What is outsourcing payroll services

Learn how payroll outsourcing works and discover the benefits of outsourcing your payroll. See how payroll outsourcing saves you time and gives you peace of mind.

What is payroll outsourcing?

Are your hands full running payroll while trying to adhere to thousands of compliance changes? Relieve the burden with payroll outsourcing so you can save time and focus on your business.

Payroll outsourcing is when a partner like ADP manages your payroll. It’s important to choose the right partner to ensure every employee is paid securely, on time and accurately every month. Outsourcing payroll minimises your business risk. Stay compliant with ever-changing regulations and data privacy legislation. Your payroll will operate seamlessly, no matter how many people you employ.

 

How does payroll outsourcing work?

With payroll outsourcing you get the advantage of working with the payroll experts. Simply leave the tedious task of running payroll for each employee every month to us. Free yourself from monitoring and managing thousands of payroll compliance changes.

Run payroll in just a few clicks — anytime, anywhere, on any device. Your PAYG taxes and superannuation contributions are calculated for you. Other than the payroll process itself, we’ll make sure your statutory reports such as Superannuation Guarantee are all done for you and that compliance to Single Touch Payroll (STP) is well taken care of. 

With payroll underpayment stories featuring in the media and the recent introduction of Wage Theft Bills in Victoria and Queensland, partnering with a trustable payroll provider is crucial.  

Why outsource your payroll?

Eliminate the cost and manual errors of in-house payroll. Avoid penalties from tax non-compliance. Benefit from the additional skills of specialists in payroll, while avoiding the extra costs of hiring an in-house team. Quite simply, outsourcing payroll saves your company a lot of time, money and worry.

Outsourcing your payroll to ADP means you don't need to:

  • Manage a large in-house payroll department
  • In-house legal expertise to ensure payroll compliance
  • Manage payroll deductions: PAYG tax, Superannuation Guarantee and other third-party payments by yourself
  • Submit Single Touch Payroll pay event data to the ATO every pay process
  • Populate employees myGov account with current year to date values
  • Complete Payday filing with the New Zealand IRD
 

How to outsource payroll and what to ask

When deciding whether or not to outsource your payroll, make sure you consider:

  • Their length of experience in managing payroll for clients
  • Whether they have particular expertise, for example, large corporates, charities or small businesses
  • The number of payroll experts on their team
  • The availability of their payroll experts to answer any of your questions as they arise
  • How they anticipate maintaining your payroll compliance obligations

Do your research, and if you’re dissatisfied with the answers to the questions above, the right provider will be happy to help.  

Free your teams from payroll pains

Unburden your HR teams from manual payroll and make their work more rewarding. Let them focus on strategic objectives and react in an agile manner as events arise.

Payroll is becoming more complex and time-consuming but getting it right is vital. 

By outsourcing payroll, your HR teams can:

  • Spend more time supporting employees
  • Develop training to retain talent
  • Focus on strategic goals for an employee’s overall performance

Other benefits of outsourcing payroll include:

  • Cutting costs
  • Making better decisions about the cost of labour
  • Reducing manual errors
  • Avoiding penalties for regulatory non-compliance1

1 A Forrester study found that after investment in ADP Global Payroll, an estimated USD$1.8 million could be avoided in compliance costs.  

When does your business need to outsource payroll?

You need to outsource payroll when you:

  • Need your staff to focus on workforce development
  • Want to optimise HR processes and gain more visibility into your costs
  • No longer have the skills in-house to manage payroll
  • Must ensure your business is compliant and costs controlled
  • Want payroll expertise to navigate payroll challenges

If you don’t have HR, finance or admin staff already in place, outsourcing payroll to payroll experts could be the right option. Any shape and size of businesses in all industries can benefit from outsourcing payroll. It’s especially helpful if your business:

  • Has strategic tasks that require HR, finance and admin
  • Requires payroll data for strategic business decisions2
  • Needs payroll continuity and disaster recovery
  • Is affected by current or future regulation changes

2 ADP’s global payroll survey found that 73% of companies surveyed did not have the payroll data to inform strategic decisions.  

What payroll functions can be outsourced?

If you decide to outsource your payroll to a provider, there are many functions they fulfil, including:

  • Running payroll and calculating employee pay
  • Calculating regional and local payroll taxes
  • Filing mandatory Government reports such as IR8A
  • Calculating employee benefits

If you’re interested in outsourcing your company’s payroll to a trusted provider, make sure you do your research. A professional and reputable outsourced provider will take away the complexity, time and cost of handling payroll in-house – and the risk of penalties for not meeting compliance deadlines3.

3 ADP’s global payroll survey found that 51% had limited confidence in their payroll compliance.

Don’t risk data security with an unreliable provider! Always grill a potential provider about how they maintain data confidentiality and their expertise, including:

  • What basic and more advanced services do they offer
  • The number of clients and length of relationship with them
  • The rates for running payroll per employee
  • Expertise in helping with local tax filing
  • Guarantees about employee confidentiality

If you decide to use ADP as your provider, you can save time for your business because ADP helps you handle your payroll 100%, end-to-end.

 

Why trust ADP with your payroll outsourcing?

When outsourcing something as crucial as payroll to a partner, you need to know you’re in safe hands. From small-business requirements to global payroll needs, at ADP we have over 70 years’ payroll experience. We also have a history of innovation. We were the first payroll company to deliver automation, move to the cloud, develop a mobile app and create an online marketplace. 

Since 1949 we’ve been a trusted partner that people can count on. We manage payroll for over 1,000,000 clients worldwide, across all industry sectors.

Both Gartner and Everest have identified us as a leader in payroll solutions. We have also been named Leader in NelsonHall Payroll Services NEAT Report for 7 years running.

ADP managed payroll services help you:

  • Improve payroll and human resource expertise and competences
  • Align payroll and HR with the needs of your business
  • Benefit from expert payroll and HR resources when needed
  • Improve the efficiency of your internal HR processes
  • Cut hidden costs, such as time spent studying new regulations

Enjoy peace of mind knowing that your payroll is safe, accurate and compliant in the hands of an experienced payroll provider like ADP.

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FAQs
Your payroll outsourcing questions answered

Why outsource payroll services? What are the benefits?

If you decide to outsource your payroll to ADP, we’ll help you align payroll and HR services with the needs of your business. By streamlining payroll functions and enabling the sharing of data, we improve expertise and collaboration across teams. ADP has thousands of payroll and HR experts available to advise on the implications of any changes. Plus, our cloud-based software eliminates manual errors, increasing productivity and releasing cost efficiencies.

How easy would it be to start your payroll with ADP?

It is definitely easy to start processing payroll with ADP.  Processing payroll can be done at any time, not just a new quarter or new year. If you’re switching payroll providers, you can ease the transition process by asking for all the necessary forms and information upfront.

What business size does ADP serve?

Whether you’re a small, mid-sized or global business, ADP offers payroll services that are tailored specifically to your needs! ADP provides flexible payroll solutions that help to simplify payroll, so you can scale up or down depending on your business needs. We manage the complexities and day-to-day tasks of payroll, so you can focus on running your business. By ensuring greater accuracy and seamless integration, our cloud-based technology also delivers insights to help you make more informed decisions.

How do I choose a good payroll service provider?

First, decide what form of outsourced payroll solution your business needs. You may opt for fully or partially managed payroll services, depending on your size and specific objectives. Check how many years of payroll experience the provider has and their accreditations. ADP is the world’s most experienced payroll partner bringing over 70 years’ payroll experience and manages payroll for over 1,000,000 clients. We have been named Leader in NelsonHall Payroll Services NEAT Report for 7 years running, most recently in the Payroll Services NEAT 2021 report for overall digital payroll capability, multi-country payroll and performance in the Asia Pacific region. For the 19th season in a row, verified product users have rated ADP a Leader in Payroll (G2 Summer 2021).

How is my data managed by ADP?

We adopt Binding Corporate Rules (BCR) for processing client employee data and business contact data. These BCRs serve as the basis for our Global Privacy Program. Learn how we provide you with the highest level of data privacy.