Few business owners or managers will cite payroll management as one of their favorite tasks. But when, from a strictly financial perspective, does it make sense to outsource payroll operations? Here's a quick look at the top reasons that businesses turn to payroll-services providers.

1. Cost. Big businesses can afford to maintain big payroll departments. For small businesses, however, an in-house payroll service is a money burner. If your business has fewer than 20 employees, there's a very good chance that you can save money by outsourcing your payroll operations. Do the math. Figure out how many hours your employees are devoting to payroll-related activities, calculate how much you're spending and compare the amount to the plans offered by several payroll-services providers. Also, be sure to factor in the money your business spends on tasks like printing and distributing checks, creating tax documents, and the like. You'll probably be surprised by the result.
2. Productivity. Payroll management is a time-consuming activity. With this burden removed, your employees can focus on doing more productive things, and you may even be able to trim your staff's size.
3. Accuracy. Payroll mistakes can be painful, angering employees and — more ominously — the government. A good payroll-services provider is far less likely to make a serious error than your in-house staff. Furthermore, if a big mistake is made, you can seek financial restitution from the provider — something you can't do with your own employees.
4. Reliability. In-house payroll activities function as reliably as the people doing the work. With a payroll service, output speed and quality won't vary in accordance with vacations and illnesses. You also won't have to spend time helping new hires understand your business's payroll system.
5. Speed. Since payroll-services providers are specialists with vast technical resources at their disposal, they can process even the most complex payrolls at lightning-fast speed. Unlike most employers, they can also accommodate a temporary influx of seasonal workers without acquiring new systems that will remain dormant the rest of the year.

You have just learned half of the 10 reasons to outsource payroll. Find out the remaining 5 by downloading our whitepaper, by clicking on the icon.