3 tips for payroll and personnel administration

If you hire employees, you are legally obliged to maintain suitable payroll and personnel administration. This allows authorities to check whether you report your employees correctly and that you comply with the social obligations. Keep in mind these 3 tips:

1.  Identify recurring tasks 

Use a checklist with monthly tasks for your administration. Indicate the person responsible for each of these tasks and stick to the time frame. This will ensure you won’t lose sight of anything and you will save yourself a lot of time and headaches as a result. Examples include ordering meal vouchers, indexing wages, sending pay slips, your accounting obligations and DmfA declarations.

Note! Don’t forget the tasks recurring annually, such as the leave calculation in January and the tax sheets in February.

2. Automate and optimise

Your monthly and annual checklist allows you to see which tasks require a lot of time. Try to automate those tasks where possible. Some examples:

• manual payroll calculations can be done easily using Excel sheets
• there are handy tools to process leave requests and time registration.

Tip: If you are still short of hands, consider the assistance of a payroll services provider.[MF3] 

Optimise your personnel policy as well. Compile an information folder for all new employees, including in it information about, among other things, leave and sickness insurance schemes, public holidays, employment conditions and training courses. Better still: provide a digital version.

3.       Keep an eye on your social-legal obligations

If you are the subject of an audit by the social inspectorate, you’ll be glad your payroll and personnel administration is in order. Some tips : 

Dimona declarations

Dimona declarations must be submitted on your employee’s first working day at the latest. If you are even 1 minute late, the NSSO/RSZ considers this to be too late.

Employment contracts

Every employment contract you draw up must include the following elements: work, salary and authority. Limit the text to the strict minimum and respect the deadline for signing it. In contracts for part-time employees or students, you must state the time schedules, pro-rata calculations and other details in order to avoid social conflicts.

Work regulations

Make sure that you include both your obligations and those of your employees in the work regulations, and that you comply with the latest guidelines. Don’t forget the appendix about the prevention of psychosocial risks.

Health & safety rules

A medical examination is required for certain employees. If you recruit young people, interns or a pregnant woman, health surveillance is mandatory. This obligation also applies to employees who handle food products or who have high-risk jobs. For example, employees working with hoists must submit to a health check.

Conclusion

An inspector performing a social audit will start by checking your payroll and personnel administration. You should, therefore, take into account all the relevant obligations and corresponding deadlines. Efficient, automated processes will help you deliver flawless administration.