Do you feel stressed when it comes time to complete your payroll? Take advantage of the tools available within the payroll software to eliminate your stress and shorten your payroll processing time. Here are some time savings that can have a drastic impact on your payroll processing.

1. Get rid of spreadsheets.

Most companies keep track of pay codes within their payroll software system. Pay accrual codes store the formula used to calculate each employee’s pay. On the other hand, pay deduction codes are used to calculate things like vacation, paid time off, wage garnishment, and many other functions. Many employers choose to track deduction codes on a separate spreadsheet. The general belief is that the payroll system cannot calculate your specific deduction needs because they are too complex. The truth is that there are payroll software systems that can handle a wide variety of deduction codes, including complex ones. It is worth investigating. Once the deduction codes are set up, the calculation is handled by the system and you do not need to enter that information by hand.

2.Pay by Direct Deposit.

You may be surprised at the amount of time you spend printing checks, stuffing envelopes, and managing your printer and paper supplies. All of this can go away if you choose to pay employees via direct deposit. Instead of printing, filling and delivering, checks are distributed in one step to the bank account of the employee’s choice. Save time and employees get paid faster.

3. View payment details online.

If you pay employees by direct deposit, you can eliminate the step of printing and distributing the pay stub, a document that contains employee pay information. Put payment information online, in a secure environment, where employees can log in at any time to get the payment information they want. As a bonus, if an employee calls years later looking for payment information, they can simply get your password, instead of digging through old files to find things like your W-2.

4. Copy the payment runs.

If you don’t want to completely re-create your payroll, use the ‘copy pay’ function to copy the pay from a previous pay run, for those whose salary remains the same, such as salaried employees. Using this feature can save you a lot of manual time entries!

5. File Taxes Electronically.

There are so many unnecessary steps when it comes to filing payroll taxes. Order the forms and envelopes, run the data, print the forms, seal the envelopes and mail them. And that doesn’t even include printer maintenance! Skip all the extra work and file your taxes electronically!

If you’ve used the same payroll system for many years, check back and see if any of these time-saving features are available to you. They can really cut down on payroll processing time.