Businesses today generate, maybe, 10 times the volume of data than ever before. Some 15- 20 years ago companies were processing data in a number of megabytes. In the early 2000s, IT leaders were dealing with hundreds of gigabytes, and now, with the Internet and the Internet of Things (IoT), companies are processing terabytes and even petabytes of data — that’s a lot of data.

Among all the data that companies generate, payroll data hold very useful insights that can be leveraged to figure out the financial health of your business and the return on your employee investment.

Additionally, payroll data —such as attendance (especially connected to day-based pay), loans and salary advances — salary increases and commission payments, etc, can impact company policy, improve productivity, and even improve the employee experience with the company.

The challenge with most Jamaican businesses is that this information, which often represents the most up to date in the business, is often unused, thereby robbing the business of the insight needed for important decision-making, and even business transformation.

The solution, of course, lies in the company’s decision to incorporate analytics surrounding the payroll data that concern its most valuable assets — its people.

To make a quick case of it, let’s look at how data sets from payroll information can be used by business leaders.

REMUNERATION

Companies can use the data to analyse whether salaries, commissions, bonuses, and so on are stacking up to the productivity levels anticipated by the business. With this, business leaders can get answers to questions such as: Am I paying enough for what I expect, or too much for what I get? Is there a disparity between compensation and productivity?

Often, companies add employees without having a good appreciation for how such new costs will impact the overall staff and operational numbers. However, data about employee count can offer visibility into the company’s year-to-date numbers, giving a good picture of the growth of the workforce and any attendant costs.

Additionally, using the insights from tracking employee retention and turnover data can support the company’s talent management strategy, including establishing the most efficient path to workforce growth.

Data about transfers in departments or changes in employment tiers, such as the move from clerical to supervisory or management positions, can indicate the strength of the organisation’s talent management programme.

SALARY ADVANCES

Reviewing the data related to trends in requests for salary advances can reveal a lot about the needs and personal demands of employees. It could provide human resource leads with a chance for interventions, such as financial literacy, financial planning, career-mapping and maybe even a review of salary packages by executive management.

In some unique cases, payroll data can lead to responses that become solutions the company can transform into products and launch to the marketplace.

At MC Systems, for example, frequent requests for a manual approval of salary advances led to the creation of a digitalisation project, which resulted in a payroll loan product app called BizPay Cash. This app, which was launched in 2018, allows organisations to use payroll data to set parameters about loan amounts and repayment conditions, and facilitates employees to apply and get approvals of loans in a matter of minutes.

The employee can apply from anywhere at any time, privately, and no longer has to complete manual forms, submit that to HR, and wait for a manual review, which can take days or weeks.

The company solved the problem for its staff; and being a technology company and a payroll service provider, it is now able to offer this solution to other entities that may be facing a similar employee concern.

The most important component of a company’s pursuit of outlandish success is its people. Especially in this era where data is everything, analytics of payroll data is one of the most extraordinary ways to ensure you keep the health of your business in check, while creating an environment that keeps morale high, costs down and productivity up.

What are you doing with your payroll data? Are you making the most of it?

Chad Gordon is commercial manager of payroll at MC Systems.