Today, there are tons of payroll management applications available on the market, and choosing the right one is often difficult, but understanding what to search for takes the guesswork out of selecting the best payroll software for your organization. 

So, whether big or small, all organizations require five necessary features that give a payroll process the reliability and flexibility they need to pay their employees.

A good payroll system benefits your company by:

• Enabling employees to benefit from features such as self-service and alerts
• Eliminating human error from sensitive processes
• Saving time and money in human resources
• Automating and streamlining payroll

Here are some essential features that you can check before selecting payroll software to ensure maximum efficiency for your HR department.

Multiple Payment Accommodations

Do you prefer cash or bank transfers? Everyone has different preferences, and your employees are no exception. If you hire freelancers in your business, they usually have their own account preferences when it comes to being paid.

One of the essential features to look for in your payroll system is the accommodation of multiple payment options. Although regular bank transfers are the most common method of employee payment, it is certainly not the only option.

Freelancers or employees appreciate when you are able to accommodate their preferred mode of payment. Hence, you need to look out for this feature before making your payroll software purchase.

Does it Include Employee Notifications?

When it is time to be paid, most of us like to be informed about it. It keeps us updated when cash is moving in and out of our accounts. Several payments are released on a schedule. Employees can be anywhere when the payments come through, so they will appreciate consistent notifications letting them know when payments are coming in. Notifications on payroll software can be linked to mobile numbers to alert employees at the time of payment with the amount debited or credited.

Self-Service Features of Payroll System

Employees can manage their payroll process all by themselves. Does it sound tricky? It is actually simple, convenient, and safe for both you and your employees. Here’s how the feature works.

Leave Tracking

Employees can track their leaves through the use of a self-service payroll system. This feature enables employees to monitor their leave data, and it eliminates human input from calculating how much employees must get paid after their unpaid days have been taken. Moreover, it enables employees to check their situation all by themselves, allowing time for the HR department to focus on other tasks instead.

Employee Information

Updating employee information is tedious, but it has to be done. With the help of self-management payroll software, employees can update their personal information by themselves instead of relying on human resource professionals.

Employee Loans

This feature includes the ability to self-manage and log loans for individual employees who want advancements on their pay for personal reasons.

Maintaining Overtime

Calculating employee overtime should not take much time, but in certain situations, it does. Errors do occasionally occur when calculating overtime, and these inconsistencies take up the time of HR managers as well as the employee(s) in question.

Such problems are eradicated when good payroll software comes into play. The feature to look out for is 'overtime calculations,' which is included in most self-service software applications. Employees can record their working hours on their phones and have their overtime calculated accordingly.

Access

The major perk for employees is to see what is going on with their salaries without the need to meet with the HR department. With easy self-service access for individual employees, your HR team will have more time to focus on other significant tasks.

Mobile Facilitation

It is now possible to facilitate employee payments from anywhere with a flexible mobile feature. If your HR manager is out of the office, they can make payments remotely. This means employees can get paid on time, even if your HR professional is not always present inside the office to do so.

Scheduling Payments Flexibly

Scheduling payments in a flexible manner should be straightforward, but surprisingly, many payroll applications do not include this feature at all. An organization consisting of regular employees will set a salary date for each staff member, but the way of doing business is changing. Organizations work with freelancers, contractors, and temporary workers, so payment scheduling must be as flexible as possible to accommodate all of the variables in recruiting. You should search for payroll software that provides complete autonomy concerning contract payments, freelancer payments, and deadline payments without disturbing regular employee payments.

Having the best payroll software can provide many benefits to your business. It can increase employee satisfaction while making the HR department's lives a whole lot easier at the same time.

Author Bio: Charles Harden is a freelance content writer at SutiHR , who frequently writes articles on Cloud Computing/SaaS, HR, Business and ERP trends.