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4 Strategic reasons to outsource payroll
4 Strategic Reasons to Outsource Payroll Services | OPS According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, strategy means “a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal, usually over a long period of time.” Interestingly, the first known use of the verb “outsource”, also quoted from Merriam-Webster, was in 1979. In this context, payroll outsourcing provides companies with a well-tracked strategy of several decades for business success. Where the phrase “business success” is not clearly defined. I’m going to call it “business goal” because that takes the pressure off a little. The first step in unlocking success from outsourcing payroll as a strategy for your business is to define the goal of the strategy, which is conveniently the same as the reasons for outsourcing. Outsourcing payroll has huge benefits for companies at all stages of growth, even a small start-up enterprise. If you see payroll outsourcing as a strategic investment, the cost in relation to the benefit over time is sure to make any business owner consider it seriously. Strategic Reason #1: Cost reduction You read it right. Even though the service might look like a big, regular expense for your small profit-and-loss account, outsourcing payroll means your business pay a single fee every month. Compare this to regular expenses like payroll staff salaries, IT staff because you had to buy inhouse software, more expenses to keep the software updated, security protocols for safeguarding sensitive information, and training. You can visualize it on a stress dial like the one below. Having payroll inhouse, your stress dial is going to jump to the uncomfortable red zone, whereas outsourcing this function...
Benefits of Centralising Middle East Payroll
The Benefits of Centralising Middle East Payroll | OPS Once a company has branches or subsidiaries in more than one country in the Middle East, the question of centralising administrative functions becomes a primary focus. One of the functions in the spotlight is HR and payroll. There are arguable benefits to keeping payroll local. Things like needing a smaller number of resources to manage payroll on an in-country basis, real-time response and better employee records are some of the arguments for keeping payroll local to the branch or subsidiary. However, parking the arguments for localization, centralised systems and management of groupwide functions have numerous benefits. That is what this post will investigate. 1. Current, real-time reporting Having a centralised payroll process allows for easy comparison and analysis between countries in the Middle East region, giving an organisation the ability to measure the same outcomes across multiple jurisdictions. The company does an apples-for-apples comparison, ensuring that you’re comparing the same datasets and formats for meaningful results. Additionally, getting data from numerous sources would require payroll to manually piece together reports from different countries’ branches that can be time consuming and easily contain errors. If you centralise a multi-country payroll in one place, real-time comprehensive and meaningful payroll reporting can provide instant meaningful insights, translating to instantaneous responses and adjustments to opportunities and problems. 2. Reduce overheads Centralised payroll can save your company lots of money. You have one system that is managed in one place by one central team of specialists, instead of multiple systems to maintain and manage in multiple locations with multiple teams of specialists. When...
Outsourced Payroll Solutions Nominated for 2 Global Payroll Awards
Outsourced Payroll Solutions (OPS) the leading payroll provider in the Middle East for nearly 20 years have been shortlisted for 2 awards at the Global Payroll Awards 2021. The Global Payroll awards are an annual event hosted by the Global Payroll Association. The awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of payroll professionals, technology, and providers of the year. The awards recognise the outstanding achievements of businesses and individuals within the payroll community and have been running since 2016. This year, The Global Payroll Association received a record number of submissions, over doubling those of 2020. Outsourced Payroll Solutions (OPS) were honoured to be shortlisted for two categories: GPA Outstanding Award 2021 In-Country Payroll Provider of the Year 2021 “In the last 18 months, the OPS (Outsourced Payroll Solutions) team surpassed expectations and thrived. We as a team will remember 4 highlights in 2020, and it dimmed the adversary of the pandemic for us. Firstly we welcomed a host of new clients. Secondly, we developed a payroll software specific for our clients’ complex needs. Thirdly, we improved payroll processes to move clients to automation and provided more visibility with system access. Lastly, we launched both a payroll training academy and a payroll professional community that is growing faster than we anticipated. I am very proud of their hard work, and it is wonderful to see that their achievements are being recognised by the wider payroll community, and we are excited to see how we can positively impact our team, our clients, and the community.”- Diana Geldenhuys, Founder & CEO. The awards will be held in person in Hatfield, United Kingdom...
Strategies for Payroll Success
Key Strategies for Payroll Success in Your Business | OPS The Oxford definition of “strategy” is “a plan of action to achieve a long-term or overall aim”. As a verb, it means “the art of planning and directing overall operations and movement”.Tackling a company’s payroll strategically is not just clever. It’s essential for the whole system in the company to function optimally. It ensures that everyone knows their part, what actions are required when, and dictates the expected outcome. Synonymously we can call it the Masterplan, the Blueprint, or plain and simple, prevailing sanity. Because let’s face it, if Payroll doesn’t function, chaos ensues, and everyone becomes a little crazier. Not the path we choose to go down. Instead, strategic payroll is easily accomplished with a little organisational introspection. Why not to wing it A Payroll Masterplan helps an organisation to adapt to ever-changing circumstances, on the employees’ side, the company’s behalf, and for compliance’s sake. It future proofs a company to be robust and scalable. So, planning is essential. But where to start? 1. Payroll efficiency Payroll’s single biggest responsibility is to pay salaries correctly and on time, no matter what. The biggest determinants for success are your payroll employees and the resources they need to function successfully.Payroll staff must have the appropriate skillset to be good at what they do. Payroll might not entail splitting an atom, but it is a specialized career and requires proper knowledge. Ensure you work with the right internal and external payroll experts, and that you have the right payroll partner, if you outsource. Look at the customer support and...
How to Build an Employee Benefits Package
How to Build an Employee Benefits Package | OPS Gone are the days when employees would work for a company that pays a salary and perhaps a bonus. Today’s workforce want more tailored benefits. Work is more integrated into our day-to-day living than ever before. Culturally we’ve evolved as workers. Therefore companies who keep their talent engaged by offering more comprehensive benefits are likely more successful in their sectors. The work comes down to HR to create the benefits package that suits the business needs and culture, vision of growth, and is not only in tune with the talent market’s needs, but also ahead of the competition. The basics The basic benefits are a good starting point. This includes not only a competitive salary and monetary incentives, but also other valuable add-ons like medical insurance and a good pension contribution. Then look broader. Mandatory and standard UAE benefits In the UAE, employers must include certain benefits mandated by Labour Law, and standard benefits offered to employees. 1. Social Security – Employers must contribute 12.5% for Emiratis. This does not apply to expat employees.2. Special holidays – During Ramadan, the workday is two hours shorter. Additionally, the UAE celebrates seven public holidays, entitling employees to 14 days of leave on top of normal leave entitlement.3. Paid leave – If an employee has work at least one year at a company, the employer must grant 30 days of paid leave annually to the employee.4. Work and residency permits – Employers must arrange and pay for employees’ work and residency visas where applicable.5. Health insurance – Employers are required to...
12 Top Compliance Tips
Top 12 Compliance Tips for Your Business | OPS Payroll compliance is not as complicated as one thinks. If you know what to do, you will ensure that your company does not incur any penalties. Tips and tricks are what gets us through our daily lives and what good would those be if not making business and following tax laws a little easier for us. Just like those self-help and home living tips that we use in our personal lives, in business these tips can help you explore how to avoid expenses and keep yourself and employees happy. Here are 12 of these tips to avoid your penalties: 1. Keep accurate personal records Records, records, records… A word we hear all the time in business and when said multiple times becomes lost to meaning but in relation to compliance, this word holds a lot of value because it is what makes the company and its filing credible. Your records are breadcrumbs that you can use to go back and forth in time whenever your need and these allow you to compare your company past and present. Every change with the employee, from promotion to personal details need to be processed immediately and correctly so that it upholds the credibility of the company and is the basis of every payroll. Every employee record also holds this breadcrumb trail because it can be used to trace their personal successes and progress and their progress in their personal which is very important during audits and appraisals. 2. Manage employee expectations As the employer, one needs to ensure that your employees...
Saudi Arabia Labour Law
Key Insights on Saudi Arabia Labour Law for Employers | OPS Saudi Arabia, officially named The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is one of the six countries that form the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). It is located between the Red Sea and The Arabian Gulf and grew its financial influence after discovering substantial petroleum deposits in 1938. Since then, it has become an attractive place for companies to expand their businesses, and as a result a popular place for expats to move and work there. As with all other GCC countries, employment is governed by the local Labour Law, and in Saudi Arabia, the Labour Law is governed by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. Employment Before you can hire an employee, you must first make sure you have the right to hire employees and the legal documentation (such as a valid trade license from the appropriate authority). All employers in Saudi Arabia must provide a valid employment contract in Arabic (and English depending on their native tongue) to any new employee they wish to hire. When operating in the Private sector of KSA, you must also be aware of the Saudization programme: Nitaqat, which aims to increase the employment of Saudi Nationals in the private sector. Nitaqat requires employers with over nine employees to a hire a percentage of Saudi Nationals. The percentages are dependant on the company’s industry and number of employees. Salary In November 2020, the General Organisation for Social Security (GOSI) announced a minimum wage for Saudi Nationals who are 50 years of age or older of SR 3,000 per month. This...
What is a GL and how does it link with payroll (OPS)
What Is a GL and How It Links to Payroll Operations | OPS The ins and outs of payroll and how this can affect both HR and the wider company can be both complex and confusing, thankfully (as always…) we’re here to help! So, no more lengthy rabbit holes down the never-ending internet vacuum trying to find the answer, simply sit back and relax as we give you all the information you need to know. GL Definition Firstly, let’s start with a definition, GL stands for General Ledger and refers to a company’s organisational system that tracks all of the company’s financial transactions in one organised account. Matters normally recorded in the company’s general ledger include but isn’t limited to: assets, liabilities, expenses, income, revenue etc. This is important to keep both up to date and factually correct as it’s used to create the company’s financial statements at the end of the financial year. How does it link with payroll? So now you have a brief understanding of what GL is, you’re probably wondering how this links to payroll? Well within the general ledger the payroll also needs to be accounted for. Firstly, your company needs a payroll software, this will track and process all of the information regarding pay within your company such as hours worked, rates of pay, any deductions etc. Then your payroll needs, or in an ideal world should be, integrated to your general ledger. By integrating the two systems you’ll provide a seamless and efficient HR process which frees up your employee’s time to work on larger projects and allows the reduction...
The Difference between USA and UAE Payroll
The Difference Between USA and UAE Payroll Explained | OPS The Taxation journey can be very much like Dorothy venturing into OZ if you think of business as the hot air balloon and the hurricane as compliance and tax regulation. It can be a very confusing journey at first, and your wicked witch of the west – we can all figure out who this is – is constantly being right behind you, waiting for you to make a mistake. Just like Dorothy’s journey, tax can be, for a lack of a better phrase, complicated in its complexities. These complexities can also be seen in the payroll tax practices of the US and the Middle East alike. Whilst they have different procedures and rules, each of these have their own specific set of regulations which one needs to comply with every time. Payroll in the USA The aspect of US payroll that causes the most problems is taxation. The USA has two main branches of taxes within their system; Income tax and Social security tax – this includes Medicare taxes. The employer is allowed to retain income taxes at the rates of about 10%-37% depending on the earning of the employee and these taxes rates are set by each individual state, additionally, the wages that are subject to income tax include holiday allowances, salaries, commissions, bonuses, and fringe benefits. Similarly, the social security tax is contributed by both the employee and employer but the tax is still withheld from the employees wages. Their tax regulatory, the Federal Income Contributions Act [FICA], states that taxes should include Old age survivors and...
How payroll outsourcing increases HR productivity
How Payroll Outsourcing Can Increase HR Productivity | OPS Payroll management is complex, but critical to any organisation. Payroll outsourcing can not only save time, labour and money, but also offers an array of benefits that can clearly improve any business. HR and other business resources can focus on driving the company strategy, increasing productivity in all areas of the business. Why outsource? Payroll outsourcing means that a company tasks an external services provider with the payroll function of the business. 1. Save time and increase efficiency Payroll management demands a lot of time, understanding country-specific legislation, keeping up to date with any legislative changes, collating and managing all payroll information. This function is often on top of other in-house responsibilities and can be burdensome. Often the in-house payroll function would fall to HR. Outsourcing the function means HR staff have time to focus on their core responsibilities, aligning and managing the company’s dearest resource, its people. 2. Secure Outsourcing also adds another layer of security to your employees’ data. The HR manager has peace of mind that the employees’ information is secure and safe. Outsourcing payroll means the employer does not manage data storage, ensure appropriate ISO certification and worry about the latest updates to safeguard the payroll data from malware or malfunction. Payroll outsourcing companies offer secure data storage in the Cloud, which is highly secure, utilising gold-standard encryption and backup. Additionally, HR no longer carries the responsibility to regularly train payroll staff and update payroll software. 3. Mitigate payroll risks HR avoids issues like errors on payslips, administrative audits and late payments...
What is payroll processing?
The payroll process is the glorious glamorous beauty who steps out onto the red carpet, effortlessly breathtaking when all the cameras start flashing. What? Never thought of payroll that way? Being glamorous and gorgeous does not happen all by itself. It takes hours of relentless work to obtain perfection. Many employees may not even stop to think about what lies behind the money magically appearing in their bank accounts. But payroll processing takes careful step-by-step planning to efficiently work through this elaborate process and crucial business function. Strict diet and exercise The payroll process is the undertaking of arriving at employees’ net pay – the gross income, including salary, allowances and other payments to the employee, minus all gross deductions for the employee. The deductions include regular, statutory and one-time deductions. The payroll administrator must carefully plan and polish the payroll process. The perfect figure requires a strict diet and hardcore exercise regime that includes the following steps: Collect and maintain accurate employee information. Ensure all employee paperwork is current and on file. Contracts must be in place, bank details for each employee up to date, medical insurance documents and employee handbook and policies signed. Record employee time and attendance The better your company’s time and attendance tracking, the closer to perfection you come. But beware, the quality difference between a manual timekeeping system and a digital one is the canyon that divides your Jimmy Choos, and the stilettos bought from Dragon Mart. HR software, or even better, the Cloud, offers the best time and attendance solutions the industry has to offer. Ask us for more information. Calculate the...
Five reasons why tech is important in accounting
Five Reasons Why Tech Is Crucial in Accounting | OPS Accounting is an old profession, but the technology used should not be. As financial officer or chief accountant of your business, you set the accounting policies and processes. There are plenty of reasons why you should go for gold, so to speak. Technology in accounting practices optimize results and give greater cohesion and accuracy to a firm’s financial accounting. We can think of at least five reasons why technology is something accounting practices cannot go without. 1. Financial forecasting and modeling Good software that is worth your time and investment will offer an assortment of report functions, often customizable for the individual nature of a specific business. These metric tools are perfectly suited to easily produce financial forecasting by identifying trends, run comparisons and model certain projected outcomes. If you can have all this by merely pressing a button, why would you go without it? 2. Put an end to paper records Good payroll and accounting software allow brilliant audit trails. If you run software on a server, it can store 100,000 times more data than file cabinets in seven blocks of warehouses. You can access the stored data basically immediately. Not the relentless paging through endless drawers of filing. And if you go into the Cloud with your accounts, your possibilities for paper trails, secure storage and ease of access become endless. What a timesaver! 3. Easy management of tasks and calendars Never miss a tax deadline again. Digital calendar management tools should be part of every respectable accounting office. The online calendar creates alerts...
How to avoid payroll mistakes
How to Avoid Common Payroll Mistakes and Errors | OPS Payroll in a business is like breathing in a body. It happens automatically without thinking, but if it doesn’t work, the whole system shuts down. A system shut down, or death, is what we all want to avoid at all costs. Payroll is out of sight, out of mind, but crucial to the wellbeing of the organization. Humans handle payroll, and therefore mistakes do creep in, but what you want to avoid is the regular occurrence of common mistakes. Mistake #1: Missing deadlines Paying employees on time is crucial. Miss a key deadline and the company has disgruntled employees on hand – and with good reason. In Payroll, delivering accurate salaries, on time in employees’ bank accounts must happen consistently. Equally, missing deadlines for taxes or state-required payments can adversely affect a company’s bottom line with penalties and interest. It is wise to strictly adhere to these deadlines too. Mistake #2: Miscalculating salaries Yes, payroll has many moving parts. Commission, overtime, basic salaries, leave tracking, study loans, unpaid leave. Ensure time tracking in the business is up to the job, or employees will lose faith in the organization as an employer and your reputation will be marred. Mistake #3: Sloppy recordkeeping and back-ups In the UAE, the authorities require companies to keep payroll records for at least four years. However, leave records are mandated to be kept for three years. It starts getting complicated. Meticulous recording of timesheets, overtime schedules, leave documentation, both paid and unpaid – all things pertaining to payroll, is essential. Backing up...
How OPS can help cut down on payroll admin
How OPS Can Help Cut Down on Payroll Administration | OPS The world changes subtly day to day. We adapt to the pace or different slants of conducting our days, and navigate the changes intuitively. We often don’t even spare a thought to the fact that there had been a tiny change or two. The past two years, however, we have seen remarkable change in how we live as a species. The global Pandemic has changed us on a cellular level – literally! Remote work, the way we meet colleagues, clients, how we inhabit office spaces, common spaces – these changed overnight. These are not light changes. They affect cultures of organisations. Cultural shifts are rarely this rapid, but we had to adapt, or else. Therefore, now that the dust is settling a little, we have an opportunity to assess whether our practices are still relevant or obsolete. Think about it: is the way you run your payroll still applicable to the way your business has evolved over the past one-and-a-half year? Does it suit your budget, workforce, the time you have on hand, whether you have an HR manager or an entire department – or perhaps had to do away with both because you had to downsize? Perhaps you are lucky and have grown during these unusual times, but it is too early to have a large HR or Accounts department, or you don’t have time to find the right people, fast. Have a chilled sparkling water, put your feet up, and stay CALM. OPS can assist, and here is how. The benefits of outsourcing payroll ...
Payroll Checklist
Payroll Checklist: Steps for Efficient Payroll Management | OPS Many people who are not on payroll think that a payroll team is just a group of accountants organizing pay slips and mailing them to the respective employees. Sometimes departments do not understand the intricacies of each step in the process, every check and calculation that needs to be made so that everybody gets their due payment. It is quite a strenuous and detail-oriented task but, this is the reason why it is important to have a checklist, so that you are sure that you are not missing out any essential processes that can jeopardise the payroll. If your main thought now is “W-WHAT IS A PAYROLL CHECKLIST?! DID I ALWAYS NEED ONE? I DON’T HAVE ONE. HOW CAN I GET ONE?”, you don’t need to worry, what follows is a payroll checklist that will ensure you have the most flawless payroll process that pays for itself in the end. Ensure you have a company calendar. When you have a job as complicated and stressful a payroll specialist, it is essential to be organised, as it can be easy to lose track of important dates because you are so busy with your work. When you create your payroll checklist, including a company calendar can ensure that you have control over your time and that you are aware of any important dates, like submission and approval days so that you do not upset your schedule or your work, you can plan both to correspond with the important days. Have public holidays recorded Recording your public holidays are especially...Got a question?
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