Establishing a reliable payroll system may seem like a simple HR issue, but it can cause a major disaster if you don’t approach it correctly. There are dozens of examples where brand new payroll systems failed to deliver the expected results, causing some severe damage to the local governments.

If you want to avoid the payroll system mistakes, you better make sure to understand how it really functions. Here are the top three tips for stress-free implementation:

When it comes to paying your employees, there are many rules and regulations to keep in mind in order to stay in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Chances are, you’re aware of all the statues that regulate wages, overtime pay, and other similar ideas. However, not everything is quite as clearly defined as these, and there is a lot of gray areas that payroll professionals struggle to understand. And, as if this isn’t confusing enough, these guidelines have a tendency to vary somewhat from state to state. As a Michigan-based payroll and HR software company, we at Dominion have all the resources you need to break down some of these regulations in order to make sure you’re ready to process payroll and avoid any fines and penalties that might sneak up on you.

As a payroll software company, we have a few primary objectives here at Dominion Systems: offer the most intuitive payroll software available, keep pricing as affordable as possible for our clients, and above all else, ensure all sensitive information held within our servers is kept as secure as possible. We manage all of these objectives by having a team of dedicated employees that are constantly working to keep us ahead of the curve. For instance, we’ve recently made the decision to switch to pressure seal forms in order to improve the efficiency of our check delivery and increase the protection of confidential information.

The following is part 2 of a transcription of a recent demo we put on of Dominion's Time Off software. You can watch the full demo here. 

Leave Management Also Known As Time Off

Now, if you are not using our Time & Attendance system, we do have an entire Leave Management tool that I'd like to show you here real quick. I'm going to log out as Julie Andrews. I'm going to log in as Jane Doe. Jane Doe is my company admin. As we log in here, I'm going to move over to my Company tab and go to Leave Management and this is where I have the ability to run reports and check statuses and approve leave time for my employees. Now, if supervisors have access to the system, they will only see their employees, whichever employees they're attached to or whichever departments are assigned to them.

The following is part 1 of a transcription from a recent demo we did that covers Dominion’s Time Off software. Watch the full demo for free here!

Good morning Everyone and welcome to today's presentation on Dominion System’s Time Off software. My name is Claire Manz and I’m your product strategist here at Dominion. For those of you who don't know me, I hope I can meet you soon. Today I'd like to walk you guys through a couple of the different sections of our Time Off platform. We have an employee side that I'd like to start with so we can get a feel for what the employee can do, how they can request their own time off, how they can manage their own time from that portal through our Employee Self Service section of our system, but then also how either an administrator or a supervisor has access to manage their employees time and approve that time and manage the employee time from the supervisor or administration side. It's very simple to use and I'm very excited for those of you who don't have this piece to be able to utilize it.

Tips and Tools Every HR Professional Should Know About:

1. Recruiting | Applicant Tracking System

2. Retention | Onboarding Software

3. Payroll | Online Payroll Software

4. Time & Attendance | Time &  Attendance Software

Did you just open a new business? Perhaps you just started a new role at a company in the HR department. Whatever the case may be, it is a known fact that any HR role comes with a lot of stress and time-consuming tasks such as recruiting, onboarding, compensating employees, approving time off requests, maintaining policies and records, ensuring compliance, handling employee concerns and so on. All these tasks are important and there is no way around them, but luckily, there are ways to make those tasks easier and streamline your processes.

Running a restaurant or bar is time-consuming, demanding and stressful. What if I told you a payroll and HR software can simplify your everyday HR tasks? I am in the marketing department at Dominion Systems, a payroll and HR SaaS (Software as a Service) company, but I also have about 10 years of experience working in the food and beverage industry. I’ve worked at multiple restaurant locations and received multiple promotions enabling me to work in different departments ranging from front of house positions, to marketing manager, to floor manager, allowing me to see many aspects of what goes into running a restaurant. I wanted to put my experience from both industries together to bring you value, which is why I’m going to share how a payroll and HR software can be valuable to your company in the food and beverage industry.

I spend a lot of time preaching about the importance of Payroll and HR Software in the business world. After all, most businesses would certainly benefit from a seamless connection between their payroll, time and attendance, and hr software. However, the total cost of it all is simply too much to expect for many businesses, so it becomes necessary to pick and choose the features you best feel would benefit you. That being said, there is often a difference in opinion between who will benefit most from the software and who makes the final decision.

 Staying compliant is an important part of any business, no matter the size. Because your HR department deals with a variety of issues on a daily basis, staying compliant becomes a bigger responsibility for them in particular. Being aware of the most common compliance issues allows your HR department to prevent any problems if your company were to get audited. There are specific guidelines and regulations that your HR staff should follow in order to stay compliant such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, Federal Civil Rights, and so on. Make sure your HR staff is aware of all these and are following them correctly. There are many compliance issues that your HR staff might have to face at some point and I would like to address 3 of them in this blog that you might find helpful, regardless of whether you are new to HR or experienced.

What do you know about job costing? Payroll software has many fundamental features that benefit most organizations, yet there are features that your payroll provider probably has, that you might not be aware of, that can assist and help you reach your organization's goals. What’s more, they might come at no additional charge. Whether you’re satisfied with your current payroll and HR software provider or shopping around, I strongly suggest learning more about the valuable secondary features offered, such as Job Costing, Group Scheduling, and Report Scheduling to name a couple. I’m here to share more about job costing and help you decide if it would be a beneficial feature for your organization.

The following is a transcription from a recent demo we did that covers your General Ledger. Not in the mood for reading? Watch the full demo for free here!

Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to today's presentation on your General Ledger (GL). My name is Claire, I'm your Product Strategist here at Dominion Systems. Today I want to go through some of the different tools that we have in terms of helping you manage your General Ledger entries and the reporting capabilities that we have within our system. I will start off by saying I am not an accountant, so keep that in mind as we progress with this demo. We’re not going to necessarily cover the accounting aspect of your General Ledger, but rather the reporting and the tools that we have and also to make sure you are aware that we have certain features within our system that can help you connect and export all of that data within the payroll world. This will help you manage your accounting software and the data within that platform as efficiently as possible.

It’s payday and you get a worried call or email from one of your employees. He says he checked his bank account and he wasn’t paid. He then tells you that he needs to pay his bills and that he lives paycheck to paycheck. How do you investigate and resolve this? A great way to minimize payroll errors is by using a single-source online solution like Dominion Systems. With Dominion, you have your payroll, time and attendance, and other HR processes streamlined together on the same platform. An all-in-one payroll solution improves accuracy, cuts dual-entry and makes your time spent on payroll more efficient. Enable your employees to fill out their direct deposit in the online Employee Self Service Onboarding process to minimize errors. In the 2017 “Getting Paid In America” survey, 93.74% received their pay via direct deposit. It’s no surprise this number is very high and as any payroll professional knows, mistakes happen and you need to be prepared for when they do. It becomes important to resolve the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible. Here are a few tips to help troubleshoot a missing direct deposit payment.

It’s payday and you get a worried call or email from one of your employees. He says he checked his bank account and he wasn’t paid. He then tells you that he needs to pay his bills and that he lives paycheck to paycheck. How do you investigate and resolve this? A great way to minimize payroll errors is by using a single-source online solution like Dominion Systems. With Dominion, you have your payroll, time and attendance, and other HR processes streamlined together on the same platform. An all-in-one payroll solution improves accuracy, cuts dual-entry and makes your time spent on payroll more efficient. Enable your employees to fill out their direct deposit in the online Employee Self Service Onboarding process to minimize errors. In the 2017 “Getting Paid In America” survey, 93.74% received their pay via direct deposit. It’s no surprise this number is very high and as any payroll professional knows, mistakes happen and you need to be prepared for when they do. It becomes important to resolve the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible. Here are a few tips, specific for Dominion Clients, to help troubleshoot a missing direct deposit payment.

Whether you are starting your own business or you’re simply thinking about making changes to your current payroll structure, choosing a pay frequency is very important and you should do it carefully. There are four main pay frequencies: weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, and monthly. Some pay frequencies are better for certain purposes than others, which is why it is important to know and understand the pros and cons of each before making a decision. There is no federal law that requires a certain frequency, but each state regulates this individually.

Choosing the right payroll provider isn’t easy. You’re shopping with hopes of staying loyal to the company for a long time so you won’t have to go through this process again. You know the software needs to have the right features to help you simplify your payroll and HR tasks while providing the best customer support. It’s been cold here in West Michigan, specifically 20° in mid-March. Conveniently, you don’t need to go outside to shop for payroll and time and attendance software. You’re able to shop right from your desk, or if you’re feeling fun-- your couch. The following are things you should look for in quality software providers to efficiently handle your payroll and HR processes.

Dominion hosted a live Employee Self Service software demo January 24, 2018. Claire Manz, Dominion’s Product Strategist, presented on Dominion’s Employee Self Service platform. I broke the transcript down into 3 parts. Below is part 3. By reading these transcripts or watching the live demo, you will learn how to empower your employees by conveniently giving them access to their personal information such as their pay stubs and W-2, enroll in benefits during open enrollment, as well as access other useful resources. Part 1 goes over the shortcuts that are on the employee's main page. You can find the part 1 transcript here. Part 2 shares information regarding the Profile tab, the Reports tab, and the Time & Attendance tab. You can find the part 2 transcript here. Part 3 below shares information about the Applicant Tracking and Benefits tabs, questions from clients, as well as how Dominion's Onboarding software is conveniently integrated with our Employee Self Service product. Giving your employees an Employee Self Service portal allows you to focus your time on more important payroll and HR tasks. Keep reading to learn about Applicant Tracking, Benefits, as well as how our individual software products integrate together!

If you’re new to the payroll industry or have recently started working with a company that has employees who are not U.S. citizens, it is important to know that there are a number of things you have to remember in regards to income tax withholdings. The first thing you’ll want to do is identify all non-citizens on your company's payroll and divide those people into residents and non-residents. You can find instructions on how to do this by using the Internal Revenue Code Section 7701(b) or by a tax treaty.

Dominion hosted a live Employee Self Service software demo January 24, 2018. Claire Manz, Dominion’s Product Strategist, presented on Dominion’s Employee Self Service platform. I broke the transcript down into 3 parts. Below is part 2 of 3. By reading these transcripts or watching the live demo, you will learn how to empower your employees by conveniently giving them access to their personal information such as their pay stubs and W-2, enroll in benefits during open enrollment, as well as access other useful resources. Part 1 goes over the shortcuts that are on the employee's main page. You can find part 1 transcript here. Part 2 below shares information regarding the Profile tab, the Reports tab, and the Time & Attendance tab. Part 3 will share information about the Applicant Tracking and Benefits tabs, questions from clients with answers, as well as how Dominion's Onboarding software is conveniently integrated with our Employee Self Service product. Giving your employees an Employee Self Service portal allows you to focus your time on more important payroll and HR tasks. Keep reading to learn about the Profile tab, the Reports tab, and the Time & Attendance tab!

Dominion hosted a live Employee Self Service software demo January 24, 2018. Claire Manz, Dominion’s Product Strategist, presented on Dominion’s Employee Self Service platform. I broke the transcript down into 3 parts. Below is part 1 of 3. By reading these transcripts or watching the live demo, you will learn how to empower your employees by conveniently giving them access to their personal information such as their pay stubs and W-2, enroll in benefits during open enrollment, as well as access other useful resources. Part 1 goes over the shortcuts that are on the employee's main page. Part 2 will share information regarding the Profile tab, Reports tab, and the Time & Attendance tab. Part 3 will share information about the Applicant Tracking and Benefits tabs, questions from clients with answers, as well as how Dominion's Onboarding software is conveniently integrated with our Employee Self Service product. Giving your employees an Employee Self Service portal allows you to focus your time on more important payroll and HR tasks. Keep reading to learn about the main page shortcuts!

How many employees do you manage? Do you have a hard time creating schedules to make everyone happy?Your employees might be juggling school, families, additional jobs, and other things that they are trying to fit into their schedule. As a manager, it is your job to create a schedule that not only works for you but also your employees. Although it can be hard to achieve the perfect schedule, it is possible. Whether you use a scheduling app or stick to the old pen and paper method, there are tips that can help make scheduling easier for both you and your employees.

Those new to processing payroll in-house might be a little overwhelmed at the prospect of calculating taxes. After all, miscalculating deductions can result in having to reissue paychecks and can even lead to fees and penalties from the IRS. That is why it’s important to have the right training and tools at your disposal to ensure you’re calculating your taxes correctly every time. Make sure the resources you’re referencing are from a reliable source, and more importantly, up-to-date. Below are a few tips I’ve compiled to help make your tax calculations a little less daunting.

Is your organization still rounding employee punches to the nearest 15-minute mark on timesheets? Do you allow employees to manually enter their time on a time card or spreadsheet, resulting in estimations and approximations? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you’re likely paying much more for employee wages, overtime, and lost productivity each and every pay period. With the technology and affordable tools available today, you will want to strongly consider using an automated online time and attendance platform that will conveniently track employee time to the exact minute (no more rounding), eliminating countless hours of overpaid minutes.

2018 is right around the corner and we cannot wait to see what it has in store for us! Before looking at the future, I decided to take a look back at the Dominion blogs that were the most popular. When it comes to the payroll and HR industry, there are thousands of resources that can be found online, and for us, being industry leaders is a top priority. We want to be able to share our knowledge and educate our readers on certain topics including employee benefits, time and attendance, payroll, and human resources in general. 2017 had many trending topics such as employee burnout, tracking employee time and attendance, absenteeism, and more. If you missed out on reading these blogs or are interested in getting a refresher, look no further. The following are the top 10 blogs at Dominion in 2017.

Are you happy with your payroll process? Whether you’re using a software as a service, a CPA, processing through your bank, or run in house, do you find you’ve had a lot of issues with your procedures? Have you thought about looking elsewhere? If so, now is the time to do so. I know, how could I say that if year-end is so busy already? If you’re not currently considering shopping payroll providers, you should think again. Why you ask? Well, the holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year when it comes to shopping. If you are already spending time shopping for gifts for your friends and family, why not shop for your business as well? After all, it is because of your business that you are able to purchase those gifts for family and friends, so why not do your best to improve it? If you have not changed your mind about shopping for payroll now, then you should read on.

The final quarter of the year is here, and with it comes a new year, which means new business goals and opportunities. If you are reading this, chances are that you are considering switching payroll providers. Any kind of change can be overwhelming, and switching from a software that you are used to working with to a brand new one is no exception. Before making this change, you need to consider a lot of factors that can make your decision the best one. If you switch to the wrong payroll provider, this can cause a lot of trouble in the end. So, because of this, you need to make sure that you know exactly why you are switching, and that you have researched all of your options thoroughly.  

Year-end is here, and for the most part, it is the most wonderful time of the year. Holiday sales are up, employees are being festive and morale is high, holiday parties are happening left and right, and then there’s those of us who work in payroll. Year-end is one of the most stressful times of the year for those who do payroll for a business. There are 3 main areas that are involved in year-end:

At the end of the day, virtually every business requires the use of some sort of payroll software. Whether your business has one employee or thousands, it’s important to have the tools necessary to administer payroll and ensure your business is staying in compliance with tax withholdings. Your method of processing payroll can range from doing it in-house, using a CPA, or by using a payroll provider.

In today’s technology-ridden business world, you can’t throw a stone without hitting a dozen different software-as-a-service options that are designed to make your life easier and increase efficiency in the office. With that being the case, how do you sort out the quality services from the bad? Well, it takes a lot of research, which I imagine is why you’re here. Today we’re going to look at what features make a quality Time and Attendance software. But first, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page. Put simply, Time and Attendance software allows you to track and calculate employee time. The specifics behind this can vary widely, as some timekeeping software will sync with your payroll, others will keep you in compliance with overtime requirements, etc. However, there are four primary features that every Time and Attendance software should have: The ability to set up rounding rules and exceptions, simplified scheduling options, informed reporting, and employee self-service. With these four features at your disposal, you’ll be ready to revamp your timekeeping process and simplify your daily workload.

As a small, privately owned business, we at Dominion understand all too well that if you want to expand your reach and grow financially, it is vital to have smooth and efficient processes in place. These processes can range from onboarding to employee retention to internal trainings, and of course, payroll. These processes have to be streamlined if you want your product or service to run smooth. The faster a business grows, the more problems come along, including data security, remote access, and having sufficient backup data. These are all concerns that business owners have to constantly be thinking about.

When candidates are interviewing for a position within your company, they try their best to make a good first impression with you. Once you decide on a candidate and hire them, it becomes your turn to make a good impression on them. You can do this by creating a good onboarding process. There is a lot of research out there on tips to creating an effective onboarding process, but have you heard of the common mistakes people make? Here are a few mistakes you should avoid during the onboarding process.