Probably very few would have thought at the turn of the year 2019/2020 that the current year has so many surprises in store. Planning security is exchanged for flexibility, commitment and permanent expansion of knowledge. The Corona crisis presents our customers and us with new challenges, with the implementation of legal changes decided at short notice determining our everyday work.
The influence of individual corporate regulations on payroll accounting
HR is required to have a high degree of professional competence during this time. All the greater the homework if short-time work has not yet played a role in the company by then. By outsourcing payroll accounting, our customers ensure that the payroll is carried out correctly and that they have the appropriate professional qualifications, but it does not release them from the obligation to define the design framework for the implementation of short-time work in their own company. But do they know what effect their wording has on payroll? The example of short-time work and the agreed employer subsidy often shows that ideas and reality differ from each other. As is well known, the devil is in the details here. In addition, individual special regulations that go beyond the legal standard cause additional effort and thus also an increased risk in payroll accounting. There are enough of these individualities and in some cases there are already different treatments between the company locations.
In the field of tension between knowledge and ignorance
However, the payroll service provider is rarely involved in upstream coordination and therefore often only asks its questions about signed agreements. At this point, the child has already fallen into the well and the process has only been turned back at the expense of internal unrest. It is not very helpful if the media coverage, which cannot explain the complexity of such aid packages, contributes to additional discussions between service providers and clients or their employees. The first announcements of a legal innovation in the news often generate high expectations and quick reactions. But it often takes a few more weeks until the implementing regulation, which is decisive for implementation in the system. At the same time, mistrust of the quality of payroll accounting is growing during this time. Accordingly, the question also arises as to the extent to which retroactive legal changes help to keep track of things. An odyssey of retroactive calculation is only of limited help for the transparency and comprehensibility of payroll, although the added value of the aid packages for employees remains manageable.
Payroll accounting has not lost any of its claim
On the other hand, the clients can hardly be reproached at this point, but rather the general idea that payroll accounting is nothing more than a push of a button. But far from it, because the constant implementation, monitoring and compliance with wage tax, social security and labour law regulations requires a high demand for expertise, decisions and adaptation of the internal design framework, not only in Corona times. Payroll accounting is a part of HR and thus also affects higher-level processes. It can therefore never really be viewed in isolation. For the balancing act of quick decisions on the conception of one’s own framework conditions and for the correct implementation of payroll, a joint hand in hand, in which payroll is understood as an HR business partner, is indispensable.
Mastering crises as true partners in outsourcing partnerships
So what remains? In these difficult times, companies are forced to apply for short-time work and many are embarking on a completely new playground with a dynamic set of rules. At the same time, it is currently clear that HR wants to ensure that skilled workers remain in their own company. Accordingly, individual solutions are intended to cushion the losses caused by the loss of remuneration. A minefield of ambiguities and misunderstandings often arises. Especially when it comes to outsourcing, everyone just has to be aware of their responsibility. Open construction sites with imprecise processes now lead to considerable complications at the latest with the effect that the desired employee retention leads to internal dissatisfaction or that the desired cost reduction results in an unwanted cost driver. In exceptional times, taking a step towards each other is the key to success, not only in private life, and every crisis also has something good: growing together.
What payroll challenges have you faced this year? Did you have external support? We look forward to your experiences.
Image source: Pixabay, Photographer: Gerd Altmann
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April 29, 2020
