The 8 Best Payroll Software for Large Enterprises - 2023

There are more than a few good reasons for large companies to acquire payroll software. Having a large number of employees means tasks revolving around human capital management can take an exorbitant amount of time and resources. Here are some of the common use cases and benefits of having payroll software:

• Pain-free payroll: The main reason for large companies to get payroll software is for them to have their payroll processes streamlined and automated. Payroll consists of highly extensive and tedious data entry, which can take employees long periods of time to finish. 
• Access to experts: For the most part, payroll is repetitive and meticulous work. However, payroll becomes relatively complicated and confusing when it comes to federal taxes. Some payroll software allows access to experts to help during these times.
• Save time: Payroll software saves companies time in a few ways. Primarily, payroll software saves time in its automation. For example, payroll software allows companies to allocate more time and resources to other productive tasks when payroll software takes care of payroll, taxes, and withholdings.‍
• Compliance guarantee: Complications in filing taxes are not uncommon in businesses, and human error can play a role in certain penalties such as late or incorrect filings and payments. Payroll software is often updated with the latest information regarding tax laws to avoid these common issues.

While payroll software can indeed be quite the asset, HR management has to consider some important factors when choosing a payroll service provider for their organization. Choosing payroll software for a large enterprise is a different challenge compared to choosing payroll software for different sized businesses. Here are pitfalls that we’ve identified to help you avoid when choosing payroll software:

• Size Capability: Vendors typically target clients of a certain size. It is important to choose a vendor that has a track record for serving companies your size.
• Scalability: Once you have determined that a vendor is capable of serving a company your size, check whether they are capable of growing along with your organization. Payroll software that could not keep up with your growth trajectory would just be replaced eventually.
• Remote Operations: Since payroll software typically deals with taxes, features are potentially limited to certain geographic regions. It is crucial to choose a vendor that operates in all the remote locations your organization operates in as well. ‍
• Compliance: Payroll software is often featured to be up-to-date with all the most recent regulations, but it’s beneficial to make sure. HIPAA and tax violations can be extremely costly.

It can be quite tricky to measure the ROI of payroll software, especially for larger companies. For small businesses, outsourcing payroll is a simpler decision as pricing for companies of this size is usually cheaper than having a dedicated payroll administrator with an average salary of $50,000 a year. However, since prices increase as the size of the company increases, larger companies might find it more cost-effective to keep payroll in-house instead of getting a full-service payroll provider. 

Because of this, some vendors specifically offer flexible pricing plans that allow their clients to do most of their payroll in-house throughout the year, except when it comes to reviewing and filing tax forms. 

Since payroll software is more expensive for larger companies, these companies would have to accurately determine which payroll system is cost-effective for them. This entails accurately determining how productive their current payroll system is, as well as considering their system’s accuracy. How much time does it take to process payroll? How quickly can their payroll system correct errors? How much time does it take to produce payroll reports? What are the business needs? These are some questions that can help tip the scale when deciding if a company could benefit from payroll software.

Pricing for payroll software varies greatly from one vendor to another. Usually offered as a SaaS product, a typical pricing structure for basic payroll without any add-ons would revolve around a base fee and then additional fees per user per month. However, many of these vendors offer customized plans where organizations can structure their plans so that they only pay for what they actually need. Understandably, plans with additional features will cost more.

You can find a sample pricing chart below for a few company sizes. The estimated cost already includes the base fee that organizations would have to pay upfront. You’d still need to contact and consult with each vendor to get an accurate quotation since there are many factors that go into payroll software pricing.

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Take note that the price chart above is a highly rough estimate. Some vendors might only charge depending on the number of employees, while some would add a monthly base rate. Remember that there are times where you could still negotiate the prices with the vendor, especially when it comes to initial setup fees.

Handling larger companies will require software with core features that can significantly reduce workload and ultimately benefit the company. Knowing the features available in these software is key when assessing a company’s payroll needs. 

Most vendors offer feature-rich payroll software with highly intuitive, user-friendly interfaces that elevate user experience. It is key that business owners and HR teams are familiar with key payroll features to allow them to choose the best one for their organization. 

• Automated and unlimited payroll runs: One of the primary features of payroll software is to automatically run payroll for an organization. This incredibly powerful function takes care of a task that can otherwise cost the organization significant time and human resources to do. 
• Off-schedule payroll runs: While payroll software primarily functions to run payroll on regular pay periods, it can also run payroll off-cycle for certain situations.
• Direct deposit: Employers can use payroll software to pay salaries by electronically transferring funds to their bank accounts automatically.
• All tax filing/payments: Payroll software eliminates the trouble of filing and paying for payroll taxes, compliances, and regulations.
• Multiple pay rates and schedules: Payroll software simplifies payments for employees that may have multiple pay rates and schedules.
• Payroll reporting: A payroll report is an important document that allows employers to check financial data or confirm tax liabilities. Since payroll software has access to all this pertinent information, payroll reporting can be done regularly with ease. Online payroll software can even generate reports for team leaders and managers from anywhere in the world.

Virtually all vendors can offer demos to showcase their payroll software. During demos, it is important to know which questions to ask to effectively assess their offerings. Here are some questions we think you should ask on demos:

• Are you capable of handling a company of our size?
• What is the size of your biggest customer right now? How far would you be able to effectively scale with them?
• Will pricing change as we scale? If so, how so?
• How do you keep data safe for a company this size?
• Do you have a regulatory compliance team?
• Do you operate in all our locations?
• Are you compliant with regulations in all our locations?
• How flexible are your plans?
• What integrations does your payroll software support? Can it integrate with our current technologies?
• Do you have an employee portal? How is its ease of use?
• How will direct deposit work?
• What’s your implementation like? How is customer support? Is it real-time?
• How does your interface work? Do you have a mobile app?

Implementation can look quite different from one vendor to another, but the primary factor involved in how long implementation will take is how big the client is. Understandably, implementation of new payroll software for a large enterprise can take up to a couple of weeks. 

Fortunately, there are ways companies can help expedite the process. For example, implementation can take place much quicker when the client provides the relevant employee information as soon as possible. This relevant employee data includes employee names, departments, positions, salary information, and so on.

What is payroll software?

Payroll software is a technology designed to manage, streamline, and automate payments and invoicing to employees, as well as help maintain tax compliance and regulations. Many of these payroll software vendors also include other services such as benefits administration.

Does a company need software to do payroll?

No. Traditionally, companies have done payroll manually. However, processing payroll without the aid of a payroll software solution requires a significant amount of time and labor. Small business owners might typically assign payroll tasks to Human Resources, while larger companies can acquire dedicated payroll administrators to process payroll.