How Does Automated Payroll Help LGU HR Teams?

How does automated payroll help LGU HR teams? It allows HR personnel to review attendance, payroll, input records in a more organized way. While in the case of manual payroll preparation, HR teams need to go through attendance files, leave documents, overtime inputs, employee loans, and deduction information through separate records, they have a workflow in place that supports payroll preparation purposes.

In the context of an LGU, payroll accuracy is essential for all employees in various departments. Any missing attendance record, incomplete leave form, omitted overtime input, or missing deduction information leads to additional checking for HR personnel as well as delays in the work of employees who want accurate payroll information.

Connected GoLGU HR Management System allows HR personnel to work on their HR-related workflows that involve biometric timekeeping records, cloud-based attendance information, and various payroll-related factors such as leaves, overtime, holidays, employee loans, deductions, among others.

For LGU leaders, the solution of choosing an appropriate payroll preparation approach is simple – to assist their HR teams to deal with records, inputs, and other information more efficiently and accurately.

Why Payroll Preparation Process Gets Complicated for LGU HR Teams

LGU HR teams are responsible not only for payroll preparation but also for managing attendance, leave, overtime, holiday, loans, deduction information, as well as other payroll-related inputs. Every record and piece of information play a significant role in the payroll computation.

Therefore, the process of payroll preparation gets complicated when different records remain unconnected and separate. Attendance may be stored in a biometric device while leave requests might remain in printed format or emails. Overtime information might be placed in yet another file while deduction and loan records might need a separate manual verification before proceeding with payroll preparation.

Such an approach to handling payroll-related information leads to certain problems:

• HR staff members waste time to collect attendance information and payroll inputs manually before each payroll preparation period

• Lack or delay in receiving leave and overtime information increases the time spent on payroll preparation

• Correction of a payroll error takes more time if the source record needs to be identified

• Employees get in touch repeatedly to obtain more information about their payroll and attendance records

• Department heads lack visibility into the payroll preparation process and recurring errors or delays

Such an outcome of handling payroll-related information does not mean poor performance of HR employees. However, a disconnected process makes payroll preparation harder.

What Does the Automation of Payroll Preparation Mean for an LGU?

Automation of payroll preparation for LGUs is not just a solution to receive payslips. In practice, the automation process refers to organizing the payroll workflow to link all payroll-related records necessary for HR employees to review and calculate employee compensation.

In the context of an LGU, the payroll preparation process relies on the following information:

• Employee profile information

• Attendance and timekeeping records

• Leave information and approved documents

• Overtime information

• Holiday information and related payroll inputs

• Employee loans and deductions

• Other authorized payroll inputs

To make sure that payroll preparation goes smoothly, an LGU payroll management system should provide authorized HR employees with easy access to view all payroll-related information. The automation process gives an opportunity to perform more accurate and consistent payroll checks in order to address employee concerns easily.

The automation process is meant not to take away control of payroll preparation from HR teams. In contrast, this approach is aimed at giving HR teams a solid basis for performing payroll preparations more effectively.

How Attendance Information and Timekeeping Records Contribute to Payroll Preparation

One of the most important payroll-related inputs is attendance information. When attendance records rely on manual consolidation, HR staff members waste additional time checking log entries for the preparation of payroll.

The GoLGU HR payroll management system includes an HR workflow where biometric devices register employee time records. On-site application log servers extract all records and upload them to cloud-based servers to view attendance and time records for payroll management purposes.

Using an HR payroll workflow like that, an LGU receives a series of benefits connected to organizing attendance information for payroll purposes:

1. Employee time information is captured using biometric devices

2. All records are uploaded to a cloud-based server to be viewed by authorized HR personnel

3. HR teams review time and attendance information during payroll preparation

4. Payroll considers all relevant records and payroll inputs.

Such a payroll workflow gives an opportunity for HR teams to avoid handling numerous attendance summaries for each payroll period as well as gives a clearer base for answering employees' inquiries.

How Payroll Is Influenced by Leave, Overtime, Holiday, Loans, and Deductions

Besides attendance information, HR teams also need to account for approved leave, overtime, holiday, employee loans, and other deduction information. If the information is not linked, a missing record might influence payroll preparation process.

HR personnel might need to check multiple printed documents, confirm approvals, compare spreadsheets, and make some payroll corrections if any employee concerns occur. However, an HR payroll workflow allows connecting payroll-related records and organizing the payroll preparation process more effectively.

Using the HR payroll workflow, an LGU can connect the following payroll-related inputs to make payroll preparation more consistent and effective:

Leave Records

When leave is approved, it becomes a payroll input that needs to be considered during attendance review and payroll preparation processes. A payroll-related workflow makes the whole process clearer for HR teams as they can check leave entries that should be considered.

Overtime Records

Any approved overtime entry should be reviewed and considered during the preparation process. The HR payroll workflow allows HR teams to review all overtime entries and confirm them.

Holiday Factors

Holidays might lead to special payroll considerations when attendance, timekeeping records should be checked carefully. The HR payroll workflow offers HR teams the possibility to verify all related factors during payroll preparation.

Employee Loans and Deductions

Loans and deduction information might influence the net payroll results, which is why HR teams should have an organized workflow that enables to consider all such inputs.

Using payroll-related information in an organized workflow, HR teams receive more time to deal with payroll exceptions.

Five Advantages of Automated Payroll for LGU HR Teams

1. Reduced Attendance Data Consolidation Effort Before Payroll Preparation

If attendance data and payroll-related inputs become available in a structured HR workflow, HR personnel do not need to gather information from several records manually.

2. Better Understanding of the Source Record

HR payroll process makes it easier to understand where each payroll input came from.

3. More Efficient Collaboration Among HR Personnel

Sometimes, several HR employees participate in the payroll preparation process. With a clear workflow, all HR personnel work using the same payroll information rather than having separate documents.

4. Faster Response to Employee Questions

Each time when an employee has any concerns regarding his/her attendance records, leave entries, payroll calculations, or deductions, HR teams get faster answers because all relevant information can be accessed instantly.

5. Improved Internal Process Monitoring for Department Heads

It gets easier for department heads to track payroll-related issues when they become aware of where recurring delays take place.

When You Should Consider Checking Your Current Payroll Workflow

An LGU does not need to wait for payroll errors to occur in order to start checking the existing workflow. You need to look at the payroll process and see if the HR team deals with manual consolidation of payroll-related information regularly. For a broader view of how attendance, payroll inputs, and employee records support HR planning, read our guide on connected HR records for workforce decisions.

You should consider checking your current payroll process if:

• Your HR team needs to consolidate attendance data manually each payroll preparation cycle

• Leave and overtime entries need additional confirmation

• Recurring questions appear among employees related to attendance, payroll, deductions, and leave

• Additional checks are needed to trace the source of payroll errors and mistakes

• HR personnel cannot trace the source of information regarding employee loans and deductions

• Your department head lacks information about payroll preparation delays

When you notice such signs, it is necessary to map the existing payroll process and determine what information needs to be linked.

What Your LGU Should Consider Before Choosing an Automated Payroll Workflow

Choosing an automated payroll workflow means selecting a suitable solution that meets the actual payroll preparation needs of the LGU. Therefore, decision-makers should consider the following aspects together with HR personnel and implementers.

Ask such questions:

1. How attendance or timekeeping information is received and organized

2. Is the system capable of considering payroll inputs related to leaves, overtime, holidays, deductions, and loans

3. Authorized users who are allowed to review/process payroll information

4. How payroll-related records could be traced by HR if there were some complaints from employees

5. Training for payroll and HR personnel before the solution rollout

6. How existing records are processed and transformed into the required format during the implementation

7. Technical support for HR payroll personnel

All those questions allow focusing on the actual process of payroll preparation and handling payroll-related information efficiently.

How GoLGU Supports Payroll Preparation and HR Workflows

GoLGU provides an official HR Management Service for LGUs and explains its workflow on an official page. This workflow includes the collection and storage of employee attendance information from biometric devices to the cloud server. On-site application log servers transfer the information to the cloud-based server where authorized HR teams have access to attendance and payroll-related information.

Among the factors that are considered during payroll preparation are leave, overtime, holiday, deductions, employee loans, among others. The official page describes all HR processes that can be performed with the help of this system.

Although this article is dedicated to the analysis of the automated payroll workflow, the description of the GoLGU HR Management System can be found here.

Start with Checking Your Payroll Workflow

As mentioned above, how does automated payroll help LGU HR teams work using clear records and payroll inputs. Thus, there will be no need for payroll preparation teams to spend time collecting data and conducting payroll checks regularly.

The first step to adopting an automated payroll process is to check your current workflow. First of all, you should check your records that are considered when preparing payrolls including attendance, timekeeping, leave, overtime, holiday, loans, deductions, and other factors.

Once your LGU is ready to consider a new automated payroll workflow, please request a GoLGU demo.