Handling payroll and benefits may seem like a fairly automated task for a foundation with a small staff. But a little bit of time spent on administrative tasks can quickly turn into a full-time job, and suddenly an important team member isn’t focusing on your mission and delivering value.
Payroll processing can involve far more than simply entering payroll after each pay period. There’s managing timesheets, overtime, figuring out bonuses and commission payments, quarterly and year-end taxes, employee deductions, FLMA, retirement and health insurance deductions, and paid time off, as well as managing the on- and off-boarding of employees.
While benefits administration becomes a heavy task during open-enrollment and when changing brokers, (we can help with both of these functions) other tasks to manage throughout the year can include updating employee information, verifying dependents, answering employee questions, on and off-boarding employees, managing COBRA, and assessing how your broker is performing from plan year to plan year. In addition, it includes managing health benefits, short and long term disability, life insurance, supplemental insurance, retirement, pension plans and more.
It’s a lot, and it’s vital to make sure these tasks are done right. Not only can mistakes cause gaps in coverage and hurt employee morale, they can lead to compliance issues and costly fines. Staying compliant means you’ve got to keep up with changing regulations related to insurance, benefits, taxes more and make necessary adjustments throughout the year to avoid fines. It can be a tall order if your team isn’t trained in the intricacies of HR.
Many foundations have high expectations for service. Increasingly, they turn to outsourced payroll and benefits providers to help them manage time-consuming administrative tasks. Turning over some HR functions can help foundations to focus on the important work of living out their mission.
When you outsource administration of benefits to HR pros, you lift the burden from your team and hand these crucial processes over to highly trained professionals who not only handle day-to-day tasks and educate you on new rules and regulations, but uncover areas where you could operate more efficiently.
Another advantage is not having to worry about your internal payroll and benefits people being away — whether planned or unplanned—or about other HR functions being held up while payroll and benefits are attended to.
A trusted partner can help you ensure confidentiality of sensitive information, too – something that’s always a concern when you have the process handled (and data stored) in the same facility with other employees.
Outsourcing payroll and benefits administration and management can be an important key to running a more streamlined foundation – and putting more of your budget and energy to work for the populations you serve.
