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As we enter the month of December and a new year is just around the corner, now is a good time to evaluate your current payroll provider to see if it’s time to make a change for 2018.  In general, it is good practice to evaluate all of your major vendors ever 3-5 years to make sure that you are receiving the best service at the best price.  Changes in technology, regulations and competition can affect pricing over time, often reducing the costs to provide the services.   However, while many vendors will offer lower prices to win new clients, they will not reduce the pricing for existing clients to the new “market” rates.  Payroll services are no different and the new year is the perfect time to make a switch.

First of all, make an assessment of your current services, considering the following:

  • Are there any aspects of the payroll process that is difficult or create issues for your organization?  If so, how flexible is your payroll company in making changes to alleviate these issues?
  • Are the reports useful and easy to understand, or do you have to dig through them to find the information that you need amongst excess detail that is unnecessary?  Is there information that you need that your payroll company will not provide reports for, such as summaries by department or quarterly totals?
  • Review your fees for the past year.  In addition to the cost to process your normal payroll, do you get billed for extra fees to file the quarterly returns?  Issue year end W-2’s?  Year end Affordable Care Act reporting?  Some payroll services quote a low payroll processing fee, but then have a number of add-on fees that can add up over time.  In comparison, a firm that charges a slightly higher payroll processing fee may actually save you money if they do not have all of the add-on fees.
  • How flexible is your payroll company?  If you have several new hires that need to be added at the last minute, will they make this accommodation or will they defer them until the next pay period?  If you need an extra check because you forgot to pay a commission or overtime for an employee, will they be understanding or will they make you jump through hoops to schedule a second payroll and charge you significant extra fees for inconveniencing them?
  • How is their customer service?  Do you have to call an national call center and wait on hold to speak with a random operator or can you call and speak with the payroll administrator dedicated to processing your payroll?

After completing this analysis, contact John Morlock at Total Team Solutions [jmorlock@ttspro.com or 230-459-1777, ext.5] and find out more about our payroll services and see what a difference using a small, local service provider can do to save you money and time, while making the payroll process as easy for you as it should be.

ABOUT TOTAL TEAM SOLUTIONS:  Total Team Solutions is a full service Human Resources Outsourcing company helping small business manage their payroll, employee benefits and human resources needs to reduce expenses and save them time so they can focus on running and growing their businesses.  Based in Trumbull, CT, Total Team Solutions serves clients in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.

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