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With increased pressure upon budgets and the stretching of School resources, the importance of having a system that reduces your workload and enhances productivity has never been greater.
Interestingly, statistics show that you could save upwards of 40 hours a week by integrating your HR and Payroll provisions. That’s why now is a great time for your School or Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) to consider the benefits of using one provider for all your HR and Payroll needs.
To help you understand how integrating these services can have a positive impact upon your School, here are our top 7 benefits:
1. Reduction of paperwork and data protection breaches
Many of the documents needed for your HR system are also needed for your Payroll system. By implementing an integrated HR and Payroll Service, the amount of paperwork required is significantly cut and the risk of a data protection breach is reduced. Our integrated HR and Payroll portal is easy to use and intuitive, for uploading and amending your staffing data. It enables you to submit contractual changes to us promptly and allows you to easily track the progress of your instructions online.
2. Removal of duplication
By managing your HR and Payroll via a single provider, the use of multiple systems and any duplication of data is prevented. This means that, through our integrated service, you benefit from only having to submit instructions once to one supplier. Not only does this improve efficiency, through reducing the amount of time that you spend on administration, but it also minimises the scope for error and provides assurance that contractual instructions are submitted directly to payroll.
3. Improved communication
Managing both services through one provider allows you to handle all queries via a single point of contact. Just as integration removes the duplication of data entry, it also removes the need for repeated conversations with separate teams. At EPM, our integrated HR and Payroll Services provide you with dedicated, named HR and Payroll teams. Although the two teams have their specific expertise, they work alongside each other to ensure that we provide you with an exemplary service.
4. Proactive support
By integrating your services, your HR and Payroll teams are able to provide you with proactive support. As our HR and Payroll teams work closely together, this allows them to spot potential issues early on and discuss ways to help you resolve these. For example, if your HR team notices that one of your employees has taken above-average sick leave, they can speak to the Payroll team to resolve. Between them they can calculate if the employee is nearing half or no pay, discuss with you whether an Occupational Health referral is required and establish if there any reasonable adjustments that can be made to keep them in work.
5. Quality assurance
To ensure a seamless and quality service, the EPM portal allows you to automate systems and processes. This saves you time and minimises the scope for error, through features such as automating continuous service increments and identifying upcoming contract changes for the term. The portal is also set up with your contractual terms and salary points, which allows us to notify you if a portal user is trying to make a change that is outside of your terms and conditions.
Our HR and Payroll departments are accredited and award-winning. Our Payroll & Pensions service is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) for achieving the Payroll Assurance Scheme and the Payroll Quality Partnership. We have also been shortlisted for the CIPP’s ‘Payroll Service Provider of the Year’ Award for three years running (2017, 2018 and 2019). In 2019 we were also awarded the ‘Payroll & HR Provider’ Award by the Rewards Strategy and were shortlisted for ‘Specialist HR & Payroll Provider’.
6. Specialised reports
Where your HR and Payroll provision is split, reporting styles are likely to differ. However, by having an integrated HR and Payroll system, you can easily manage, report and analyse your employee data in one place. Our reporting suite allows you full visibility of all your School’s staffing data and provides you with extensive information on all of your employees, which can be downloaded and tailored to your exact needs.
For Multi-Academy Trusts, we provide specific MAT reporting, which enables you to download and analyse HR and Payroll data across the Trust or by individual School. This allows each of your School’s to run and manage all aspects of their HR and payroll individually, whilst allowing the Trust to keep an overview of each School. These reports can be viewed in a consistent format, compatible with your existing financial systems.
7. Cost-savings
In the current challenging climate, the pressure on School and Multi-Academy Trust budgets has never been greater. By combining your School’s HR and Payroll Services, you can increase productivity and cut costs, resulting in substantial annual savings.
