South African companies face a number of human resources (HR) and payroll-related challenges, and there is no sign that the pressure will be let up next year.
So says Anton van Heerden, managing director at Sage HR and Payroll, who notes workforce volatility, talent development, and always-changing tax regulations and labour laws are among the issues businesses will need to face.
However, there are many technologies and business models available to help organisations achieve better alignment of HR and payroll with their business needs, taking the pain out of payroll management, he says
According to Van Heerden, the HR and payroll environment is being reshaped by digital technologies at every point of interaction with the employee ? from the use of online platforms to manage the recruitment process, through to performance management solutions and e-learning systems for training and development.
Van Heerden believes, in 2015, many entrepreneurs will use cloud applications to get up and running quickly with essential business applications such as HR and payroll.
He points out cloud computing gives HR and payroll managers more flexibility in how they do their jobs - they can access the software from anywhere and at any time and the cloud can potentially transform the way the organisation interacts with employees.
Companies can build value-added apps for employees, such as a salary tax calculator that allows them to perform comparative calculations using year-on-year income tax rates, says Van Heerden.
"The recent changes such as the Employment Tax Incentive have brought more complexity into the environment, and implementation of the Pension Fund Reform is still looming. There are also recent changes and amendments to the Labour Relations Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) to consider."
In addition, incidences of payroll fraud will continue to grow at among SME, says Van Heerden. "The growing number of companies asking Sage VIP for help with forensic investigations after falling prey to payroll fraud suggests the crime is on the rise."
Fighting this crime is not helped by the fact that prosecuting someone for payroll fraud can be expensive and time-consuming, says Van Heerden. As a result, most fraudsters don't get their day in court and simply move from company to company, committing the same crimes.
However, Van Heerden believes companies that put the right systems and processes in place can vastly reduce the risk of falling prey to payroll fraud.
Robust payroll software will reduce the possibility of human error in or tampering with your payroll ? reducing opportunities for payroll fraud and enabling you to more easily provide accurate and timely information to SARS, says Van Heerden.
In 2015, South African companies will increase their investments in scalable technology solutions to help manage payroll and HR processes. The large companies will work towards integrating HR and payroll software with business intelligence, time and attendance, and workflow to reduce the need to capture data manually, he concludes.
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