Archive for September, 2009
Hello, Texas Payroll Conference in San Antonio!
Greetings from San Antonio, Texas!
We’re at the Texas Payroll Conference 2009 in San Antonio, having a great time at Booth #28.
One of the best things about the Texas Payroll Conference is that we’re Texans, too. iEmployee is based in Austin, so we’re just a short drive up the road. We’re proud to have so many of our clients in Texas, and it’s fun to meet you all in person, shake hands, and talk payroll.
Lots of you have stopped by the booth already to say hi and learn a little about our time and attendance solution, which is fantastic because we know you’re busy in between sessions. If you only have a minute, here are the top three things you should know about iEmployee:
1. It’s Web based. That means no software to install, no IT department needed, no upgrades to worry about. Plus employees, managers and payroll administrators can access it from any computer at any time. Simple.
2. We customize it for you. Whether you have one office or several offices, whether each employee works for one client or several, whether you pay weekly, monthly… you get it. We learn about your business and how you do payroll, and we create iEmployee for you.
3. It’s the fastest way to eliminate the headache that can be payroll. Imagine … no more paper , no more entering data in Excel, no more wondering if an employee is coming into overtime. With iEmployee, all this information is automated and self-service. Entering time sheets, approving them, making payroll off of them is all done with a click.
We hope you’ll stop by the booth and ask us some questions. Or you can contact us at anytime here.
Add comment September 17, 2009
National Payroll Week, Sept 7-11!
It’s National Payroll Week 2009! Not sure what it is?
Here’s what it’s not: A week during which anyone who processes payroll can take a vacation. Too bad.
Here’s what it is: The American Payroll Association’s campaign to educate 156 million wager earners about their paychecks and celebrate the payroll professionals who pay them.
The website is a great resource for learning about how to get the most of their paycheck with savings, retirement planning, managing child support payments, and other deductions. There are also (ahem!) a number of ideas for celebrating that special payroll professional in your life.
If you’re doing something to celebrate National Payroll Week, please share.We especially want to hear from our iEmployee customers. How has automated time and attendance made payroll easier for you? That’s worth celebrating!
PS: Don’t forget to join us on our new Facebook page! We want to build a community of payroll pros – and the people who love them – so we can share/commiserate about the highs and lows of processing payroll.
We’ve been following lots of you out there on Twitter – you’re hilarious! I hope we can get together online and learn a little more about each other. (http://twitter.com/iemployee
Add comment September 8, 2009
Walmart employees to receive check cards, not paychecks
The news today that Walmart would issue payroll cards for employees not on direct deposit – as opposed to checks and stubs – struck us as innovative… at first. Then a million questions came into our heads.
I spoke to Jeff Vogt, FPC, iEmployee Product Specialist about the postives and negatives of this move.
“Obviously this is going to save them a lot of money,” said Vogt. ”From an employer perspective, you setup direct deposit to payroll cards the same way you handle traditional direct deposit to a checking account.”
According to the American Payroll Association, about 30 percent of the U.S. population in unbanked. That means they’re more likely to cash their paychecks, pay a fee, then carry around a dangerous amount of cash.
Payroll cards eliminate many of these problems, says Vogt. So there are definitely upsides for employees, too.
But what would be a downside to using payroll cards? “Change,” says Vogt.
“I remember when people were nervous about direct deposit. Employees just really want to see that check. So I imagine it would be difficult to break employees of the habit of expecting a paper check or stub.”
Here’s more data from the American Payroll Association:
- As much as 30% of the U.S. population does not have a bank account
- More than four million paychecks are lost or stolen each year
- Lost paycheck replacement costs are estimated to be $48 million annually
- Companies can save up to $1.25 per payment using electronic disbursement instead of checks
- The chance of having a problem with a check is 20 times greater than with direct deposit
- Studies show that employees may spend the equivalent of three work days each year going to the bank
If you’re considering using a payroll card system, here is an overview of guidelines for choosing a vendor. (For the complete list, go to ConsumersUnion.org.)
1. Don’t use a payroll card vendor unless you know it is financially sound.
2. Use your contract with the issuer to require consumer protection equal to bank debit cards.
3. Pay the monthly fee or negotiate a contract with the issuer that there will be no monthly fee.
4. Identify and restrict the fees to employees in your contract with the issuer.
5. Check whether the card gives your employees money management choices, such as a direct debit to pay regular bills, or a direct transfer every month into a savings account.
6. Can the account be overdrawn, and if so, what happens?
7. Give employees a choice.
8. Require protections for your employees’ financial information in the payroll card contract.
9. Make the payroll card a first step toward improved financial stability for your employees.
10. Choose a payroll card that does not encourage your employees to borrow from future paychecks.
11. Will your employees be able to receive all card information, and telephone customer service, in a primary language other than English?
Add comment September 3, 2009
