Sage Abra Makes Paperless Payroll a Reality

Paperless payroll refers to the practice of eliminating paperwork in every phase of the payroll process, for the purpose of streamlining operations, reducing costs, and delivering faster, more convenient employee service.

Paperless payroll relies on electronic methods to replace paper and leverages employee self-service solutions to reduce the need for manual processes. Some areas where you could reduce manual processes include the handling of time reports, the printing and distribution of conventional paper payroll checks or payment advice documents, the distribution of W-2s, and more.

The benefits of paperless pay initiatives can be enormous. Cost reduction in the production and delivery of pay to employees is the key driver for many organizations. Employee service levels are also boosted by secure access to personal pay information as well as self-service transactions such as reporting time, managing direct deposit, or changing W-4 information. Expanding paperless payroll to tax filing and benefits enrollment increases your payback.

In this article we will show how Sage Abra HRMS can make paperless payroll a reality for your organization.

Direct Deposit & Beyond
Direct deposit is included with Abra Payroll. It supports an unlimited number of direct deposit accounts for each employee as well as automatic ACH file creation. For organizations looking to reduce the volume of paper involved in payroll processing, direct deposit is a good start—it can reduce check printing and mailing costs significantly.

According to the American Bankers Association, each payroll check costs the company an average of $1.07 to process, while direct deposit costs around 5 cents.

Paperless Stubs
Many companies using direct deposit still print and mail/distribute pay notices to employees. As a natural extension to direct deposit, some companies are now migrating to electronic advice of pay notices. By eliminating the paper, you eliminate the cost associated with the printing, mailing, and distributing the notices.

Legalities
Most states require employers to provide a statement detailing an employee's pay information. A reasonable interpretation of the laws suggests an employer can comply with the pay stub requirements in these states by furnishing an electronic pay stub.
Other states expand this provision, requiring that a printed statement be provided. The ability to print an electronic copy is generally accepted as being compliant with this rule. Some states require an employee's consent, meaning an individual could elect to receive a printed copy of his or her stub.

When you use Abra Payroll in conjunction with the Sage Abra ESS module, employees can view and print their pay stub detail through the self-service portal. We will be happy to help ensure your system is in compliance with local and state regulations.

Employee Self-Service
Employee self-service has gained momentum quickly over the past few years, and nowhere are the benefits greater than in payroll.

Web-based systems enable employees to update W-4 data themselves, which reduces errors and eliminates the need for your payroll or HR clerks to constantly update records or pull copies of old payroll records. Using a Web-based employee self-service solution, employees can check their payroll information online anytime. This is a benefit to employees and can give back hours of the HR administrator's day that was previously spent attending to routine employee requests.

Abra ESS
The Sage Abra ESS module allows employees to take ownership of their personal information, saving considerable time, HR overhead—and paper!

The Abra ESS module allows employees to view and update their own HR and payroll-related information anytime, anyplace via an intranet or the Internet. Changes made to the system are communicated to all relevant parties automatically.

Employees can update personal information and view benefit elections, absence transactions, payroll information, and more. In addition to viewing and printing pay stubs, employees can view full paycheck details, deductions, and tax withholding information.They can view their own W-2, and submit a new W-4 form to change their federal withholding elections. A digital signature feature keeps this process secure and paperless.

Sage Tax Filing Services is a complete outsourced tax filing service from Sage Software to make payroll management easier. Sage Tax Filing Services supports IRS EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System), state and local income tax, state unemployment insurance, state disability insurance, and IRS Forms 940 and 941. The service also can print and mail your employees' W-2 forms and file via magnetic media. You simply upload an electronic file containing your tax data to Sage Tax Filing Services following each payroll cycle.

Your organization can go a long way toward a paperless payroll system using Sage Abra. We can help; give us a call at 866-888-6070.