Business preparedness, emergency and continuity are all subjects that most business owners have discussed during their annual strategy days. Fortunately, most have never had to implement these plans – until March 2020.

We all know that COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world of work forever. Homeworking, changes to contracts, government benefits and employee furloughs have all had to be considered and managed.

Perhaps understandably, limitations to our existing HR and payroll have been revealed.  Many organisations had to review how they manage their payroll, for the well-being of their teams and their businesses.

Payroll has been tested like never before 

Old, complicated, IT systems and ineffective, manual processes have been unable to cope with the ‘new normal’. Inaccurate data and a lack of analytics and visibility have hampered businesses’ ability to make fast decisions at the most critical time.

With often whole workforces  based at home, companies have had to urgently manage both the logistical and emotional challenges of keeping teams operational and happy. These issues don’t even take into consideration the potential of higher levels of sickness, leaving many businesses’ shorthanded, at the same time as possibly being over-staffed – it’s often one or the other, but rarely both.

Through all of this, people have still needed to be paid. Often with new, different terms than before as organisations rapidly restructured to  maintain resilience.

Payroll management needs to be cloud-based  

It has become apparent, very quickly, that the organisations who were able to adapt best to these new challenges were those who had embraced cloud-based working. Their teams were able to work from home more efficiently, and the administrative functions of their business, such as HR and payroll, were able to continue seamlessly.

Businesses that had traditional, in-house infrastructure, hosting internally, have struggled, at a time when certainty of income is all important. Having on-premise systems, tied to physical infrastructure and fixed locations, can create security, scalability and in the event of a pandemic even possibly health risks.

Payroll must change forever – like everything else  

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced rapid change to the way we work, collaborate and manage our teams. It has also quickly proven that people can work well from home. Even when the health crisis ends, home working won’t, which means that innovations to our HR policies and processes, including payroll will continue to be a worthwhile and valuable investment.

If you would like to discuss how Offshore Payroll could help your business, please email info@offshorepayroll.com to arrange a chat.

An extensive package of measures to address the cost-of-living crisis, which formed part of the Chief Minister’s 100 day plan has been passed.

The aim of this package is to put almost £15 million back into Islanders’ pockets this year and almost £42 million in 2023.

The Minister for Treasury and Resources, Deputy Ian Gorst, said: “This mini budget will help individuals and families with their budgets in this cost of living crisis. I am pleased with the work we have done to help people with these broad measures at this time of need in the community.”

Some of the changes passed as part of the Mini budget will directly impact payroll in Jersey. A reduction from 6% to 4% for employee Social Security contributions, came into effect on the 1st of October 2022 for 3 months (ending on the 31st of December 2022).

Our clients won’t need to do anything, as the update to social security will go through to our databases automatically.

Also approved as part of the Mini budget was an above inflation increase of 12% in Income Tax thresholds and allowances, including Child Allowances, Additional Allowance and Child Care Tax Relief. From 1 January 2023 Income tax threshold for a single person will be raised from £16,550 to £18,550.

We will also be updating Jersey databases to reflect the increase in income tax thresholds from the 1st of January 2023 onward and will let our clients know if any action is required.

You can find more information about the Mini budget through the Government of Jersey website: https://www.gov.je/News/2022/Pages/MiniBudgetQandA.aspx

Source: Government of Jersey News Release.

Businesses using the global accounting platform Xero as their accounting system, can now benefit from a two-way interface with the cloud payroll application, Offshore Payroll.

Jeralie Pallot, director of Offshore Payroll, commented on the news “ We are delighted that Offshore Payroll has been accepted as a member of the Xero family; this brings exciting benefits to businesses operating in unique offshore environments. Our integration with Xero will improve accuracy and offer significant time savings by further automating the payroll process; allowing businesses to focus on other essential processes and achieving better outcomes.

Since the launch of the cloud based Offshore Payroll, our emphasis has always been on ease of use, efficiency, and automation of the payroll process for our users, which is what makes this software such a popular choice.  Becoming a certified partner of Xero is another step forward in the ongoing development of our application.

The Xero certification caps off an exciting 12 months of growth for Offshore Payroll, which is now used by more than 800 organisations and provides payslips for more than 11,000 employees across the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

To learn more about how Offshore Payroll can help your business click here.