Can your payroll weather a storm?

After a natural disaster, many business owners analyze their operations to find ways to safeguard their business. An aspect that may be overlooked, yet is vital for employees, is maintaining the regularly scheduled payroll. Utilizing electronic payment methods to process a completely electronic payroll is an easy way to make sure your employees are paid on time when they need it most.

Electronic payroll can happen in two ways – directly deposited into bank accounts or loaded onto a debit/pay card. And if your state allows it, you may even be able to eliminate printing altogether by utilizing Mize’s Employee Portal, where employees can access their pay statements, W-2s and 1095s.

Benefits for Employees:

• Immediate access to their pay on payday without having to go elsewhere to cash a check
• Keeping wages in a bank account or on a pay card is safer than carrying around cash
• Check cashing fees can be expensive while direct deposit and pay cards incur little or no fees
• Pay cards can be used wherever Visa and MasterCard are accepted
• Cash can be obtained through the appropriate ATM network
• Online and 800# access to account information 24/7
• Lost or stolen cards can be replaced with a small fee

Benefits for employers:

• Reduced or eliminated costs for shipping pay stubs and checks
• Ensuring on-time delivery of pay when shipping vendors are backlogged due to weather, seasonal spikes or unforeseen circumstances like a pandemic.
• Eliminate disruption to your business caused by off-duty employees coming in to pick up checks
• Minimizes unclaimed property reporting for checks that aren’t picked up
• Saves time for your office staff since they don’t have to hand out checks
• Employees can run their own wage histories online through Mize Houser’s employee portal application, which saves time for your office staff

Caution: Each state is different, with some allowing employers to mandate electronic payroll while others do not. Before implementing your program, be sure to research the laws of each state in which you do business.

If you find yourself in the midst of a disaster, whether natural, cyber or some other cause, you don’t need the added stress of worrying about how your employees are going to get paid. Making your payroll paperless can help ensure your employees have their pay when they need it most.