5 Benefits of using Attendance and HR Payroll Software
If you’re managing a remote or hybrid team, there are benefits to reap when you use time- attendance and HR payroll software.
An attendance tracking and payroll system is important for better workforce management. It brings transparency in attendance and payroll, ensures employers are able to keep track of remote workforce, and salary processing is done accurately in a timely manner.
In this article, we look at five key advantages of HR payroll software and how your business can benefit from it.
What is attendance management software?
Attendance management software enables businesses to track and manage employee attendance, leaves and in-and-out time. It helps HR managers and leaders to identify attendance trends, absenteeism, idle and productivity time, overtime, holidays and other related details.
These details when analysed can provide powerful insights for decision-making especially for recruitment and hiring, employee training, and performance management.
What is payroll software?
Employee attendance impacts payroll. That’s why most modern businesses prefer to use an integrated attendance and HR payroll solution instead. It enables businesses to automate and streamline the payroll process using a single tool, reduce manual effort, time and cost, and keep businesses compliant.
Employees can also self-access the portal to update tax declarations, leave updates, and download pay slips for their reference.
5 reasons why your SME needs a HR payroll software
Digitalisation has impacted businesses of all sizes with more businesses realising the benefits of using software and digital solutions in business. Let us look at some common challenges in employee attendance and payroll, and how a HRMS software can help to manage it.
- Automate timekeeping and take it online
You may use a manual attendance register or an online sheet to track attendance for a team of 10 or maybe 50. The process gets cumbersome when it is a team of 100 or teams located remotely.
An online attendance software can be the solution here. These tools are multi-device compatible, making it convenient for employees to clock attendance even when travelling. Other benefits include:
- Real- time and attendance tracking by location (GPS) and image (selfie) to eliminate false attendance
- Attendance and timesheet of on-field agents through online attendance update
- Shift time management of different teams without manual intervention
Using a time tracking software it is possible to automate attendance, reduce errors, and keep the process digital. Some tools also allow you to set up automated alerts to remind employees to clock in and out daily.
- Drive efficiency and reduce errors in payroll processing
Another advantage of using a HRMS payroll software is that it brings efficiency and drives productivity.
When done manually, attendance tracking and payroll processing can be a tedious, complex and time-consuming task. HR managers will have to perform repetitive task, enter data manually, review data, and coordinate with employees and teams to keep payroll accurate. Employees will also have to share IT declaration details, request payslips and more.
All of this can be automated using an attendance and payroll solution. Using a payroll tool:
- Employees can self-login and upload documents for IT declaration, update reimbursement forms, mark attendance and leaves etc.
- HR managers can generate weekly reports to get insights on employee attendance
- Irregularities or incorrect data entry will get flagged (eg. date error) keeping the process and data accurate
- Reduce paperwork and manage attendance in real-time
When it comes to attendance mapping and payroll processing, a lot of time and effort can be reduced by electronically managing data. By capturing all data centrally in a single HR payroll system, errors can be reduced, data can be recorded accurately, and efficiency can be achieved.
For instance:
- Employees can update attendance in real-time through biometrics, images, or location-based tracking
- Compliance requirements such as PF, ESI, tax etc. can be pre-configured
- Pay slips can be auto generated reducing HR team intervention
- Employees can login to the platform and download pay slips electronically
- Keeps data secure and business compliant
Data security is a key business concern for all. Information related to tax, salary structure, attendance needs to be kept secure and accessible to authorised users only. A cloud payroll solution will allow user-access control ensuring only authorised users can access relevant data. Examples of user access could include:
- HR managers: Can access time-attendance, payroll, and relevant details
- Team managers: Can approve leave requests, requests for late-in or early-out, approve reimbursement bills, and view basic attendance details
- Employees: Can access attendance and leave function, update IT declarations, download salary slips, share reimbursement forms for approval etc.
This naturally helps businesses to stay compliant as it provides details on attendance and pay, ensuring no employee is overpaid or underpaid, and salary is as per regulatory requirements.
- Provides data-backed reports for insights
Most HR systems will generate reports on employee attendance, leaves, breaks, overtime etc. This data is meaningful as it helps HR teams to understand how independent departments and teams are functioning, whether teams are being efficient, or if productivity is low.
Closing thoughts: Getting started with attendance and HR payroll automation
When you get an online HRMS solution for your business, it is likely that it will be met with some resistance initially. To keep it minimum, consider doing the following:
- Inform employees in advance about the new cloud HR payroll software and how it will benefit employees
- Conduct trainings to help everyone understand how to use and access the tool
- Use the tool for all employees across departments and hierarchies to keep the process uniform
- Take timely feedback from employees on the effectiveness of using the tool
- Analyse and make changes
