top-three-global-payroll-trends-to-watch-in-2021 ****

https://www.hrmonline.com.au/innovation/how-ai-will-impact-the-future-of-payroll/

https://www.hrtechnologist.com/articles/payroll-administration/ten-trends-that-will-shape-payroll-management-in-2019/

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/community/industry-insights/cloud-innovation-and-the-future-of-payroll-services

https://realbusiness.co.uk/payday-loans-industry/

***https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/blog/millions-at-risk-with-savings-of-100-or-less

**https://www.adp.co.uk/hr-insights-topics-trends/payroll-future-of-pay/

*https://www.keypay.com/


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