As close out the final quarter of 2017, most dealers are already looking ahead to 2018 and what they hope to accomplish in the coming year. And, beyond establishing sales goals for 2018, dealers are setting their operational budgets and determining whether or not the systems they have in place are helping the business run efficiently.
What Are Your 2018 Talent Management Goals?
When it comes to talent management, dealers have two main objectives: increase employee productivity and decrease expenditures. An integrated payroll and talent management platform can help you accomplish both by helping your business run more efficiently and cutting down on costs — including automating tax record-keeping and filing and reducing payroll fees.
The right payroll system also needs to offer solutions beyond employee compensation and standard payroll processes. It should include talent management capabilities to help integrate different processes, such as performance management, attendance and compliance. Your talent management system should also provide valuable HR data that helps inform key business decisions.
Begin with a Clean Slate for the New Year
January 1 marks the ideal time to make the switch to a new automated payroll system, as you’ll start with a clean slate at the beginning of a new tax year.
On January 1, all payroll and other talent management-related numbers are reset from a tax standpoint. Starting with a new system right at the onset of the new year will make it easier to file your 2018 taxes, as you will only have to pull payroll records from one system — making it easier for you and your employees.
Reduce Annual Payroll Fees
Payroll can take up 10 to 20 percent of gross revenue in the retail automotive industry. Extra fees — which some providers charge per payroll run — add up throughout the year and comprise a significant portion of payroll expenses. Other providers have added charges for reporting and end-of-year tax forms.
Partnering with a payroll provider that has a transparent monthly payment structure can help you avoid costly hidden fees and cut down on your overall payroll expenditures.
Monitor Employee Performance
It can be difficult to determine how long it takes an employee to become profitable once they are hired. Considering the time allotted for training, day-to-day tasks and learning curves — which vary from person to person — it’s understandable why many dealerships have trouble accurately measuring their return on investment for each new hire.
An integrated payroll and talent management platform automatically provides you with valuable insight into employee profitability. For example, you can track first commissions and average payback periods for your sales staff. With these insights, you can easily see if an employee is meeting or exceeding expectations. This information allows owners to decide if they should invest more time and resources in training to improve performance or if they need to start looking for a replacement. By tracking this information, you can better ensure the employees who are on your payroll are helping you achieve your dealership’s 2018 business objectives.
The new year presents the perfect opportunity to begin tracking this information if you’re not already doing so. Using an integrated payroll and talent management system, valuable insights will be measured starting in the new year, so you can hold employees accountable for reaching key performance metrics based on your dealership goals for 2018.
Track Time and Attendance
Tracking employee time and attendance can be a cumbersome responsibility, especially for larger dealerships. Monitoring paid time off (PTO) is often done manually and can be costly and time consuming, and it’s easy to overlook when an employee is almost out of PTO. Running your payroll system through an integrated talent management system eliminates the need to manually track paid time off and other time and attendance issues, freeing up your HR staff to focus on their core responsibilities.
Overtime pay is another issue dealerships can better manage with an integrated talent management platform. Annual overtime pay can cost your dealership thousands of dollars and impact your cash flow by the end of the year. You can easily avoid unnecessary overtime issues using an integrated talent management system — which flags when employees reach 40 hours during a given work week. With automated attendance tracking, you can notify employees so they’re aware of their status as well. While overtime is sometimes necessary based on business needs, flagging when employees are approaching overtime can ensure you’re keeping related costs under control.
Stay Up to Date with Compliance
Payroll systems should update automatically, keeping you current and compliant with PTO policies and other labor laws. With the ever-changing compliance landscape, it can be nearly impossible to consistently stay up to date through manual processes. This leaves many dealerships susceptible to potential fines, lawsuits or other expensive consequences of noncompliance. Failing to stay on top of changing labor laws makes your dealership defenseless, but partnering with a talent management provider helps you avoid these risks by monitoring compliance changes for you.
An efficient payroll system will keep you compliant and up to date on these evolving laws automatically, so you don’t have to worry about missing anything. With an automated system, you won’t have to dedicate any time or resources to manually track compliance updates, including:
• Employee verification
• Tax compliance
• Minimum wage compliance
• Overtime compliance
• Equal opportunity compliance
Start 2018 Off Right
Payroll and related talent management expenditures can make up 50 percent of business expenses. Consistently identifying areas for improvement in talent management efficiency is essential to ensuring your dealership remains profitable.
With the right integrated talent management and payroll system, you can efficiently manage the entire employee lifecycle from hire to retire.
Adam Robinson
