With lockdown guidelines and restrictions changing on a regular basis, it is more crucial than ever that not only do you have core businesses processes in place for working from home, but also that they are flexible and ready to change from one day to the next. All of that is before you even consider how to support your employees and keep them engaged, all whilst considering individual mental health and wellbeing.

A recent survey by Topia estimated that 70% of HR professionals are having to update 3-6 apps to complete a single task. Both the HR and Payroll functions are part of the basic make up of any company but are you putting them to the top of your priorities and considering how they could work together when evaluating your new working set up?

Here are just a few of the must haves when you consider setting up your HR Software to work with Xero Payroll;‍

Simple Self-Service‍

When you are not all working from the same office, it is more important than ever before to have self-service access that you can control.  This provides employees with a quick and easy way to update their personal information. Without this level of access, it is almost impossible for you to ensure accuracy, not to mention all the time that would otherwise be spent on emails, calls or waiting to speak in person to discuss.

In just a few seconds, an employee can login and update their bank details or home address with notifications being sent to keep HR and Payroll in the loop and ensure the employee gets paid.‍

“It’s more important than ever to have employee self-service access that you can control”

Accurate Information‍

Accuracy is always important in business but when it comes to HR compliance and Payroll, you could argue it is essential. In fact, according to Deloitte “Without accurate data, metrics and operational reporting may as well not even exist”, yet only 15% of organisations rated themselves highly on accuracy of data.

When payroll and HR do not share common information there is immediately an increased risk of potential errors, compliance problems and issues over pay. If your payroll is not accurate or working efficiently then your employees could find themselves unpaid or with incorrect amounts, all leading to more time spent on correcting these errors and lots of frustration for the workforce. A single entry point for both solutions will make it simple to ensure accuracy and remove concerns over compliance and pay. ‍

Save Time on HR and Payroll Tasks‍

Working from home could see a decrease in some productivity levels, meaning administration distractions such as data entry could have a bigger impact on your business.

With an estimated 40 million hours wasted on simple HR tasks (Topia), a single entry point and a concrete source of truth for your employee data is the ideal for all businesses.

If errors occur during the payroll process, they would need to be addressed as top priority. As a result, all other tasks must be put to one side until the issue is resolved. Incorrect information between systems is one of the biggest causes of time wasting in business.

Simply having integration to sync information from an employees HR profile straight into Xero not only removes the time wasted on accuracy, but also on the process of getting the information up to date.  There is no longer a requirement to request a change to personal information, fill in a form or arrange to meet with HR, it is updated in seconds and notifications are sent to the correct people and the information updates in Xero right away.‍

Always Accessible From Wherever Your Staff Are Working‍

Accessibility of business solutions has been a hot topic for years but never has it been more crucial than now. With the ever changing current working locations, employees may be in the office one day and home the next. With no current end in sight for the unpredictability of the landscape ahead systems must be accessible from anywhere.  

With an online HR solution integrated with Xero’s cloud payroll software you set your company up to access both these crucial systems from anywhere, at any time - whilst ensuring consistency of information between the two. ‍

Appogee HR and Xero‍

Appogee HR provides businesses with a simple to use full HR solution to manage your employees and keep your company compliant. Set employees up with customisable profiles to store information and records, whilst being able to track performance, training and onboard new starters. Share policies with your employees and keep a record of acknowledgments and have confidence in compliance.

Once you have your HR processes in place with Appogee HR, the integration with Xero Payroll creates the perfect solution to link the shared information between the systems. Employees and managers can use Appogee HR as the single entry point for information and keep payroll in control of using Xero with the confidence that the information is accurate, secure and up to date.

There is no doubt that integrating HR and Payroll both in terms of teams and software is a no brainer for businesses in this current climate. Providing access from anywhere, ensuring accuracy and saving a whole load of time on updates and unnecessary errors definitely make Appogee HR and Xero Payroll a winning combination for your business.

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