The outbreak of Covid-19 in the year 2020 has brought about several unanticipated changes in the global business scenario. Even payroll management has been affected by this pandemic.

Payroll management has undergone tremendous change in the past few years especially with the advancement in technology and the changing business environment. The emergence of new technologies has made it easier to handle the tasks associated with payroll management. In other words, the function of payroll has been able to keep pace with the changes taking place in the global economy. Not only this, technology has brought ease and convenience in the functioning of the Human Resource Department.

Let us go through some of the latest trends that have emerged in the year 2020 in the field of payroll management for employers to adopt.

Automation of payroll management: This is the foremost trend which has emerged in 2020 and is increasingly being adopted by big and small business houses. With the advancement in technology – cloud computing and so forth, automation of payroll function has become quick and cost-effective. Moreover, the outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19 has made it imperative on the part of the businesses to adopt the process of automation for their payroll function.

Automation is cost-effective, reduces paperwork and the chances of errors. Thus, accuracy and speed are the essential benefits of automating the payroll function.

Emphasis on data security: The year 2020 has highlighted the need to focus on protecting the data of the employees since automation has become the new norm for payroll management. Cybercrimes are increasing and hence, it has become imperative for the third party service provider to absolutely focus on protecting the data of the employees.

It is to be noted that automation ensures that data is password protected and so cannot be easily accessed. Moreover, there is no paperwork that can go missing and create further hassles for both the employer and the employee.

Flexible payroll: You might have heard about this term for the first time! One of the most talked about changes that is happening in 2020 is that of flexible payroll. You must have heard about monthly payment of salary; however, companies are devising new ways of providing flexible pay-outs to the employees based on the project work and business scenario.

When the company decides to fulfill the needs of the employee in a flexible manner, it nurtures a fruitful relationship between the two in the long run.

Pay transparency: This trend is something which is the topic of heated discussion in 2020. In the wake of the pandemic, freelance and contractual jobs are on the rise. Companies are publicly sharing information about the pay package of its employees whether on payroll, contract or freelance. In the light of this scenario, payroll management has to be handled in an efficient manner.

Therefore, to conclude, you must have realized by now that the arena of payroll management has undergone drastic change in recent years. As a result, several new trends have emerged in 2020 facilitated by automation and advanced technology.