Gross pay, net pay, overtime, tips, tax regulations—restaurant payroll is confusing. Add in the payroll fluctuations that come with seasonal workers and minors on staff, and it gets more complex. As a restaurant owner, operator, or manager, finding the time to learn about the everchanging tax and wage regulations is probably not high on your priority list. But running payroll is an essential part of running any business—you just can’t get around it.
If you’re still doing manual spreadsheet calculations to pay your employees or relying on a binder to organize important tax information, it’s time to consider outsourcing payroll—here’s why.
Avoid Unnecessary Payroll Tax Fines
When you’re running your own payroll, small mistakes and oversights can be detrimental to your restaurant’s financial health—IRS statistics show that roughly 40 percent of small businesses pay over $845 a year in payroll penalties. And for restaurants, running payroll is even more confusing because of the complex laws governing employees who earn income through tips. From reported obligations of total tips earned, to employment taxes, staying up to speed on all the laws for tipped employees is not easy.
If you’re not using a cloud-based online payroll platform, take a step back and analyze how much time and money you are spending running payroll. Besides cost savings, you’ll avoid unnecessary mistakes, which are twice as likely to occur with homegrown payroll solutions. A good payroll processing solution can automate your tax statements and W-2s, helping with employee classifications, reporting details, and tax filing deadlines. Your staff is one of your most valuable resources, so make sure you don’t lose them by missing payday or slipping up on a new labor law requirement.
Get Access to HR Experts and Helpful Technology
The rate of restaurants leveraging a payroll software solution has increased from 28 percent to 50 percent in the last year—making it one of the most popular back-office technologies for restaurant businesses. As online payroll software has evolved to cover more touchpoints of the employee lifecycle, it has become even more useful to restaurant managers. Look for employee management solutions that integrate payroll and Human Resources, so all your employee information is consolidated in one place. Integrated payroll and HR solutions will help you better manage your employees and give you quick access to a variety of resources and tools.
From ACA compliance monitoring to on-demand HR support, payroll is about more than just paychecks. Provide your team access to a self-service employee portal where they can gather all their tax and paystubs whenever they want. Flexible services that work for your business now and can scale in the future will not only make your employees happy, it will save you money in the long run. As your restaurant grows, you’ll need to find a system to keep up with employee records and reporting—making it even more necessary to leverage new payroll technologies.
Focus on Running Your Restaurant
While saving money and organizing employee files is important—the biggest benefit of outsourcing payroll or utilizing an online payroll processing tool is the time you’ll get back to focus on your restaurant. It can be easy to get caught up in office-management and the complicated details that come with being an employer, but it’s important to take a step back and make sure you’re not losing focus on the big picture. Eliminating tedious processes is one of the simplest ways to make sure you’re dedicating your valuable time to bigger, more difficult tasks facing your restaurant—like reworking your menu, prioritizing the customer experience, and ensuring your staff is well trained.
Ready to get back to the kitchen and out of the office? Learn more about our intuitive payroll software, designed with restaurant owners like you in mind.
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