A blessing for busy employees 

Users of iPayroll, however, had it all taken care of.

iPayroll is an internet-based payroll system that updates, upgrades and virtually administers itself. This means dramatic cuts in the time that employers spend managing their payroll.

The service is designed to specifically meet the requirements of small to medium-sized businesses in New Zealand. That means companies with two staff, up to those with several hundred.

"Many small business owners think a payroll system isn't justified," says iPayroll co-founder Cary Thomson. "But when they add up the time they actually spend on it, plus PAYE calculation and collection, banking, leave, third party deductions and payroll records, it is a significant chunk of their time."

Thomson says one of the benefits of iPayroll is that there is no need to front up with cash for the purchase of software - and upgrades are automatically taken care of by iPayroll.

"It's a very simple, cost-effective and easy way for employers to manage their payroll," says Thomson.

Employees, too, can log into the secure website and access their payment records, from any internet-connected computer.

Thomson explains that the payroll system works in four easy steps: "Firstly, the employer opens a new payroll simply by selecting a payroll date, and who will be paid. Timesheets are displayed for you, and you can make any amendments that are required. Results are displayed on screen, and if you are happy with them you can print payslips and other reports or download them into Microsoft Excel with a single click. A number of payment options are provided but the most popular has payments automatically debited from your nominated bank account. All records are kept for you."

Thomson and the iPayroll team developed the software over an extended period prior to their launch at the end of 2001. "Payroll is very important - it must be done accurately and on time, so we needed to have a very robust service," he explains. "Using the Internet to provide services is the way of the future; look at Internet banking - this is a natural progression of that."

Thomson says that rapid and continual changes to employment legislation are a real headache for employers. He explains that the iPayroll system is internet-based, meaning that all iPayroll customers operate from centralized computers at iPayroll. It is easy for iPayroll to update its system to fully comply with new compliance requirements, so that every user is on the new system. For example, with the new Holidays Act, iPayroll enabled all customers to correctly calculate and record all entitlements, leave taken and payments from the date it came into force.

The system also introduced some new features so that employers could choose between the various payment options allowed under the Act.

"We supplied employers with all the information they needed, and made it as easy as possible for them," explains Thomson.

Originally printed in b Innovative magazine, April 2004. Reprinted with permission.