We recently wrote an article on payroll outsourcing and wanted to add some more information. That article talked about whether or not you should outsource your payroll. For now, we’ll give a brief recap of the advantages and disadvantages. Then we’ll list some of the more popular payroll outsourcing services.
The main advantages of outsourcing include the saving of time and money, and they gaining of expertise. If someone else is performing the payroll function for you this will free up time for you to work on what you do best. Many people claim that outsourcing will not only save time, but money. This is probably true in most situations, though we can think of a few when it would not be. Finally, payroll outsourcing companies spend all day every day working on payroll. They definitely have the know-how to be able to perform payroll functions in the most difficult of situations.
The main disadvantages include firing your employees, losing potential stars, and all the other normal problems that come with outsourcing. Firing your employees can be a real downer, and it’s even worse if you get rid of a budding star employee. Normal outsourcing problems include loss of control, lack of security, etc.
Now let’s talk about a payroll outsourcing provider or two that are well known.
ADP adp.com: ADP is probably the most well known payroll outsourcing company. One thing that is interesting about ADP is that they perform payroll services for the big boys and for the little guys. A lot of small companies benefit from using them which is unique because usually businesses that service other big businesses are out of touch with what small start ups need. ADP is an exception to that rule.
Another feature we like about ADP is that they offer several ways to communicate your payroll information with them. You can call them by phone, enter the information online, or have the information on a personal computer. Our preferred method is the online route. You simply have to enter the payroll information and they take care of the rest.
With ADP you can also select how much or how little you want them to do. They have three basic packages. Compliance (calculates payroll and deductions), compliance with pay (same as compliance but adds direct deposit), and compliance pay and employer tools. The last option handles a lot of other HR issues, like background checks or hiring and firing. They’ll do as much or as little as you want and they’ll keep your information secure.
E-chx e-chx.com: E-chx is a growing company that is starting to make some noise in the payroll outsource department. They are worth giving a look at.
PayChex paychex.com: Their slogan is “Do what you do best, we’ll do the rest.” It’s a bit cheesy but it does allude to one of the key reasons to be outsourcing payroll; saving time so you can focus on your core skills. They offer a free consultation and if you dig around long enough you can find out that they will offer one month of payroll processing free.
Sure Payroll surepayroll.com: We wanted to add these guys to the list because they are an exclusively Internet based payroll service. We think this is where payroll is going in the future as direct deposit becomes the standard, and hand-written paychecks become a thing of the past. The great thing about this is that you don’t need to be anywhere near your payroll provider.
That about sums up our discussion on how to payroll outsource. As always if you’d like to add any more information our companies to the list, please comment below.
