#6. What payroll reports do you have that make my job easier?

Did you know that there are reports that give you more information than just a check register? If you’re a small company with less than 10 employees this may not interest you very much, but if you’re big enough to need them there are reports that save you hours of manual calculations. For example, there are labor distribution reports that break down classifications of employees. This can be extremely important to know the cost of labor for specific products or services. There are General Ledger reports that make manual (and electronic) entry into the GL much faster and easier on your accounting staff.

Other questions you should ask surrounding this question…

• If the provider is going to file using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), is there any cost involved.
• If you are going to use the EFTPS system yourself, what assistance will be provided by the payroll provider and are there any fees involved?
• Many providers now have “remote entry” or other methods that can include Internet entry within secure access. These services often have additional costs, but can be very cost effective as it allows the employer to enter payroll data 24 hours, 7 days a week, and/or make last minute changes easily.

How does Payroll Masters™ compare to others on this question?

Payroll reports are more powerful when they are used as a tool to evaluate your staffing patterns, and seasonal cycles.

For example, we know of a mid-size building materials supplier who had a definite cycle that created some very busy times for six months of the year. During this busy time payroll costs were increasing at a somewhat higher rate than sales.

With a little research into the payroll reports the problem was found. Since Payroll Masters™ had originally set-up the labor distribution effectively, we were able to run reports on selected payrolls during the peak periods of the past two years. What we found was that there was a significant amount of overtime and double-time pay for all the yard and delivery personnel.

Now, you would expect this overtime would be normal. And, to some extent it is normal and unavoidable. But, in this case, the effectiveness of the labor distribution reports showed that the total overtime hours were the equivalent of 13 additional full-time people! Not skilled labor, but time that could be filled very easily.

After some quick calculations, the company began a policy of hiring seasonal employees and saved more than $104,000 (13 employees x 40 hours weekly x $7.70 average hourly overtime premium x 26 peak weeks) in the first year in wages alone! The best surprise was that the majority of this seasonal labor returned in following years. Now, if the payroll information were not available, think what the real cost of an inadequate payroll management system would be!

This is just one example of how a company can use basic payroll information to put more money to the bottom line. Without the ability to access historical labor distribution details it's very likely that the significance of this situation would not have come to light.