For owners of retail shops and restaurants, these are perilous times. Store margins that are already tight during normal times have been squeezed even more tightly by COVID-19 safety regulations including reduced seating or operational hours and it has become increasingly challenging to achieve healthy, sustainable profit margins.
This may seem to be a time for major retail and food chains to cut costs on technology and systems, however in this article we will outline why an investment into an integrated POS, Payroll and Timekeeping system will benefit the business in multiple ways.
Benefit #1:
Compliance with Industry Payment Awards
The Australian Fair Work Awards Scheme is complex and rarely easy to understand. Add to that a global pandemic with a multitude of changing work conditions and you have a recipe for major underpayment and compliance risk. Investing in a program to integrate and update your POS, Payroll and Timekeeping systems will prompt a review of current awards as well as build in processes that notify legislative changes including coronavirus specific mandates.
Benefit #2:
Adequate Timekeeping
Based off our recent experience, many major retail and food brands are operating time-keeping technology that is kept separate to other Human Capital Management (HCM) systems. This then requires laborious data entry into payroll and HRIS systems which increases the risk of human error or underpayment/overpayment issues. A dedicated time management function that is native or integrated into your payroll and POS system can save you time and hassle. Some systems can even require your employees to declare their tips or perform a till count before they can log off. In the end, you’ve got an easily accessible record of who worked, when, and if any of those work hours require special overtime payments or entitlements.
Benefit# 3
Integrated Timekeeping, POS, and Payroll for Accuracy
Since your POS software, timekeeping software and payroll are crucial to paying large volumes of staff on time it only makes sense to integrate all these systems to the best of their capability. With this, you will be able to automate a vast portion of the payroll process and have a high degree of technical accuracy. Key tip - for fast food restaurants, look for a system that allows the same employee to work different roles (customer service, cleaning, cooking) according to their Fair Work award setting. If you allow your employees to work overtime, this is a simple way to track that as well.
Benefit# 4:
Improved Employee User Experience:
If you’re running payroll, scheduling through your POS, and cross checking through your timekeeping software, there is increased chance of human error. Additionally, from the employee’s perspective, there are multiple apps, logins, and portals they must access to be able to perform basic payroll administrative duties. With an integrated system between timekeeping, POS, and payroll, it is easy for employees to view their hours, calculate their salary payments and keep track of benefits and entitlements. This frees up your payroll staff and Human Resources team to tackle complex queries and reduces the requirement for internal support time.
Benefit #5:
Staff Reporting
If you’re part of a major fast-food restaurant chain or retail operation, one thing is for sure: you’re extremely busy. That’s why integrated analytic and reporting capabilities are arguably the greatest asset of an integrated POS, payroll, and timekeeping system. Without these capabilities, you would need to do a wide variety of data modelling, number crunching and accounting to report back to Head Office or on your bottom line. Additionally, you will find huge benefits of this when looking at employee productivity and staff reporting. You will simply be able to draw data reports that show your most productive staff, productive hours and where you can potentially reduce headcount and save costs at certain periods of the day or week. Additionally, this will allow you to define key performance indicators for your employees so that both you and they can track their effectiveness. The ability to track this data in real time can give your employees something to shoot for and allow you to be ahead of any performance issues.
Integrating your payroll, timekeeping and POS software may sound like a substantial undertaking that costs time and money. This is true, however, with a comprehensive payroll system transformation effectively integrated and rolled out, you’ll save on time and money while improving fundamental components of the business operations.
Are you looking to kick off your payroll project but are unsure where to start? Download our Guide to Building a Payroll Project Business Case
Businesses can email contact@agilexperts.com.au or call 1300 287 213 for free first-step advice on how to ensure your payroll processes can safeguard your payroll compliance. Follow us on Linkedin or sign up here to receive our articles direct to your email inbox.