Practice owners and professionals in the healthcare field face the biggest challenges when it comes to managing payroll. As the industry gets more complex, outdated technology can no longer keep up with the changes. That leaves many with an HR nightmare on their hands.
Is payroll a nightmare in your practice? If so, you could be suffering many of the common consequences, from poor team management and low job satisfaction to higher overhead costs and inefficiencies. In this article, we provide an overview of several payroll solutions that make payroll processing so much easier and also help you avoid the effects of employee resignation.
Table of Contents:
- Employee Overtime Tracking
- Avoid Paid Time Off / Sick Day Confusion
- Paying Contracted or Per Diem Employees
- Make Payroll for Healthcare Easy by Going Digital!
- Avoid the Effects of Employee Resignation
- How HR for Health Can Help
Employee Overtime Tracking & Alerts
Paying employees overtime can really add up, especially if it is unexpected and puts you over your payroll budget. Sometimes all it takes is for a non-exempt employee to work beyond 40 hours a week or a team member to work seven days in a row in a state that requires this type of overtime pay. The best way to avoid this is through employee overtime tracking. 
Manual tracking or the use of spreadsheets is time-consuming, cumbersome, and prone to human errors. Consider using an electronic timekeeping system such as HR for Health’s software. That way, you can track overtime accurately and based on your location. It also gives you real-time alerts, so you’ll never again be subjected to payroll surprises.
Something to keep in mind is that employees who work unauthorized overtime must still receive pay for those hours worked. In addition, employees may think they can work overtime whenever they like if there are no policies or consequences. Instead of refusing overtime pay, consider a coaching session or disciplinary action. That way, you avoid the added expense as well as the potential for penalties and fines enforced by the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) overtime provisions.
Automatically Updated Time Off Balances
Vacation, personal time, sick days, and other days off can get very confusing. Depending on the time-tracking process used, it can present many problems. Add in remote workers, contractors, and traveling professionals, and you could end up with inaccurate, incomplete, and late timesheets.
Time off accruals can be extremely difficult to track if you have a manual process. Electronic timekeeping that is connected to the time off accruals for each employee can help ensure accuracy in the calculation of time off balances. At HR for Health, our payroll software easily accommodates this. Learn more about how to save time, money, and sanity for payroll processing in dentistry and optometry.
Easily Identify & Pay Contractors or Per Diem Employees
You must be mindful as it pertains to the classification of independent contractors versus per diem employees. Per diem (“per day”) are employees who are compensated at a daily rate regardless of the number of hours worked on that day — they are not eligible to be classified as contractors. However, if per diem employees are in a state with daily overtime, OT hours are incurred once the full day’s regular hours are worked. It can get tricky when determining pay, covered expenses, taxes, etc. It can get tricky when determining pay, covered expenses, taxes, etc.
Reminder: if you have per diem employees, it is extremely important to ensure they are properly classified as nonexempt. Per diem is NOT considered a salary per the FLSA. Using a payroll software system can help you manage the different types of contractors and employees that you have working in your medical practice.
Make Payroll for Healthcare Easy by Going Digital
Managing payroll in your healthcare practice does not have to be a nightmare. It is a job made easy by going digital. Nowadays, cloud-based documentation helps business owners and managers to maintain every aspect of an employee record with accuracy and in real-time.
The HR for Health payroll offering integrates nicely with our all-in-one software solution. This puts an end to the endless piles of paperwork, so you stay on top of employee payroll and remain in compliance with your local legislation.
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How Long Should Payroll Processing Really Take?
Avoid the Effects of Employee Resignation
Poor payroll management can cause your best, hard-working employees to leave if they are not getting what they are entitled to, which ends up costing you more in the end.
Inaccuracies and ambiguity regarding everything from paid time off and OT pay to distinguish contractor versus employee classifications can be overwhelming,
If you are wondering how to respond to employee resignations caused by your HR department’s payroll nightmare, fret no more. You can ensure that your payroll processing is always up-to-date by going digital.
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How HR for Health Can Help
HR for Health caters to dentists, optometrists, veterinarians, physical therapists, and other healthcare practices. We offer time-off tracking, compliant OT tracking, and easy access to payroll reports with our state-of-the-art software.
If you’re looking for ways to solve your biggest payroll nightmares, then we’ve got just the solutions you need. Contact HR for Health here.
