Payroll Software

Signs its time for a change

In our 2023 Annual Payroll Survey, of the respondents who haven’t switched payroll providers, 52% said they considered switching but didn’t go through with it.

That was a dramatic 31% rise from the previous year, showing a continual year-on-year trend towards a reluctance to switch.

The reasons they cited are some of the main barriers to switching. If you’re facing some of these barriers internally, or you’re worrying about them too, we’ve got some suggestions on how to effectively challenge and overcome them.

More convenient to stay with current supplier?

Over 20% of our survey respondents said this was the reason they didn’t switch to a new provider.

Several factors drive this, one in particular is a lack of resources. Perhaps you’re worrying that switching takes time and effort, and everyone’s already swamped. But choose the right provider and the switch shouldn’t need much person-power at your end – your provider should do most of the work.

Take Moorepay for instance, we offer a ‘simple switch guarantee', delivered by a dedicated, UK-based implementation team.

Too much hassle to switch?

Learning to use new software sounds like hard work, right? Building a relationship with a new provider, getting used to new processes - what a pain! That’s what 21% of respondents thought in our survey when we asked them why they hadn’t switched.

But what happens if you don’t switch? Think long term.

If you’ve realised there’s a better payroll solution and service out there, what will that save you in time and money? Plus, if you pick the right provider, it won’t be a hassle to switch - they’ll make sure it’s easy.

Not enough incentive to move?

This was the top reason cited for not wanting to change, with 23% of respondents reporting this.

If this is also how you feel, you may need to weigh up exactly how inconvenient being with your current provider is in comparison with the promises of your new provider.

Although you may need to do a bit of organising to enable the move, the benefits of getting a better payroll provider can include reduced admin, fewer employee queries, less (or no!) payroll mistakes and improved compliance. All very valuable goals and worth the effort to get there.

Unable to secure investment?

You're not alone. The number of respondents who reported this issue rose by 100% since 2022, with 13% of people reporting this as their main reason for not switching.

To overcome this one, you need to get clear on the numbers. Like how much time does it currently take to process the payroll? What could this be reduced to? How many mistakes are being made? What could this equate to in time-cost-savings with a new provider?

Conveying all of this to your stakeholders should make it difficult for them to say ‘no’ to investing in a switch.

Recognising the signs

Does this sound like your current HR software?

Lack of adaptability
Endless admin
Poor analytics
Limited functionality
No support
Siloed systems
Lack of (or no) data protection

Too much risk?

Your payroll contains lots of highly sensitive data. Perhaps the thought of lifting this from one provider and shifting it to another fills you with dread!

But this should be covered as part of your selection process. Ask providers about data security, certifications, employee qualifications, and check out their service reviews online.

Perhaps you’re also worried learning a new system will lead to user-error, which could mean catastrophic payroll mistakes. Again, cover this when you speak to different providers. What level of training and support do they provide? And how intuitive is their software?

What should you look for in a payroll system?

Expect plenty of automation and flexible integration

Automated calculations: Search for a provider who prioritises automation with automated calculations included in their software, so the payroll heavy lifting is done for you – saving you time and money!
Accuracy and compliance: Make sure accuracy and compliance are standard with all rates auto applied, from OSP, SSP, and AE to holiday accruals.
Flexible integration: How easy will it be to integrate the payroll platform with your existing systems? Be that HR, time and attendance, benefits (the list goes on) - so no more double entry!

Technology you can rely on

Microsoft Azure: Look for a provider whose software is built on the latest technology and backed by Microsoft Azure, or similar.
Cloud-based: Anywhere access means greater flexibility for you and your employees.
Secure: Does the provider undertake ongoing vulnerability scans, regular pen testing, and continuous monitoring through the market leader, BitSight, or similar?

Worry-free compliance, every time

Maintained by experts: Does the provider have a dedicated legislation team, allowing you to never have to worry about compliance? Look for a provider who tests their payroll calculations properly and ensures they reflect legislation ahead of time.
Proper visibility: Spot issues before they happen. View discrepancies, see net to gross and variances month on month so you never let a mistake pass through payroll.
Accurate employee payments: Never feel payday panic again. Know your processes are shipshape so you can nail payslip accuracy. With complete payslip visibility employees can access their pay data, where they want, when they want.

Support you can rely on

Hands-on technical help: When help is needed, you don’t want to be raising tickets and waiting around. Make sure your new provider has a team of friendly experts who are available over the phone or over email, and at no extra cost.
Real support from real people: Make sure you get the most from your payroll solution with additional support from real people, whenever you need it.
Keep one step ahead of legislation: You want a platform with all the bells and whistles. Choose a provider with industry experts on hand to keep up with fast-changing, complex legislation, keeping your software up to date and making HR & payroll easy.

One you can’t live without: P11D service

With our P11D Service, we handle all the complexities, so you don’t have to deal with stressful submissions to the HMRC, nor worry about complying with new rules. Let us fuss over painful admin, ensuring total compliance and timely documentation. A perfect pairing with our Payroll Outsourcing or Payroll Software solutions.

Easy software

That communicates with HR

Automated calculations

Don't spend hours calculating OSP, SSP, and employee pension contributions, all to question the validity of your figures. Get our software do the hard work for you.

Payroll dashboard

See all your ‘must-haves’ in one place. Get your payday countdown, payroll lockdown and tasks in one spot. No more flipping between screens and endless scrolling.

Timesheets & expenses

Let employees submit timesheets and expenses through Employee Self-Service. And of course it’s all reflected in employee pay – touch free for the payroll department.

New Starter Wizard

With our New Starter Wizard you’ll save time by only inputting your people data once, before it’s reflected in real-time across other areas of the system.

Reporting & analytics

Dig deep into leave exception reports, open ended sick leave reports and payroll preview. In our software you’ll get standard reports, or you can build your own.

Auto enrolment

We’ll calculate your pension contributions as part of your payroll, provide default contributions and enrol eligible employees, ensuring compliance and providing reports.

Key questions to ask a provider

How long will it take to switch?

This can range from four weeks to a few months depending on who you choose. This could be a deciding factor for you if they can’t deliver the switch within your timeframe.

How will the switch be managed?

Here, you’re looking for a provider to talk about their dedicated implementation team. Ask for examples of customers who recently switched to them - how did it go? What did the provider do, and what did the customer need to do?

How much time do you need from us?

You will of course be required to give some time and energy to the project of switching. However, it shouldn’t be much more than a few days’ work for you.

When should I switch?

A provider may encourage you to switch right away. Or, if they have a backlog of new customers to onboard, they may delay things. But you need to consider: when is the best time for you? The new financial year might be logical. Just be sure to avoid your peak payroll periods.

What training and support do you provide?

One of the hardest things about switching is the move to a new system. Ask about onboarding and find out how they’ll help you to embed the new solution with ongoing training and support.

When considering switching payroll providers, we know that you may not just be payroll leaders in this space. That’s why we’ve put together this checklist to cover what payroll leaders, finance leaders, IT leaders, and CEOs look for in payroll software.

A payroll buyer’s checklist

What good and bad look like

	What bad looks like	What good looks like
Functionality	Very basic software with absolutely no bells and whistles. Lots of time-consuming workarounds. Complicated, long-winded processes. Inflexible when it comes to introducing innovation. You’re often thinking ‘why can’t the software just do this for me?!’.	Software that’s making life easier and streamlining your processes. Intuitive and simple functionality. Easy access to useful reports and analytics. Employee self-service that’s intuitive. Straightforward integration into other software.
Reporting & analytics	Exporting data into excel and fighting with formulas. Manual data manipulation that’s prone to mistakes. Viewing information that’s already out-of-date. Too much time spent wading through numbers. Confusing insight, regularly asking ‘what do these numbers actually mean?'.	Visibility of automated, real-time dashboards showing easy to read analytics like: Cost trends Spikes in overtime. Contractor or casual staff influx trends. Your company’s gender pay gap. Absence trends (e.g. which departments are experiencing the most absence and when).
Customer service	Raising support tickets i.e. you’re unable to make calls directly to your support team. Waiting hours, days, weeks to get answers - your query passed from one team to the next. Dealing with unqualified individuals who don’t have the knowledge required to deal with your question. Frustration, especially at the end of the month when you need quick answers.	A dedicated account manager you can contact directly when you need help. Local support team of payroll experts qualified by CIPP. Fast response times, over the phone or on email. Sense of relief that support is always available to you. A payroll provider that’s accredited by CIPP’s Payroll Assurance Scheme.
Automation	Lots of repetitive admin e.g. doing a simple task over and over, on a regular basis. Regular need for confusing manual calculations. Mistakes made due to human-error that are hard to fix.	Rates are auto-applied to people’s pay – even complicated Statutory Sick Pay rates based on seniority and tenure. Auto-run of static payrolls. Workflows that save time e.g. when an employee submits a leave request, an email is sent to their manager to approve it. Reminders automatically sent to team members to submit missed timesheets and overtime.
Integration	Wasting time entering the same data multiple times into different systems. Exporting data from one system, fiddling with it in excel, then uploading it into another system. Data that’s out of sync and out-dated in both or either system. Asking yourself ‘surely these systems should be able to talk to each other?!’.	Seamless and accurate date flowing between Time & Attendance, HR, ERP, and Finance systems. APIs with real-time connections. Reduction in mistakes. associated with inputting the same data twice. Integration of other software e.g. an Employee Benefits platform.
Holiday pay	An over-reliance on excel spreadsheets and calculators. Lots of payslip queries – or complaints – saying ‘my holiday pay looks wrong’. Unfair pay claims via Employment Tribunals. Lots of time spent fixing people’s pay.	Simply set up your leave policy parameters and let the software apply the rates and calculate it all for you. Little to no mistakes made. Time-saved and a lot less headaches due to a huge reduction in employee holiday pay queries.
User interface	Software that looks old fashioned and out-dated. Difficult to navigate the parts of the system you don’t frequently use. Regularly referring to notes and step-by-step system guides. Constant influx of employee queries, requesting information they could be accessing for themselves.	Software with a simple, clean look. Intuitive navigation that makes it easy to find new, unfamiliar things. Helpful prompts explaining things, or showing you what to do next. New people in your team can pick up and learn how to use the software quickly. Employees access their information with no help or input needed.
Reliability	Software you sometimes can’t access due to unknown technical issues… Frustration caused by slow load speeds and freezing. Employees regularly disgruntled because they can’t get into the system.	Headache-free system access and use for you and your employees whenever you need it. Never thinking ‘this system/my payroll provider are always letting me down when I need them most’.
Accessibility	Paying for server upgrades. Worrying about losing all your data. Inability to access systems when and where you want, lacking real-time information. Office based access only, with individual or special computers.	Free to install, with no need for upgrades to the system. Secure, cloud-based software that can’t be stolen from the office. A system that your employees can access on their phones and at the weekend.
Payslip accuracy	High influx of payroll queries and complaints to the team. Regular mistakes e.g. new starters not paid, company sick pay not dropped to SSP, maternity leavers paid incorrectly, overtime missed etc.	More time to do the work you love, adding value to the business, instead of correcting mistakes. Stress free end to the month because you’re not worried about a surge of payroll mistakes.

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