While payroll is a key function of the finance team within a business, human resources (HR) is another department that looks after employee relations.
Payroll and HR serve two different roles within larger operations but share many functions crucial to business success. In fact, many small businesses have a payroll team that also handles HR functions.
So, what's the difference between the two? Should payroll be a HR function?
Payroll as a process is when employees receive a salary for the work they have completed. This process includes reconciliation, deposits and reports of the payments to employees.
Using payroll management software in HR can help reduce the amount of paperwork needed when updating employee payroll information to the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
A payroll software combined with HR functions allows you to handle wage deductions, verify pay data and handle record-keeping in one place. Additionally, payroll management is also in charge of reimbursements, overtime, holiday pay, bonuses, tax compliance, and paperwork for new and existing employees.
HR professionals handle performance management and generally serve as a bridge between management and employees.
As the overall function of HR is people, many different responsibilities fall into their purview. This may include recruitment, staff management, maintaining company culture, staff development and training – to name a few.
The two departments have to work together on different tasks across an organisation. HR and payroll share many functions including salary, bonus, employee benefits, leave, recruitment and termination.
There are several steps HR and payroll teams must take to ensure payroll data is accurate and for the HR software to work optimally. For example, when dealing with maternity leave, there are both financial regulations to follow and a duty of care for employers as well.
Ultimately, it's up to the business owner to decide whether payroll should be in the HR or finance department, or on its own. But for many small business owners, it makes sense to combine these departments into one functional team.
Payroll in HR is an essential part of building and promoting strong relationships between an organisation and its employees. HR management software integrated with payroll solutions allows your business to run smoothly.
With automated attendance data, it simplifies pay calculation, deductions, and salary distribution. There's no need to stress about tax reporting and filing either, the system keeps the ATO updated automatically with the latest Single Touch Payroll (STP) regulations within QuickBooks cloud payroll software powered by Employment Hero.
There are many aspects of both functions that have to be done properly to ensure the smooth running of your business. Payroll in HR means correct employee classification during onboarding, which ensures that health insurance, tax withholding, and superannuation are accurate. Timesheets also require verification, and with HR and payroll software solutions, your software can look for inconsistencies to ensure you do not overspend your payroll budget.
Payroll produces payslips that should detail gross pay, hours worked during the pay period, deductions, and net pay. Much of that information comes from the HR attendance function. That’s where our efficient software solution comes in and combines these two functions, offering a simple way to do critical data keeping.
Often HR and Payroll teams need to:
Luckily, this can be done simply with the right payroll software.
One of the best steps a business owner can make is to find the right tools and the right team. A strong payroll system is a major part of both. It's easy to see the influence of payroll in HR when you zoom out and look at the functions of both separately and see how they overlap. This won't just save you time, it will save you money, and improve employee relations as well.
If you're a small business owner, you need to invest in tools that will work for you. With QuickBooks Payroll, you get the best of both worlds. With the right software solutions, you can comply with tax laws, as you manage payroll processes and HR functions. It makes dealing with income taxes simple, and you can use your list of employees to plan the roster, manage, and more.
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