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How COVID-19 has accelerated payroll transformation

22nd Jun 2021
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The payroll solution that provides all you need for Auto Enrolment.

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The impact of COVID-19 on the way we work is one which can be seen across almost every business type and within every department. Payroll is no different and it has evolved and adapted to the new working conditions we’ve found ourselves in. When the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was put in place to help employers, it meant a heavier workload for payroll processers. Those running payroll now, had to calculate furlough pay and make subsidy claims, all the while trying to keep up with ever changing payroll legislation. With the end of the CJRS now in sight, payroll processers are looking forward to things getting back to ‘normal’. However, this will be a ‘new normal’, as some of the changes brought about by the pandemic are likely to stick around long after the virus has gone.  

Watch back BrightPay's free webinar "Furlough Wind-Down: Key changes to the CJRS from July"The effects of the pandemic have helped to accelerate digital transformation within payroll. How payroll processers  reacted and continue to react to these changes could determine the future of their practice. This time of digital transformation should be seen as an opportunity to evolve and improve our businesses, or we could be at risk of getting left behind. 

How your payroll software provider reacts to these changes is also just as important. BrightPay is a payroll software which won the Accounting Excellence Hero award in 2020 that recognised how we went above and beyond for our customers with our response to COVID–19. Thanks to our webinars, our support team and our development team working around the clock to make changes in our software to coincide with scheme changes, we helped to minimise the stress businesses and firms faced. At BrightPay we plan to continue to react, learn and adapt to the changes brought about by COVID-19 and beyond. 

Adapting to the new normal of remote working

One of the biggest changes we have seen in the workplace in recent times is the move to remote and flexible working. Surveys have found that 92% of employees expect to be able to work from home for at least one day per week, after the pandemic. It is important that payroll processers have access to their client’s payroll data, wherever  they may be. While BrightPay remains a desktop solution, it can be installed on up to 10 PCs. This means that payroll processing is possible by up to 10 users, or from 10 different locations. 

BrightPay Connect is an optional cloud add-on which provides a secure, automated way to backup and restore your payroll data on your PC or Mac, to and from the cloud. BrightPay, when used together with BrightPay Connect, allows for completely seamless "working from home" functionality where there are multiple individuals who work on or require access to the same employer files. When you open an employer, BrightPay Connect will check to see if there is a more up to date version of the employer’s file where someone else in your organisation worked on that employer or where you, from a different computer, worked on the employer.  

With BrightPay Connect, payroll bureaus can access an online platform which gives them an overview of clients’ payroll information all in one place and where they can request payroll information from one or multiple clients, quickly and easily. 

Changes in the workplace can allow you to offer new services to your clients 

As your practice has changed due to COVID-19, so has the workplaces of your clients. It is important that you respond to these changes and the new needs they may bring. Through BrightPay Connect, you can offer your clients access to an employer portal where there are a number of tools that can help them adjust to the move to remote and flexible working. These include: 

  • The ability to share payslips and other employee documents with employees through an employee self-service app.
  • Approve or deny annual leave requests which employees have made through their employee app. 
  • Approve or deny changes to employee details which they have requested to make through their employee app. 
  • Access to real time company-wide calendar which can help employers monitor and track which employees are working and which are on leave, helping them to manage staffing levels and annual leave requests, all of which has become harder to do as employees work remotely. 

All of these functions can be performed anytime, anywhere, making the adjustment to remote and flexible working easier for you and your clients. Any changes made to payroll data, annual leave or employee details in BrightPay  Connect are automatically synchronised with BrightPay Payroll. 

To learn more about how BrightPay and BrightPay Connect can help you stay ahead of the digital transformation, book a free online demo today. 

BP