6 Payroll Questions You Should Ask Your HRMS Vendor

The following questions should be used to put your potential HRMS payroll software vendor on the spot (in the nicest possible way, of course). If they can answer these to your complete satisfaction, they are well on the way to becoming your new HRMS provider…

How Closely Do Your Features Match Our Requirements?

This may seems like a fairly generic question but it is fundamental to the selection process. This is especially the case with payroll where having to make compromises or implement work-arounds is just a recipe for disaster. Make the question as specific as possible by referring a list of precise requirements that may include some or all of the following HRMS payroll features: pay hourly, salary and contract employees via direct deposit (BACS in the UK); print paychecks/slips onsite; track paid time off (PTO) accrual and use, including vacation and sick days; file guaranteed accurate tax returns; make accurate deductions (401(k), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions, plus any health, other benefits); seamlessly manage non-salary and reward payments (e.g. bonuses, reimbursements, commission, and tips); provide reports (even analytics) on all of the above.

Can Your Product Integrate with Our Accounting Systems?

Whatever accounting software you are using in your business, you need an HRMS payroll package that can integrate, access and update it quickly, seamlessly and automatically, avoiding the need for frequent reconciliations between systems.

Guide: four steps to payroll management success using HRMS

What Payslip Templates Are Built into Your System?

Put simply, are the HRMS payslip templates easy to understand? Will your employees be able to comprehend how their money breaks down and why?

Can Your Product Handle Our Tax Requirements?

Especially if your employees are dispersed geographically, there may be different taxes to deduct/withhold for different people. In the US, a system must be able to handle federal, state and local tax issues and most countries have their own peculiarities.

How Stable Is Your Company?

Again, a more generic question but a critical one. The last system you need to fall over is payroll and you need to be completely assured that support will be available in the longer term.

How Will You Protect Our HRMS Payroll Data?

Particularly with online access and/or cloud systems, your data is off-premises. Where is it kept? What are the security arrangements? Encryption? Disaster recovery plan? Back up? When an employee leaves the company, how do they ensure that self-service access is terminated at the right time? What protection against either hacking or internal data theft is built in?