The complexities of payroll and benefits management are placing increasing demands on human resources administrators, especially at small and midsize businesses. Add in regulatory compliance and constant replenishment of personnel for high turnover industries like food processing and oil and gas production, and companies can face challenges hiring for the HR expertise they need.

If that business operates in a remote geography, the talent pool for the necessary knowledge and skills becomes even shallower. But that doesn’t have to mean going understaffed. Here are some tips and tools to get you the help you need to make your business run as smoothly as possible.

Staffing Remote Locations

High turnover industries face the constant challenge of having the people they need. This is especially true for industries like oil and gas production where the personnel often require specialized skills and a good deal of experience. Retaining qualified workers and keeping these operations staffed can be a full-time HR task on its own.

To add to the difficulties, such worksites can be geographically remote and widely distributed, meaning there is no central pool of qualified talent that can be easily tapped. It becomes HR’s job to recruit the necessary people from a variety of sources that are often hard-to-reach, both physically and from a communications standpoint.

Outsourcing recruitment to a specialized firm is an obvious solution, and each industry usually has a roster of dedicated firms for that purpose. This frees a company’s HR team to focus on retention, which may be as simple as energetic benefits management or as proactive as company communications. The right technology can enhance all of these activities.

A technology-enabled onboarding process can start the relationship right. And an online employee portal – accessible on mobile devices – can foster a sense of community. When that’s integrated with self-service features for benefits management, processing PTO leave requests, and obtaining payroll and tax documents, HR can really do its part to engage workers and keep up their spirits.   

Covering Compliance

Workplace regulations are always a focus of HR’s attention; not necessarily because there are too many, but because the consequences of noncompliance can be so severe. Since there tend to be regulations regarding every aspect of the employee’s journey – from hiring through separation – and those regulations are subject to regular revisions, HR needs to constantly be on their toes.

Very few HR administrators are expert in every aspect of compliance. If they are, that is probably the focus of their work, and they are not likely to be the kind of generalist a small or midsize company needs to cover all their HR needs. Here, too, some outsourcing might be helpful. And consultancies exist to help establish systems, procedures, and even forms to guide your HR staff. Some even supply OSHA-compliant training which helps prevent injuries and can mitigate some employer liabilities.

This is where a human capital management (HCM) software platform can really simplify your operations. In addition to streamlining payroll and time-tracking (as we’ll discuss next), an HCM platform can automate and systematize the compliance best practices an outside expert provides without having to retain them full-time. 

Payroll Tips and Time-Tracking Tricks

Payroll is rarely handled by HR, and more often handled by an outside provider. But a company’s HR administrator, as the primary contact for payroll-related inquiries, needs to be knowledgeable and informed enough to respond to those inquiries. This can be even more the case with employee inquiries about benefits, taxes, and PTO, which overlap with payroll.  

This is where an HCM software platform can make a huge difference. Such systems include a payroll processing function which is integrated with time-tracking, benefits administration, and even PTO requests and approvals. Once the HR administrator knows the software, they can much more easily access the necessary information to assist employees.

As a bonus for the company, the integration of these functions makes payroll processing much more efficient with much less chance of errors. This becomes even more valuable if payroll processing is outsourced, as it eliminates the need for time reports to be collected and transmitted.

How VensureHR Provides the Expertise SMBs Need

For any company currently or considering outsourcing any of its HR functions, VensureHR might prove to be a less expensive solution with overall better service levels. As the nation’s largest privately-held Professional Employer Organization (PEO), VensureHR has experts in every aspect of HR. What’s more, the provide the necessary software to deliver all those services and support your in-house team as required.

Engaging a PEO like VensureHR can unlock a range of efficiencies which both you and your people will appreciate, while enjoying the greater profitability that comes with it. Find out everything a PEO can do for you. Schedule a no-cost business evaluation from VensureHR today.