Payroll Industry Trends: The Impact of Covid-19

The Corona Virus (Covid-19) Pandemic & Subsequent Payroll Trends

2020 has been a year marked by worldwide change. We’ll cut right to the chase: Covid-19 has shaken up business, social, and societal dynamics. In turn, many organizations have quickly adapted their employment structure, for better or worse. One of the main ways that businesses have pivoted to remain sleek and functional has been remote work and off-site reporting. This, among other key industry payroll trends, will continue to shape the future of workplace dynamics. Hiring, onboarding, and accounting have all been impacted, and it is important to understand these changes in payroll industry trends in order to get the most out of your system.

Remote Work and Digitization of Payroll

Working from home has been the most pervasive trend to sweep the globe starting in March. While it was first viewed as a temporary measure, many businesses and their employees have acclimated and adapted to make it a medium-to-long term solution. The reduction in office space overhead, amenities, and commuting time has done wonders for many sectors. This clearly is not a panacea for all industries, especially those who are not typically working online, but it has sparked major change.

Navigation of Payroll and Business Continuity Planning

Payroll planning and a streamlined process is often taken for granted in the first place: employees get paid on a scheduled date and don’t ask questions. This underlies how difficult it already was pre-COVID, and the ripple effect of having to deal with a business upheaval has been felt quickly. Luckily, a hallmark of most successful businesses is adapting and working through adversity.

Management and HR need to be apprised of payroll options that are available to help a remote workplace, as well as resources to help offset the cost of labor in a down economy. There has been a wide range of impact on the nationwide shutdowns from the virus, but it is essential to plan for success in a new environment. Make sure to have open communication with all decision makers about how to best protect your employees and your organization.

Ultimately, because there is no simple solution to apply to all businesses, it might be in your best interest to consult a payroll processing company about how to work automation into your Covid-19 planning.

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Payroll Relief

Some of the best tools available for the navigation of payroll are the government stimulus packages levied in 2020. If you haven’t explored these options, it is critical to learn more about them and apply right away for eligible funding:

• The Families First Act is designed to give employees the opportunity to take adequate sick or family leave for matters related to Covid-19. For eligible employees, the leave can typically constitute up to 80 hours of paid sick leave, along with 10 extra hours of miscellaneous family or medical leave. Make sure to know if your business qualifies as one required to apply this act.
• The Paycheck Protection Program is designed to help eligible businesses cover costs of payroll during the months in which businesses have been most impacted by Covid-19. Using a multiplier of prior quarters’ payroll, a business may be eligible to receive a provisional loan that can become fully forgiven (a grant of sorts). There is a time-sensitive application, so make sure to explore this option immediately if you have not already.
• The CARES Act, or the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, is an overarching Congressional bill signed into law in March of 2020. It has a vast number of resources including over $2 trillion dollars in stimulus. It is designed to provide assistance for American families and workers, small businesses, and to aid the hardest-hit industries. We advise reading more in the linked page or talking with a qualified accountant about how you and your employees can benefit from this.

Digitize your payroll with Paytech

The world will continue to adapt and thrive in the face of a global pandemic. Businesses of every size have seen their payroll industry trends change, arguably for the better. It is important to keep up with these changes to alleviate stress in the short term and to come out on the other side a stronger organization.

Paytech is one of the leading qualified consultants for digitizing or outsourcing payroll processing. We have helped businesses thrive for over 30 years, meaning change is nothing new to us. Please reach out if you need help taking your payroll digitized.