HR software with payroll: one product, or a certified pair

Choosing HRIS and payroll solutions: one product or a pair

1. Find out which half the vendor built first. A record first vendor with a payroll module and a payroll vendor with a record module are both selling one product, and they are strong at opposite ends. Ask directly, because it predicts where the rough edges are.
2. Price the reconciliation. A pair means somebody compares two systems every pay period. Estimate that honestly in hours per month and price it against the licence difference. Sometimes the single product wins on this alone.
3. Test the change that crosses the boundary. A mid period promotion with a backdated element is the case that exposes the join. Ask each arrangement to handle it and watch how many manual steps appear.
4. Ask who you call when the pay is wrong. With one product the answer is obvious. With a pair, get it in writing from both vendors before signing, because the first incident is a poor time to discover that each points at the other.

HR software with payroll: what one product really removes

It removes the file and the reconciliation, which is genuine and recurring. It does not remove the need to check a payroll run, and it does not make the payroll engine better than a specialist one. What it changes is where errors are found: inside one system, before the run, rather than in a comparison afterwards.

That is worth a lot to employers without a payroll specialist and less to those with one, which is why the same product can be the obvious answer at sixty employees and the wrong one at six hundred.

Payroll HR software from the other direction

Payroll HR systems, the products that started as payroll and added a record, tend to be excellent at pay elements, statutory calculations and year end, and thin on everything that is not a payment. Absence is often a number of days rather than a dated history, and document handling is usually rudimentary.

For an employer whose main pain is payroll complexity, that trade is frequently correct. For one whose main pain is knowing who works here on what terms, it is not, and the module list will not tell you which you are looking at.

What certified means in an HR payroll software system

When HR payroll systems are sold as a pair, certification between the two vendors ranges from a maintained two way integration with a joint support path to a tested file format and a partnership page. Ask which one is on offer, and ask for a customer running the same pair at your size.

Where the integration is a file, find out what is in it and what is not. Fields that do not travel become a manual process, and the usual casualties are cost centre changes, mid period starters and anything with an effective date in the future.

Common questions

What does a human resource payroll system actually hold?

Two records that are easy to confuse. The HR side holds employment history: who works here, on what terms, from which date, reporting to whom. The payroll side holds pay history: elements, deductions, tax and year end figures. A human resource payroll system sold as one product keeps both in one database; a pair keeps them in two and passes changes between them, which is where the effective dated errors described on this page come from.

Is one product always simpler?

Simpler to operate, usually. Simpler to buy, not always, because a single vendor for both means a single renewal negotiation with more leverage on their side.

Can we keep payroll with our accountant?

Yes, and it is common below a couple of hundred employees. Agree who holds the employment record and make sure you can get a full export of it, because the accountant holds pay history rather than employment history.

What breaks most often in a pair?

Effective dated changes and mid period joiners, because the file is usually a snapshot rather than a stream of events. Test both before committing.

Does one payroll and HR software product make year end easier?

Marginally, because fewer reconciliations are open. The bigger determinant is whether the payroll engine is a specialist one, and that is independent of whether the record sits in the same product.

Does payroll with HR forms software replace paper onboarding?

For most employers, yes. Look for a product that collects the federal withholding certificate (Form W-4) and the employment eligibility form (Form I-9) electronically at onboarding and feeds the answers straight into payroll, rather than storing a scanned copy someone retypes. State withholding forms vary, so check the states you employ in before you sign.

Coverage by country

• Employer of record vendors covering Singapore
• Employer of record vendors covering Mexico
• Employer of record vendors covering Spain
• Employer of record vendors covering Colombia
• Employer of record vendors covering United Kingdom
• Employer of record vendors covering France
• Employer of record vendors covering Hungary
• Employer of record vendors covering New Zealand