There is no shortage of red tape in payroll. Sometimes it can seem like the whole process can be more fitted to a law school graduate, a person trained for years to read legalese and jargon so warped by years of constant flagellation that the intent of the words is almost impossible to discern. That’s how the paperwork can feel, at least.
In this new era of online benefits administration, however, HR processes are very different. An article from P&C360 does an excellent job of explaining just why that looks to be the case. This provides us with an opportunity to have a few insights into the old benefits administration failure and how the software can help be a salve.
- Accuracy and Efficiency: With paperwork, the more employees a company has, the more time is needed just to process paperwork. Benefits administration software allows single information to be inputted a single time and be accessed multiple times. It’s simple, and it clears up nagging human error — legibility. Because HR professionals have such a surplus of responsibilities — tending to the responsibilities of enrollments, invoicing, paperwork — that have nothing to do with profit generating or productivity in general, the last thing they need is more to do! Online benefits can include a website where employee questions can be directed, rather than going to HR.
- Hidden Costs: Especially interesting is that often employees have no idea of the true costs and employer takes on for each job position. There are contributions for benefits, PTO issues, FICA, Social Security, and many others. Because these are items that were rarely before been seen by employees, including these into benefits administration software in the form of a reporting feature is of great value.
- Forms, Forms, and Forms: Anyone who’s had a job knows the first day will be spent signing your name over and over again. It’s the same way that HR never seems to have the one document or record you need. Those are petty concerns to employees, to employers there’s a real monetary loss for the process of paperwork and filing and the necessary staff. Benefits administration software allows a reduction of forms (the way filling out a tax return has gotten easier with online tax preparation software), and complete access to any document required. It’s more convenient, faster, and it saves money.
- Kept Secret and Safe: Last we come to the two issues of security and privacy. Benefits administration, traditionally done with paperwork in filing cabinets, has more than a few weak links in terms of security. It’s even a Hollywood style cliché. In Batman Returns, the true villain is revealed when his secretary looks through his office cabinet and finds incriminating evidence. Online benefits administration software prevents both the snooping and the illegal behavior, by allowing secure logins while granting administrators more access to data and reports.
The simple matter is that online benefits administration software is faster, more accurate, more reliable, cheaper, more secure and more private than the old way of doing things.
photo courtesy Teemu Mäntynen
