By Steve Nikols, CEO, Pay plus HR
Anyone can do data entry.
Some of our payroll industry competitors have offshored their services to various areas, particularly in Asia, where the number-punchers don’t have specific knowledge of the needs of Australian businesses.
Those offshore number-punchers will only complete a process or function that they’ve been shown without understanding the purpose, what requirements need to be met, and what the results should be.
At Pay plus HR, our people are payroll and HR advisors. They interpret and understand the outcomes of our clients’ payrolls, which is important. Our team is constantly taking training courses to stay ahead of the game and abreast of all legislative and regulatory changes because payroll is a constantly changing landscape.
They’re able to actually explain the complex world of payroll and HR, and give clients feedback on the intricacies of EBAs, awards, entitlements, termination, or redundancy. Thanks to our team’s expertise, they can provide that sort of advice to their clients quickly and accurately.
In 2022 it doesn’t make a lot of sense for a business to retain an in-house payroll expert, paying them a minimum $80,000 a year, when they can get the right advice at a fraction of the cost by outsourcing. That’s the cost-benefit of the service we provide.
As for the business benefit, our clients know they have an expert team on-hand that understands their requirements, their industry, their awards ad EBAs. We become an extension of their team and their business.
This means there’s no risk of having to deal with whichever random person answers your phone call on any given day, as is the case with some other providers. Our clients get the same designated advisor for their entire relationship with us.
Most importantly, I think it’s critical that clients choose a service based here in Australia. When you offshore, there can be frustration with not getting your point across, lack of accessibility, and the timeliness of responses. So having payroll experts who are local and available within your time zone plays a big part.
And it’s critical that payroll people be genuinely expert in their role because this is the service clients are really after, the type of timely and accurate support they’re looking for. Someone who can add value to their business. Someone they can rely on. Someone they can establish a strong rapport with through a genuine, long-term connection.
Providing this human relationship is probably one of the most important elements of all. Because we’re being relied upon, we create an ongoing understanding and friendship.
Try finding all that from an offshore number-puncher.