For a small business, payroll management can be the most stressful task in your month-to-month operations. There’s so much minutiae, paperwork, and regulations. It can be incredibly time-consuming, but you absolutely cannot take any shortcuts… the stakes are far too high.
If you make a mistake on your small business payroll, someone could get paid less or more than they should be. Or even worse: your business could face costly fines, fees, or litigation!
Most of these businesses have asked:
- Does my business need to make the move at all?
- Will the benefits outweigh the costs?
- How will I know if it’s the right time to make a move?
- How do I choose the right provider?
- How do I make the switch?
We absolutely understand that this can be a big decision for your small business; so let us share our knowledge with you on why, when, and how to outsource your payroll.
Why Should My Business Outsource Our Payroll?
There are many reasons to make the change from in-house payroll to outsourced small business payroll. Here are the biggest:
It’s cheaper than hiring someone in-house
As you know, the cost of an employee is far more than their salary. On top of their pay, you’ll need to provide benefits, training, equipment, and productivity software.
Outsourcing your payroll is likely to be far more affordable.
It’s faster and more accurate.
Specialization is the name of the game. You’re a business owner, so you already know that to maximize your operations, you’ve got to put the right people in charge of the right tasks.
For established businesses—such as those we know in Richmond or Norfolk—switching to a specialist means moving past the stress of in-house paperwork and reclaiming the hours needed to focus on your actual mission.
However… that is precisely our specialty here at Capital Payroll Partners. When you outsource with us or a business like ours, you’re tasking the job to the people who are the best at it. That means accurate results… and as we’ve outlined above, you know how important it is to be accurate.
Your employees will appreciate it
Most payroll companies have a bounty of services they can offer you and your employees, such as:
- Direct deposit
- Apps and portals where your employees can manage their payroll info
- Online timekeeping
- Remote Onboarding
- HR Services
- Digital Paystubs
- Retirement plan/401k management (we work with Human Interest)
- Automated regulatory paperwork generation (W-2s, etc.)
Your employees will love having these services at their fingertips, and just as important, you’ll no longer need to be directly involved with managing any of the things above for your team. Win-win!
When Should My Business Outsource Its Payroll?
So now that you understand the benefits of outsourcing, you’re probably wondering if it’s time to make the move. Deciding when to upgrade to outsourced payroll can be the hardest task in the whole process.
However, we have a few simple questions that may help you determine if it’s the right time to change.
- Are you making mistakes on your payroll?
- Are mistakes costing your business money?
- Have you missed a payroll run?
- Are you spending time on payroll operations that could be better spent anywhere else?
- Are your current employees complaining, or have you lost out on hires because of your payroll setup?
- Are issues with laws and regulations landing your business in hot water?
- Do you just hate doing it? This might seem like a silly reason to outsource, but it’s absolutely not. Payroll compliance demands strict attention, and if you can’t stand doing your payroll, you’ll breeze through it and make mistakes. That’s a big problem!
- Are you comfortable with delegating these responsibilities?
If you answered yes to any of these, it’s time to outsource your small business payroll.
How Do I Outsource My Small Business Payroll?
Alright, you’ve made up your mind. You’re going to outsource your payroll! We think it’s a great move, and one that will pave the way for increased profitability and success for your business. So how do you start the process?
Well, there’s nothing but good news there: it’s much easier than it might sound at first, and the job of any good payroll provider is to work with you to simplify and expedite the outsourcing process. Here’s how we recommend tackling the outsourcing process:
Do some accounting
To figure out the right fit for your business, you’ll need to do some accounting.
You’ll need to know how much you can spend on payroll, how many employees you have, how often you want them to get checks, their wages and exemptions, their payroll expectations, and everything in between.
Figuring these numbers out will inform your research and help you find the right service for your business.
Just keep in mind that your needs today might not be your needs tomorrow – and you always want to leave some room for growth!
Growth Insight: For businesses making the switch—such as those in Lynchburg or Stafford—the right provider can scale with you as you grow from a handful of employees to a full local team.
Do your research
Take the data you’ve found above and get some quotes! Most outsourced payroll services will be happy to walk you through their process and prices. For instance, we offer a 100% free, no-strings-attached demo of our payroll solutions. Information like that is crucial to making the right decision.
Make the call
You know your variables, and after a few demos and quotes, you know theirs. Now all that’s left is to solve the equation (we hope you’ll forgive our math analogies… we’re payroll people after all!).
The payroll company that fits you and your employees’ needs, that can scale up easily with your business, at a price you’re comfortable with? That should be your new payroll provider!
Let them do what they do!
Let them know the good news, and they’ll take care of (most of) the rest. You’ll need to work with them over the coming pay period to get all your ducks in a row, but after that, it’s smooth sailing.
It’s Time to Supercharge Your Small Business
Outsourcing the payroll of your small business can be a really hard decision to make, but trust us… It’s the right one. We hope that after reading this blog, you agree!
If you’ve decided to move forward with outsourcing your payroll, we’d love to help. We are the payroll provider for many small businesses like yours, in various industries, and they all agree: choosing to use our payroll solutions is one of the best decisions they’ve made. If you’d like to talk, give us a ring, request a price quote online, or get in touch using the form below!