Believe it or not, over 600,000 small businesses open their doors in the United States every year. Of that massive class of freshman companies, few will survive the months and years ahead. Those that will almost certainly figure out how to focus on what they do best so they can outsource the stuff that distracts them from their primary products.

Therein lies the reason why so many people turn to a payroll services company when they want to get their teams paid, taxes properly deducted, and filings done in April.

If you’re managing payroll manually and aren’t sure what you’re doing or are just finding it too time-consuming, keep reading to learn how to hire payroll help. Armed with the points of assessment below, you’ll find the perfect partner in no time.

1. Simplicity

When you bring on a digital-based payroll services company to help you manage your day-to-day payroll tasks, the first thing you’ll be greeted with is a dashboard. That dashboard likely has several options that will ask for information required to help your services company do their job.

The moment you look at your service’s dashboard and assess what the overall workflow will look like to work with your payroll contractor, notice if you’re feeling hopeful or hopeless.

Businesses that feel hopeful usually do because the interface of their payroll service is simple, and they have a support team that’s ready to guide them through the collaboration process. Hopeless businesses are usually staring down a complex set of tools and are only armed with FAQ sections for support.

Prioritize partners that prioritize making your life simple!

2. Cost

Payroll is, on average, the most expensive line-item you’ll manage when it comes to running a small business. That last thing you want is to make the process of paying that expense exorbitantly more expensive by working with a pricey payroll provider.

Don’t get us wrong, investing in a relationship with a payroll services company will save you time that you can invest to make more money. Investing too much, though, will lead to diminishing returns.

Understand what a payroll company is asking of you, weigh that against their value, and make sure what you’re paying makes business sense.

3. Works With Businesses Your Size

Not all payroll services or other HR functions are meant for all businesses.  Some contractors specialize in working with enterprise-sized companies. Others, like hrwisellc.com, have mastered the small and medium-sized company space.

Consider how big your organization is, where you see it scaling, and present that information to any payroll contractor you engage. Make sure they’ve worked with companies your size, know how best to support them, and feel they can drive real, affordable value for your organization.

4. Outstanding Technical Support

We touched on this a little bit when we talked about simplicity. Support, particularly in the era of SaaS business models, has become a feature you won’t always get from every service provider.

When you onboard your payroll services company, are they willing to extend to you and your team free training on how their tools work? Do they have domestic phone support hours you can call if you run into an issue? Details like that are going to be extremely important to your company getting the most out of the payroll assistance it’s investing in.

When interviewing prospective providers, ask them how they serve their customers after contracts are signed, and relationships start. Providers that seem excited to provide long-term support to clients should be prioritized over those that are adamant about your team using self-help resources.

5. Reputation

One of the most beautiful things that have come out of today’s user-generated-content driven internet is online reviews. No longer do you have to suffer through poor experiences to discover that particular companies are not worth doing business with.

All you have to do is hop online, head over to a website like Yelp, and assess a company’s reputation.

When looking into payroll services, look for a company that has a publicly available review profile on a major site. That profile should feature a review average that’s 4-stars or better. Bonus points if some of the company’s reviews are from the last 3 months.

6. Offers the Ability to Scale

You’re outsourcing your payroll responsibilities with the thought that doing so will let you scale. Therefore, the last thing you want to do is hitch your wagon to a services provider that will drop you if you add 10 or 20 employees over the next year.

This is why we always advocate that small business owners find a payroll services provider that works with small and medium-sized businesses. That way, if your company goes from 10 employees to 60, you won’t have to hop back in the market for payroll support and can continue to grow in a  streamlined fashion.

Choosing the Right Payroll Services Company May Take Time

Managing your payroll correctly is important because doing it incorrectly can cause tax troubles and legal repercussions that are costly. With that in mind, it’s imperative that if you’re going to outsource your payroll to a payroll services company, you make sure that partnership is one that’s likely to benefit you.

If that means trialing several providers before signing a long-term contract with any one, take that time.

Are you finding yourself wanting more information on payroll services? What about an HR services company or related administrative topics? If you are, our team welcomes you to explore the newest content on our blog.

Jane