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HR Staff Ratio

ElizabetharessElizabetharess 179 Posts
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I have reviewed the survey from Hero. It has been very helpful. I have a question. How is payroll taken out of HR. I am used to having it in HR, but if it is taken out, how is the new hire information handled?
My thought would be something in line with all new hires information is entered in HR and verified in HR. The accounting dept would be responsible for dowloading and entering time entries and processing payroll. All other activity would stay in HR?
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  • 7 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • marcmarc 3,126 Posts
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    Not sure I understand all your concerns, but the items you have mentioned can be easily handled with a few straightforward forms and appropriate sign-offs. It is not unusual for payroll duties to fall under the accounting department.

    For example, neither adding a new person nor terminating an existing EE should happen without some signed off paperwork. If I were running the payroll, I would not touch either of these without a document saying so. It would cover my ass if nothing else, and by the way, the outside auditors would write you up if someone in payroll could add or delete folks willy-nilly. This is how phantom employees end up with paychecks.

    It is also a good idea to do some straightforward reconciling of bodies on the payroll. Have the accounting department prepare a report comparing the last payroll to the next. Total payroll this time compared to total payroll last time. They rarely agree. The differences can be attributed to more or less hours, more or less bodies, raises, bonuses, etc. This is a good exercise no matter who is running payroll.

    Besides, there is an arguement to be made that payroll processing takes HR away from the big picture things that HR should be doing. Let the accountants account.
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  • stilldazedstilldazed 640 Posts
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    We have the two functions separated in my company in sister departments that both report to the same VP. I actually prefer the separation as an integrity check. My HR staff establish HR records and time records as an initial function. Payroll staff download and verify. Timesheets go to payroll. HR staff only see timesheets on an as-needed basis to troubleshoot. It serves as a built-in verification process and lends itself to all sorts of visible indicators if an HR or payroll staff person tried to abuse the system. Think about it for a second--HR staff establishes records for new employees, and then also can have direct input into the payroll process. I've seen it before at a prior employer. The temptation proved to be too great for the senior-most person in the process, and the evidence became a fictitious employee receiving a payroll check by mail who also didn't show up for work. It took an audit to bring the situation to the surface. Separating the two is not foolproof, but it does introduce some automatic barriers.

    My vote would be to go with it. You'll learn to adjust to the paperwork/documentation flow. It's really not that bad, and the benefits could easily outweigh the burden.

    Best wishes.
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  • ray aray a 5,703 Posts
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    We use ADP and both HR and Payroll has access to the system. HR enters all the new hire info and we maintain the system with updates. Payroll ensures the ee's are paid accurately and timely.
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  • kcoffeykcoffey 19 Posts
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    Where do you find the survey that you reviewed on the website?
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  • kcoffeykcoffey 19 Posts
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    Where can I find the survey that you reviewed?
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  • ElizabetharessElizabetharess 179 Posts
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    [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-07-07 AT 08:00AM (CST)[/font][br][br]It is in one of the topics. It is an 03 survey in the HR website archives. Help me out here website officianados. I will check out the forum topic and get back to you.
    It's in the HR Staff Ratio Need Help topic line dated 1/31/07. The directions to view the survey are in that stream...Hey is it stream as in water stream or streem as in I don't know? I once said Port Hole and it should have been portal, so please correct me if the proper spelling or word is streem???
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  • mbeammbeam 258 Posts
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    We have it separated like a few others mentioned. Our HR and Accounting teams work together. The financial stuff stays with the Accounting group and the new hire/employment changes, etc. are in HR.

    We too use ADP and it's been a very smooth process.
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