Payroll management is a critical aspect of running a business. It’s a time-consuming process abiding by an ever-changing landscape of regulatory requirements. Even simple mistakes can lead to costly fines and auditing. Businesses have increasingly opted to put payroll processing in the hands of third-party providers.
If you’re weighing your options for managed payroll vendors, it’s easy to only see the extremes:
Each end of the spectrum has its advantages and headaches. Midsize service providers like Lift HCM sit between the extremes, allowing them to leverage the best of both worlds. That’s not to say many midsize firms don’t face unique challenges of their own. Most vendors are familiar with the growing pains of smaller firms because they were once that small themselves.
One might even compare the low-touch communication between the self-service account and a rep at a midsized provider with an active book of clients to the hands-off relationship of larger firms. One wouldn’t do that for us, but…others.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the key advantages midsize payroll providers have over their competition and give you what you need to make impactful decisions moving forward.
Midsize vendors are small enough to invest in understanding your needs, goals, and obstacles beyond a surface level. Unlike smaller providers, they’re also able to ensure continued service in the midst of family events and holidays.
A midsized firm is more prone to invest in its talent pool. Industry titans like ADP and Paylocity target recruit their reps as recent college grads for the sake of scoring cheap talent before they inevitably turn over the role to chase their next big thing.
Meanwhile, midsize firms invest in more battle-hardened talent. Their seasoned soldiers are in it for the long haul. This is, in part, because the market never pulls the provider far enough along the spectrum of scale that they risk sacrificing the human connection at the heart of a successful partnership.
2. Midsize Payroll Providers Have Expertise in Your Field
Midsize vendors invest in learning beyond what it takes to understand your needs, goals, and obstacles. Reps are often assigned an industry or vertical in which to specialize. In other words, their book of clients has a genre. Because of that, however, the industry knowledge applied to one client applies to the rest.
This allows them to gain a deeper understanding of the context surrounding the payroll processes, tax regulations, and compliance requirements to which you’re expected to adhere.
Smaller providers, on the other hand, often juggle clients in too many fields to develop any specialized knowledge. Large providers are where you can expect some turnover in reps as the recent college grads they get to fill the role go on to greater heights.
By partnering with a midsize provider, you gain access to their specialized knowledge, ensuring accurate and timely payroll management. Their expertise can be particularly beneficial in navigating the intricacies of payroll tax calculations and reporting, minimizing the risk of errors and penalties.
3. Midsize Payroll Providers Don’t Charge for Services You Don’t Use
Midsize Payroll Providers Don’t Charge for Services You Don’t UseMidsize payroll service providers excel in offering flexible solutions that can adapt to the changing needs of your business. Whether you’re a small startup or launching a full-scale invasion of the western hemisphere, a midsize provider can scale their services to meet your needs.
This can mean offering modular or customizable service packages, allowing you to select from specific services (i.e. payroll processing, tax management, attendance tracking, and more). This flexibility ensures that you’re not paying for unnecessary extras.
Security is a top concern for any business, especially when handling sensitive employee dat. Any company charged with handling personally identifiable information (PII) such as Social Security or license plate numbers on behalf of its clients must adhere to a set of rigorous security standards.
Smaller providers may not always have the means to invest in their data security to the same degree of sophistication as most midsize firms. They can’t always swing the cost of data center storage with half a million backups and redundancies in place. Sometimes you just get a rack with a lil’ box on it. If Terry yanked it off the shelf tripping over a cord on the way to his second slice of breakroom birthday cake? Oops.
However, the most vulnerable component in any company’s cybersecurity plan is its people. Midsize providers have the resources to implement best practices and administer comprehensive company-wide training to keep their client data secure.
Midsize payroll service providers understand the significance of data protection and are beholden to the same data compliance standards as larger firms and self-service platforms. Like larger firms and self-service platforms, midsize firms also have the resources to scale their infrastructure, keeping you secure under any circumstance.
In short, midsize payroll providers give you the relationship-focused support of smaller mom-and-pop shops still while being ready to provide quality service at any scale. You’ll have a team of real humans who want to see you succeed ready to match pace with your growth, maintaining the steady drum drum of the pay cycle and offering an anchor of stability to the people who change the world.
Lift HCM is a family-owned business with a track record of success in providing reliable payroll solutions for over three generations. In that time, the Lift family has grown large enough to deliver quality service to clients of any size.
Need a lift? If you’re interested in managing your payroll through an independent provider, you may be ready to schedule a demo with the team. We can’t wait to show you the view when you get a lift.