Archive for July, 2009
Watch for us at IPPA Annual Conference
There are some exciting changes coming to the iEmployee Time & Attendance tool, so please stay tuned to the blog for more information.
In the meantime, if you’re attending the 2009 IPPA Annual Conference in Cambridge, Mass., please come by and say hello. The conference, which will take place August 12 – 14 at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge and hosted by the Independent Payroll Providers Association, is a two-day event is designed to educate attendees on news in the payroll industry and provides a networking and ideas exchange forum for the independently owned payroll bureau owners.
Payroll conferences continue to bring value to attendees and exhibitors, I think, even in a time of social networking, online learning, user forums, etc. Why? Because nothing beats that face-to-face contact.
As an exhibiting vendor, we’re not there just to sell our product, we’re there to get to know our customers. Feedback is great, but we also want to know more about the challenges you face every day as a payroll professional.
My point is, if you want to stop by to learn more about iEmployee’s time and attendance solution, great. But we hope you’ll stop by just to chat, too. In fact, you can chat with us right now!
Add comment July 27, 2009
Just curious? Watch an iEmployee free webcast
Join us online!
iEmployee invites you to participate in an interactive webcast to learn how iEmployee can help you reclaim valuable time by eliminating routine tasks and manual processes – empowering you to easily manage employee data online.
Participating a webcast is easy! Just click on one of the dates below to register for that time. All we ask is for your name and email address. Make sure to click on the link in the registration window to test your system.
We’ll discuss familiar professional challenges, moving into paperless payroll, and using employee self-service technology to increase productivity and reduce costs.
Click here to register for a session now.
Time and Attendance webcasts are held every Thursday at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. See you online!
Add comment July 20, 2009
Why partnerships can benefit you
Yesterday we announced a new partnership between iEmployee and PayrollNW, a payroll and tax preparation service out of the Northwest. The partnership integrates iEmployee’s time and attendance software with PayrollNW’s professional services and options.
What this means is that the two companies can now provide customers with an end-to-end solution for automating the manual tasks associated with time and attendance data collection, calculation, and payroll and tax processing. From the press release:
“We are excited to be partnering with an industry leader such as iEmployee,” said Christy Bayly, Manager, PayrollNW. “By partnering with iEmployee, we can maintain our focus but also offer customers a broader solution to address their entire time collection and payroll processing needs.”
Partnerships make for win-win situations. Customers benefit from a more complete suite of payroll solutions and vendors reach new customers and expand their business. In this economy, we’re all trying to make the most of what resources we have.
If you’re considering a payroll vendor or if you have an established relationship with one, it makes sense for your organization to save money and take advantage of their research in vetting quality partners who can bring more value to their product offering.
To find
Add comment July 16, 2009
Payroll professionals, here’s how to make yourself indispensible
The person at this desk was dispensible, for example
So the number of new payroll jobs is down, salaries are below average, and the economy has just about everyone reaching into the sofa cushions for spare change.
Hmmm. An extra $2.13 is helpful, but there are ways to secure your job – and even advance your career – despite the depressing economy. Here we offer three ways to make yourself indispensible.
1. Be the Guru
Try rebranding yourself as the “innovator” or “payroll guru” in your department. Companies are much more likely to promote you if you appear to be knowledgeable and always presenting them with new ideas and while your ultimate goal may not be to have scores of loyal followers hovering around your desk, what you do want is to appear knowledgeable at staff meetings.
To elevate yourself to “guru” status, begin by researching your industry’s best practices and reading about current trends. Then, create a list of top performing organizations to study and tackle them one by one. Payroll is not generally seen as a competitive task, so you may find that people at these other companies are more than happy to share their expertise with you. Take advantage of this opportunity. Invite them out to lunch and pick their brains!
To keep yourself focused on this new challenge, set specific daily goals that are in line with your hopes for the future. This will not only make you look good and impress your colleagues, it will give you genuine insight into ways to help your company.
2. Identify Barriers and Instigate Change
Once you have identified best practices and procedures for your organization, work within your department’s guidelines to eliminate obstacles that could impede your progress. It is not uncommon for projects to remain on the “backburner.”
For example, you may find that bi-weekly payroll has not been initiated because there was strong opposition to the idea amongst non- payroll staff. In order to address the payment schedule, you would first have to address the other staff member’s concerns.
According to a survey conducted by the American Payroll Association, 82% of companies plan to purchase new or upgraded payroll software within the next two years.
So, if your department is still manually entering data to your payroll system, they will soon be way behind the competition. If you would like to explore this and other topics in further detail, iEmployee has a complete resource library available to keep you fully updated on issues to do with timekeeping and HR services. When your company does decide to implement new systems, you will be able to spearhead the decision, if necessary.
3. Become Part of the Solution
Most companies are going to suffer to some degree in this economic climate; there is no way around it. As Bob Willis of Bloomberg reports, “the deepening credit crisis and economic slump are forcing companies to trim payrolls, investment, and production.”
The key to making it through the recession on top is to become part of the solution.Since most employers will be looking for ways to cut costs and optimize resources, the best thing to do is to help them by coming up with solutions for affecting change. Remember that keeping the company’s profit and loss sheet healthy will benefit the employees in the long run.
Be flexible when suggesting improvements, however – it will increase the odds that your peers will accept your ideas. The important thing is to be seen actively seeking solutions to the department’s problems and showing management that you are a team
Add comment July 7, 2009
Curious about the White House payroll?
According to the White House blog, every administration has been required to present a salary report to Congress since 1995. This may be the first year, however that the same report is made available to the public on a blog.
Salaries range from $36,000 for an administrative assistant to $192,000 for director of public health policy.
You can search the payroll for job titles and salaries on this page, from which you can also download a PDF of the list. Or scroll through the list below to browse salaries. You’ll have to go to another page, though, to apply for a job.
Add comment July 6, 2009
Percentage of new payroll specialist jobs down, again
According to Indeed.com, the number of new job openings under the “payroll specialist” title is down more than 15% from last July. The average salary for payroll specialists postings as of July 2009 is $36,000, which is 38% lower than average salaries for all job postings nationwide.
Here’s a sampling of salaries for various payroll-related jobs available now:
Payroll and Staffing Assistant
$50,000
Payroll Tax Specialist
$42,0000
ADP Payroll Specialist
$33,000
To see more data about payroll specialists jobs available to day, click graphic below.
Data from indeed.com
Add comment July 6, 2009
Do your employees know buddy-punching is fraud?
If a co-worker/friend asks you to clock in for her, do you do it? Payroll professionals know better. They know that buddy-punching isn’t a favor you do for a friend, it’s an act of fraud against your employer – one that could get you fired at least, in prison at worst.
But do your fellow employees know that buddy-punching is fraud? It can be a difficult conversation between an employer and the employees, but consider this: More than 70 percent of companies suffer losses of up to five percent as a result of buddy-punching. The good news is, there are sure-fire ways to stop it.
Automated time and attendance software can solve the buddy-punching problem. First, it eliminates the opportunity. Every employee has to log in with their own password, and because the password allows anyone who knows it to know other information besides time and attendance, there are built-in incentives to keep it private.
Beyond that, you could choose the card-swipe option – only the holder of the employee’s card could “punch” them in. Or to make buddy-punching absolutely impossible, many companies are opting for biometric time and attendance solutions for the ultimate in security.
iEmployee offers each of these options for time and attendance, plus the online tracking system improves payroll accuracy and eliminated the need for paper timesheets or punch cards.
To learn more about the perils of buddy-punching, download our free white paper ‘How to Stop Budget Leaks.”
Add comment July 1, 2009
