Author Archives: CorpStrat News

6 Ways to Secure Payroll Processing and Fraud Prevention

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Payroll processing is a core function for organizations to be able to compensate their employees for the work they are doing. A payroll system also holds a massive amount of sensitive employee information.

If best practices to secure payroll processing are not properly implemented, sensitive information is left vulnerable, which can put both the employee population and the employer at serious risk of fraud, embezzlement and a host of legal issues potentially resulting in millions of dollars in damages.

To prevent that outcome from happening to your organization, you can use these strategies to help keep your payroll processing secure from inside and outside threats of fraud.

Fraud Prevention

Keep your payroll software up to date (if you are using an automated platform currently)

For those organizations who use automated software to run their payroll processing, the number one thing they need to do is make sure the software is up-to-date. This ensures that their payroll processing has all the latest deployed codes and firewalls to help prevent from devious intent from online thieves outside the organization.

Businesses should be working diligently with their I.T. department to keep up-to-date on the best security practices.

Provide common sense online security protocol for employees

Failure to secure payroll processing can often be attributed to human error. As it’s 2018, we’re still struggling to motivate our employee populations to keep online security top-of-mind. Employees who practice bad online security practices put themselves and their organization at risk to the following hazards:

  • Phishing schemes
  • Malware
  • Trojan horses
  • Spam
  • Ransomware
  • Spyware
  • Viruses and more

Human resources, I.T., and leadership need to make some decisions on what strategies and company initiatives they perform to help keep payroll processing secure from fraud by putting data security at the forefront of their operations.

 Restrict payroll access diligently

This one should be simple to implement. Simply allow access to payroll and the sensitive information it holds to the select one or a few employees whose job it is to run processing for the organization. You’re going to have stakeholders in different departments who may need access to data in payroll, however, everyone needs to be accounted for in this process.

Organizations need to keep an updated list that specifies who has access to payroll. This will allow them to immediately check back on their list easily in the event some payroll shenanigans are afoot in the company.

Be wary of 3rd parties

It’s normal for internal people or departments to need specific information from the payroll department at various times. However, businesses are always being spammed by 3rd party companies looking to acquire the data they hold.

In the event, your organization is considering sharing payroll processing data with a 3rd party, it’s important that businesses consult with their state labor department for clarification on work-related information releases. These businesses should also create a documented procedure that forces whoever wants data from payroll to sign and acknowledge it for auditing purposes later.

Disposal of older documentation

Businesses need to keep their legal documentation cleaned up and disposed of properly. Even if the information is old, it can still lead a person with fraud on their mind to other places that can harm employees and employer interests.

Organizations should be auditing their sensitive payroll documentation held online, or hard copy in the office for older and unneeded materials. By cleaning out the older, sensitive data in their filing systems, businesses will not have to worry about it getting into the wrong hands. They will also have less to sift through when it comes to tax season or other auditing duties.

Secure your payroll area(s)

Whether the department is on-premise or located on another campus, organizations should be doing the following to their physical space to secure payroll processing:

  • Desks should be positioned so computer screens are not facing any windows or doors
  • All physical documentation should be locked up at all times when not being used
  • The doors to payroll should always be locked with access only allowed to assigned personnel
  • For offsite operations, the rules above apply

New Service Allows U.S. Workers to Get Paid Daily Instead of Weekly

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In the tightest employment market ever, employees are asking a simple question that challenges years of standard practice: why should they wait a week or two before they see their paychecks?

It is another signal where technology meets the new world – where rewards are more instantaneous, and employers are seeking low-cost ways to make employees happy. And this helps them manage their expenses better.

While traditional employers still have to comply with federal and state laws with respect to payroll timekeeping, leave laws guard their own cash flow. A small but growing number of U.S. companies are experimenting with daily pay earnings received by smartphones instead of on a more traditional weekly, biweekly or monthly basis through electronic check.

The service, offered by many payroll providers, lets the employees tap up to half their pay they earn on a given day, perhaps even as soon as their shifts end. The offering is chiefly being targeted to hourly workers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck and sometimes seek small advances such as payday loans to get by.

Here’s how it works

Workers are notified, typically on their smartphones, at the end of their shifts that they have an hour to tap half their pay and are asked if they wish to do so. The money is instantly downloaded onto their debit cards. No taxes are deducted until employees receive their paychecks. And, there’s no fee for workers, though businesses may pay more in administration costs each month.

Limiting the money available to 50% of their paychecks encourages saving. What’s more, is the one-hour window to draw the money discourages impulse purchases later in the day.

Seventy-eight percent of workers are living paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet, according to a CareerBuilder survey conducted in the spring.

Long term studies are not available yet to help understand if the ability to get paid each day will help employers attract, retain, reward, or improve productivity in any way. However, the signal that employee-driven tools and strategies are taking a front seat to a traditional business protocol is obvious.

For these and all other Payroll, HR, and Benefits related services CorpStrat is here to help. Contact us today to learn more.

Hire to Fit Your Company Culture

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The Value of Culture

Poor hiring decisions can be extremely costly for your company, in terms of business interruption, wasted recruiting and training resources, lower employee morale and more.

You may realize that an individual is not a good fit, or a new employee may choose to leave if the job doesn’t match his or her expectations. In both circumstances, many of these separations are due to the fact that the hired individuals did not fit the company culture and therefore lacked productivity, creativity and/or morale.

Culture is the unifying element that holds everyone in an organization together. Unlike an established mission statement, culture encompasses the written and unwritten behavioral norms and expectations of those within the company. Culture can set one company apart from others, and it can include the value of work-life balance issues, the way the company is organized, the extent to which leaders follow through on mission statements and many other factors.

team helping business grow

Companies looking to hire individuals that fit with their culture must first identify and understand it. For instance, if your organization recognizes personal achievements and awards individuals for a job well done, then a team-oriented employee might not be the best fit. But if your company values the total team performance versus the contributions of just one individual, then someone looking for personal recognition might not be as satisfied working for your company.

Ultimately, if the fit is not right between the company and individual, then both will lose interest and the relationship will probably fail.

Importance of a Good Fit

Finding employees who are a good fit for the organization produces the following benefits:

  • Improved employee retention.
  • Enhanced employee performance because most individuals at the company share similar values and aspirations. When people share a common purpose and similar attitude, it can encourage people to perform better.
  • Improved alignment from the top to the bottom and employees may view leadership more positively.

Screening to Find a Cultural Fit

Developing a screening process that integrates prescreening based on your company culture can be accomplished with the following steps.

  1. Ask employees at various levels of the organization how they see your company culture. Then, identify the similarities that arise among individuals—motivations, values, core competencies, etc.
  2. When you can identify what makes the organization successful, you will know what to look for during the selection process. This technique is also helpful in avoiding hiring discrimination allegations because you have defined the key characteristics of your culture, which help you logically and fairly justify your hiring decisions.
  3. Create a brand to describe your organization to potential employees.
  4. Depict your culture accurately so that candidates can filter themselves in or out based on how you describe the company. If they do not see themselves fitting into your culture, they may not even apply.
  5. To make branding more real for prospective employees, provide messages from executives, testimonials from various employees, virtual job tours, etc.
  6. Have candidates complete an online assessment as part of the recruitment process to screen potential candidates based on their qualifications, personality, and other factors. Use properly validated assessments that meet legal and professional standards.
  7. Ask questions about traits that you cannot or do not want to train someone how to do (being self-motivated, possessing integrity, etc.). Questions should determine if candidates have values and competencies that match with the company’s culture.
  8. Ask behavior-related questions and then rate open-ended answers on a scale.
  9. Ask for examples of situations in which candidates faced dilemmas or problems and successfully overcame them.
  10. Role-play during the interview process to observe candidates in action. Or, allow them to try out the position for a day to see if it seems like a good fit for them (and for you).
  11. This step would come after all interviewing is complete, and reference checks and resume verification checks are also done.
  12. Know the laws applicable to hiring.
  13. Create metrics for measuring cultural fit by determining cost-per-hire, time-to-fill, and quality-of-hire data.
  14. Make sure management is trained on how to properly interview for behaviors.
  15. Maintain accurate records of all your hiring decisions. During an audit or discrimination claim, you will need to produce valid justification for your decisions.
  16. Human resources should stay on top of monitoring, learning and studying the culture of the organization, and then design policies that align with the culture. HR should constantly be asking if the organization is truly what it claims, if it needs to modify the culture to be more competitive and if it is remaining compliant with all hiring laws.

MediaStratX and The 21st Century HR Solution

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Our Client

Located in Santa Ana, California, MediaStratX is at the forefront of the automotive warranty market. Tripling in size this last year, they seek to provide auto protection plans that help solve the rising costs of repairs for the consumer. MediaStratX brings to the table friendly customer service, while also being able to expand coverage protection plans to meet their customer demands.

Their Challenge

Because of MediaStratX’s rapid growth, they never took a step back to analyze their processes when it came to HR. Manual processes that worked when they had ~30 employees – like Payroll Entry, Onboarding Employees, and Employee Handbook Acknowledgements – were starting to get extremely cumbersome and tedious as they grew. For example, due to their large expansion, MediaStratX was distributing 5-10 hard copy, new hire packets every week, collecting them, and then manually entering employee data into their system. This daunting task alone took 3+ hours every week for the HR team.

The Solution

CorpStrat recommended their branded “21stCentury HR Solution” which is comprised of a dedicated on-site Human Resource Consultant, as well as a fully integrated Payroll and Human Resource Information Software System to completely streamline MediaStratX’s Human Capital Management.

“Before we learned about the CorpStrat 21stCentury HR Solution, we were completely lost!  We knew the ins and outs of our industry but didn’t really know how to navigate the constantly changing landscape of HR in Southern California. We couldn’t be happier that CorpStrat showed us the way!” – Jacquelyn Le, COO, MediaStratX

The Results

When fully implemented, CorpStrat’s fully integrated 21st Century HR Solution helped save MediaStratX’s HR team countless hours of administrative work every week that were previously wasted on simple HR tasks. Not only are employees able to log into their employee portal to fill out new hire paperwork, enter hours, acknowledge company policies, and request time off, but now MediaStratX has a partner that will help them, and their employees grow in a streamlined, compliant fashion when it comes to HR.

To learn more about CorpStrat’s 21’st Century HR Solution contact their offices at (818) 377.7260.

The Importance of Quality Employee Benefits in 2021

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2022 is just around the corner, do you have your Employee Benefits in order? Remaining competitive in searching for the best and brightest job candidates who will drive business is difficult. Once you find the candidates, you have to convince them that your company is the better option to work for than your competitors.

However, there are ways for employers to take full advantage of certain aspects of their business to win the war on talent. A strategic, quality, and comprehensive benefits package can help you attract and retain your most valued assets, your employees.

According to a survey conducted by Glassdoor in 2015, 4 in 5 Employees Want Benefits or Perks More Than a Pay Raise; Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey (Q3 2015). Employees value a well-rounded selection of benefits, and health insurance plans, a 401(k) plan, life insurance, and dental + vision coverage are a few of the plans that you can consider offering to gain a competitive edge.

Have questions? Email us now at marketing@corpstrat.com.

Popular Employee Benefit Examples

Benefits packages offer value to your employees and help you, as an employer, boost productivity and retention in a cost-effective manner. Here are a few of the advantages of offering employee benefits as part of your compensation package.

Talent-Oriented Benefits

Employees highly value a quality benefits package offers that go beyond just the minimum health insurance. Developing a strategic benefits package that invests in your top talent can help attract the right job candidates and keep your organization running at peak efficiency.

Once you have these top-performing employees at your company, providing a tailored employee benefits package will serve as a barrier to them leaving—a great benefits package can be a huge advantage when looking at retention strategies because it holds more than just monetary value for the employee.

A bigger salary at another company likely won’t be as strong a pull for an employee tempted to leave if the other company’s benefits package isn’t as attractive as yours. That’s why considering creative offerings from beefed-up paid parental leave policies to implement student loan benefits — think free college tuition, breast milk shipping services and free babysitting services — can make a significant impact in retaining top talent and increasing your bottom line.

Health and Productive-Oriented Benefits

When your benefits package includes a combination of health insurance and dental and vision coverage, you will have employees who are able to take a proactive role in managing their health. They will have easy, affordable access to health care, reducing absenteeism due to illness.

When they are on the job, healthy employees are more productive than sick ones. It’s beneficial for your company’s productivity and your employees when they have access to medical coverage and time off when they are sick.

 Providing Satisfaction

A good benefits package leads to satisfied employees with higher morale. Employees who find value in their benefits are typically more willing to commit to their company because it helps make them feel valued—which leads to increased productivity and decreased absenteeism.

 Efficient Use of Resources

Offering valuable benefits can help lower top employees’ expectations for salary. Many employees are willing to accept good benefits in lieu of a slightly higher salary.

This is an advantage to your budget because the value you present to employees with benefits, especially health insurance plans, can be monetarily equal to a raise in salary for them, while costing you less due to group rates and lower payroll taxes. Employers can avoid the hidden cost of paying extra payroll taxes on higher salary by instead offering benefits to provide similar value to employees.

 Think Long-term

Even if you think you can save a little money in the short term by skimping on employee benefits, you will eventually face the consequences through a lowered ability to attract high-achieving employees, increased difficulty retaining your top performers, and lowered morale and productivity.

Offering a quality array of employee benefits will pay off through a stronger, more productive workforce with employees committed to your company.

Working with CorpStrat will help you develop a strategic benefits package that works for your budget and offers attractive options to your employees. We can also give you access to educational materials for your employees as you launch your new or improved benefits package. Contact us at 800-914-3564 or send an email today.