Payroll processing can be more difficult for independent contractors than meeting project deadlines and sticking to budgets. Each pay period is complicated by factors such as union reporting, different pay rates, different deductions, and keeping track of various taxes.
Paying staff is a breeze with construction-oriented payroll software. But not all programs are the same. Some systems just offer the bare minimum, necessitating the use of external calculators like spreadsheets. Some solutions provide more complexity than is necessary, which might increase the time it takes to enter data.
These are ten features that automate and streamline payroll, useful whether you’re shopping around for new business management software or just want to see how your existing setup stacks up. Even if your program already handles these responsibilities, you should investigate how well (and how quickly) they perform.
Time Lost Doing Several Tasks
Can one employee’s time be split up between several tasks and phases using this software?
Costs, including labor, must be recorded accurately for job pricing. When payroll time is entered line by line and then linked to individual jobs and phases, it becomes possible to see exactly where your money is going.
Counting the Price of Discomforts
How straightforward is it for you to determine and monitor outlays for things like workers’ comp, union benefits, FICA, and state and federal taxes?
Having an understanding of your financial obligations, including any burden expenses, is essential for budgeting purposes. Aside from allowing for more precise work costing, knowing the actual burden costs associated with your labor will allow you to budget for these costs in advance, preventing any unpleasant surprises when it comes time to get paid.
Paychecks are printed only once.
Can an employee who works in several states, for different unions, on different jobs, and at different pay rates receive a single paycheck from your system at the end of the pay period?
Payroll departments in the construction industry must have the option to print a single paycheck automatically, regardless of any circumstances.
Money Transfers
Is it possible for your workers to have their salaries put directly into their bank accounts via direct deposit?
If your payroll system allows for direct deposit, you can save your employees time and effort by allowing them to obtain their paychecks without having to visit a bank. This is especially convenient for service or field workers who are stationed in far-flung areas and can’t just pick up their paychecks at the office.
Multiple-State Tax Breaks
Do you have a system in place to handle the different deductions for each state where you work automatically?
Setting up local deductions for municipal, county, or school district taxes and assigning them to jobs is a major timesaver. Tax payments are computed in real-time as workers move between different sites on the job. This function is helpful for managing tax withholdings, child support, and benefit plan deductions in addition to traditional payroll deductions. Visit also: e-file Stand Alone App
Subtraction Rules Set By The User
Can you set up various user-defined deductions, such as employee raises, garnishments, 401(k) contributions, and employee purchases, in your payroll software?
Unless your software has a flexible, user-defined structure, managing the multiple pay deductions in your workforce can be a paperwork nightmare.
Certified Payroll
If a job requires certified payroll, do you have the ability to quickly generate documents such as the Prevailing Wage and Statement of Compliance?
These reports must be easily accessible for every pay period in any pay year, and your program should be able to generate them on demand. And it’s important that this option is open to both union and non-union workers.
Relating the Union
How much time do you spend each month filling out union-required paperwork?
Look for capabilities like precise burden and benefits tracking and the ability to generate required reports on demand if your payroll software needs to manage the many requirements of union labor. Every payroll cycle should include an automatic accumulation of union burden amounts that can be reported monthly to the union administrator.
EEO Formalities
Do you create the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) reports required to apply for grants and contracts manually?
On-the-job tracking of employees’ cultural backgrounds is a feature available in some construction payroll systems. Several hours of manual labor can be saved by having the capability to develop a utilization report that shows the overall number of employees on a job, the number of minority workers on that job, and the number of minority hours worked during a certain pay period.
Specificity to Dates in Reporting
How well does your program handle time-sensitive reports?
In the case of an audit, having access to up-to-date payroll reports that you may print is essential. Such examples include the regular shifts in unions and prevailing wage rates. If your program organizes its data so that you can easily retrieve past rates for a certain date range, you’ll have no trouble putting together reports for whatever time frame you might need.
Simply Put
When it comes to payroll, it’s also crucial to have options like the ability to issue several paychecks within the same payment period and automatic check voiding and corresponding entry reversal when a check is voided.
What this boils down to is: You aren’t being as productive as you could be if you are still calculating payroll by hand or generating reports manually. Possibly you should start thinking about what other choices you have.
