Thesaurus Customer Update: June 2020

Welcome to BrightPay's June update. Our most important news this month include:

• Returning Staff to Work

• Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme - Operational Phase

• How to download the Revenue Instruction from ROS

• Free Webinar: Important COVID-19 Payroll Updates & Return to Work Safely Policies

Return to Work Safely Protocol 

Rehiring Employees After Layoff - The Payroll Implications

Posted byKaren BennettinCoronavirusCustomer Update

Child’s play: Amazing payroll software that’s simple to use

All of us, in the hyper-connected internet era, have found ourselves at a loss when using some software, website or app. You just want to do one thing, or you want to set something up and...you just can’t.

It might feel like specific software or apps are testing us in some way. Only those who can navigate through the narrow tunnels of this software are genuinely worthy, in some weird twist on the Arthurian legend of Excalibur.

But all of this struggle defeats the entire purpose of working digitally and efficiently, particularly for already busy professionals like accountants. All payroll software should be straightforward to use and set up. This is true for Thesaurus Payroll Manager, and even easier again is Thesaurus Connect - the payroll add-on offering cloud integration and an online portal.

Thesaurus Connect requires no downloads or manual data input. Once set up, everything is automatically available for your clients, where your clients can just log in to their own password-protected portal anytime, anywhere. The online portal gives clients access to all employee payslips, employee leave and payroll reports that you would have previously emailed to clients each pay period.

And there are levels to this, too. Senior employees or managers can be given different levels of administration to approve leave, change employee details, view employee payslips, and access payroll reports.

We understand that you don’t offer one-size-fits-all service to your clients, and your payroll software functionality needs to match that. Thesaurus is flexible, and your involvement in the payroll process can be ramped up or scaled back as required.

Thesaurus Software’s employer self-service portal has built-in features giving your clients a ready-to-go and easy-to-use HR solution. HR documents can be uploaded including employee handbooks and contracts, disciplinary documents, company newsletters, training material and more.

Clients can also manage all leave for their employees. These features will automate and streamline many of the day-to-day HR functions that your clients deal with. The benefits of the payroll service you offer cascades down throughout the business.

Thesaurus Connect gives accountants the ability to send requests to their clients where the clients can now enter payments, additions and deductions for their employees and can also add new starters through their online employer dashboard.

From there, Thesaurus Connect goes one step further with the approval feature allowing you to securely send clients a payroll summary for them to approve before the payroll is finalised. Ultimately, your client will be accountable for ensuring that the payroll information is 100% correct before the payroll is finalised.

Very quickly, your payroll bureau becomes an indispensable part of the business’s administration. By embracing cloud innovation, accountants can really streamline and automate much of the payroll process. And with Thesaurus Software’s easy-to-use, automated software, it’s a low touch, easy-to-manage process. What more can you ask for?

 Book a demo today to discover how BrightPay’s award-winning software can improve your payroll processes and save you time.

Posted byKaren BennettinPayroll

Thesaurus Customer Update: December 2019

Welcome to our December update where you will find out about the latest hot topics and events affecting payroll. Our most important news this month include:

• How will auto enrolment affect you in 2022?
• Thesaurus Connect monthly subscription pricing - How does it work?
• 2019 HR & Employment Law Landscape - What you need to know

Plans to auto-enrol workers in pension schemes by 2022

In 2022, all employers are likely to have certain auto enrolment mandatory duties to complete by law. As a nation, we are not saving enough for our retirement. Many are planning to rely solely on their state pension which could lead to a reduced standard of living. The Irish government aims to bring in an auto enrolment system where all employers will enrol their employees into a workplace pension scheme and contribute towards the employee pension pot.

Find out more here  How will it work?

PAYE Modernisation: One year on - was it a success?

Thesaurus Software has teamed up with Revenue for a series of free PAYE Modernisation webinars. In this webinar, we will look back on PAYE Modernisation in 2019 and decide if the new real time payroll reporting system has been a success. We’ll also deep dive into the evolution of cloud technology in payroll.

• Part 1: Discover the common mistakes employers make and learn what’s to come in 2020.
• Part 2: Learn how Thesaurus Connect’s cloud platforms can improve your payroll efficiency.
  
  

Watch this short video to see how your business can benefit from Thesaurus Connect

Thesaurus Connect is our cloud add-on that works alongside Thesaurus Payroll Manager. Securely store payroll information in the cloud and enable online access anywhere, anytime for you, your employees and your accountant. You will be up and running in seconds. Find out how Thesaurus Connect can improve your payroll processes with a free online demo.

Watch video Book a demo

Employee Gift Cards for Christmas - Purchase One4All Gift Vouchers on Thesaurus

Thesaurus Payroll Manager offers a facility where users can securely purchase one4all gift cards for their employees. Employers can give a gift card of up to €500 tax-free to employees. Gift cards arrive addressed to the employer in an unmarked envelope for extra security.

Find out more

New BrightPay Connect Feature for Bureaus

This is what you must be offering as part of payroll (And why clients will LOVE it)

Client Payroll Entry (Exclusive to BrightPay Connect)
The Payroll Entry Request allows clients to easily and securely enter their employee’s hours, saving bureaus hours of administrative time. Additions and deductions that have been set up by the bureau in the payroll software can also be selected by the employer. All of the information included in the Payroll Entry Request (payments, additions, deductions and new starters) will seamlessly flow through to the bureau’s portal, ready for payroll processing.

Watch video

Client Payroll Approval (Exclusive to BrightPay Connect)
BrightPay Connect’s Payroll Approval Request allows bureau users to securely send their clients a payroll summary before the payroll is finalised. Clients can review and authorise the payroll details for the pay period through their online employer dashboard. Ultimately, your client will be accountable for ensuring the payroll information is 100% correct before the payroll is finalised. Additionally, there is an audit trail of the requests being approved by the client.

Watch video

Thesaurus Payroll Software | BrightPay Payroll Software

Posted byKaren BennettinCustomer Update

Important Pricing Update for Thesaurus Payroll Manager 2020

To ensure that our investment in technology keeps pace with Revenue’s changing landscape and to facilitate the increase in customer support resources, we are changing our pricing for 2020. This new pricing structure is designed to better match usage and support requirements with price.

Unlike many of our competitors, we’ve added hundreds of powerful features and enhancements and heavily invested in additional customer support staff, all so that you don’t have to worry. 99.9% of the time everything will run smoothly but if you ever have problems we will be there to help you. Payroll is way too important not to have a first-class backup service. We believe our pricing remains excellent value and continues to be very competitive when compared to the options from other providers.

Posted byKaren BennettinCustomer Update

Thesaurus Customer Update: November 2019

Welcome to our November update where you will find out about the latest hot topics and events affecting payroll. Our most important news this month include:

• Important Pricing Update for Thesaurus Payroll Manager 2020

• Free Webinar - PAYE Modernisation: The story so far

• Parent’s Leave & Benefit Bill... Paid leave is on the way for all new parents!

Why Customers Love Us

Free Webinar - PAYE Modernisation: The story so far

This webinar is specifically tailored for employers where we will look back on PAYE Modernisation in 2019 and decide if the new real-time payroll reporting system has been a success. We are delighted to welcome Sinead Sweeney from Revenue who will review some of the most common mistakes employers have made to date and what employers should expect in 2020.

Register today - Limited Places

New Thesaurus Connect Subscription Pricing Model

One4all Vouchers available to purchase on Thesaurus Payroll Manager

Thesaurus Payroll Manager offers a facility where users can securely purchase One4all gift cards for their employees. Employers can give a gift card of up to €500 tax free to employees. Under the small benefits scheme, both company directors and employees can receive a gift card completely tax free each year. Thesaurus Payroll Manager customers can purchase gift cards directly from the payroll dashboard from One4All. There is no additional charges on Thesaurus Payroll Manager to avail of this facility to purchase gift cards.

Find out more

Thesaurus Payroll Software | BrightPay Payroll Software

Posted byKaren BennettinCustomer Update

Thesaurus Customer Update: October 2019

Welcome to Thesaurus Software's October update where you will find out about the latest hot topics and events affecting payroll. Our most important news this month include:

• PAYE Modernisation in 2020: What you need to know

• Thesaurus Software’s new employee SmartPhone App

• Budget 2020 – Employer Focus

Backing up your payroll data in 2019

Disasters happen. It’s all part of being in business: Fire, flood, theft, you name it. If you own premises or an office, it might happen to you. Did you access your free Thesaurus Connect cloud backup facility yet? In 2019 we gave all of our Thesaurus customers a FREE Thesaurus Connect licence. Automatically store payroll information in the cloud and enable online access anywhere, anytime for you and your employees.

Find out more Book a demo

Free CPD accredited webinar | PAYE Modernisation: The story so far

During this PAYE Modernisation webinar, Thesaurus Software's MD Paul Byrne looks back at the story so far and decides whether or not the new real time payroll reporting system has been a success. In this free CPD accredited webinar, we will review some of the most common mistakes employers have made to date and what employers should expect in 2020. Part two will deep dive into how online payroll platforms can improve your efficiency.

Places are limited. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Have you invited your employees to use their FREE smartphone app?

Our new employee self-service smartphone and tablet app is available with our cloud add-on Thesaurus Connect. It’s completely free to all Thesaurus customers for 2019. The user-friendly app streamlines the payroll processing while reducing the number of payroll queries from employees. The benefits for employees include:

• Instant access to current & historic payslips.
• Request leave on the go.
• View HR documents such as employee contracts & handbooks.
• Edit personal contact information including address and phone number details.

HR & Employment Law Landscape - Free Webinar

Business Owners and Managers are all too aware of the on-going challenges and constant changes in the area of Employment Law and HR Best Practice. This webinar will offer the opportunity to keep abreast of change and plan for the future. Places are limited.

Free registration here

Thesaurus Payroll Software | BrightPay Payroll Software

Posted byKaren BennettinCustomer Update

More flexibility, more time: Payroll as a cloud service

Payroll processing has never exactly been the belle of the ball. Businesses disliked it because it’s onerous, while accountants loathe it because payroll has proven difficult to monetise. Not to mention, the work is complex and there are bountiful opportunities to mess it up.

But now, payroll is finally having a moment. Cloud portals have altered the landscape, unlocking new productivity and profits for businesses and accountants. Moving beyond the confines of the desktop and connecting payroll software to the cloud opens all sorts of new, exciting prospects.

The benefits of cloud allows constant and iterative improvements because software companies can offer added benefits and additional layers of access via the web, rather than through more traditional, unsecured methods like sending attachments via email. This formula for progress holds true for cloud payroll accessibility. Synching your payroll data to the cloud enables new features, fully supported by a remote access infrastructure for your clients that’s always improving the payroll process.

As for your clients and their employees, a cloud portal can act as an in-house HR system, streamlining many internal payroll administrative duties. For employees, there is just one login to view employee documents and a company noticeboard. Employers can upload documents such as employment contracts, staff handbooks, privacy policies, training manuals. The employer can decide whether the employee should have access to view the document or not, using it as a central location for everything to do with each individual employee.

Cloud integration updates your information in real time which is easily accessible at any time via any device with internet access. Whether it’s just checking something after hours, or enabling flexible online access to payroll information creates freedom. Cloud payroll portals are making it easier and cheaper to provide payroll services at scale for all of your clients. Drudge work is automated, it’s more collaborative, and a simple, intuitive online interface speeds up your work.

But the potential profits from online payroll platforms aren’t just about payroll itself. Time is money, as the old saying goes. Less work filling in boxes means more time spent on lucrative work such as advisory services, consulting and new business development. All throughout the accounting profession, we’ve seen that when firms cut the time spent on traditional services like bookkeeping, tax preparation and now payroll, they can then take on additional clients and projects, using the same number of staff.

More capacity, more time, more flexibility, more collaboration, more profits: the benefits of cloud automation and remote self-service portals will seep into every corner of your practice.

Book a Thesaurus Connect demo today to increase your profits from your payroll service.

BrightPay Payroll Software | Thesaurus Payroll Software

Posted byKaren BennettinBrightPay Connect

Save the trees: Instant Access to Payroll Data without any paper trail

We don’t get paychecks anymore, do we? The concept has been banished to TV shows set in the 1960s, where we see a down-on-their-luck salesman contemplate their paper cheque with sad resignation.

Outside of these cultural portrayals, we’ve all moved along to bank transfers. And yet, there’s still one hangover from the era of manual, paper led payroll: the payslip.

Many of us, despite receiving our pay electronically, will receive a paper payslip detailing precisely how much we’ve earned and the taxes we’ve paid. Often these slips will clutter on the employee’s desk, unsecured and aimless.

But how much can you innovate with the old fashioned payslip, anyhow? Quite a bit, actually. This resource heavy, old school process can be taken entirely online. All employee payslips can be securely stored and instantly accessible on Thesaurus Connect.

From here, individual employees can also access their HR documents such as their contract of employment through a personal self-service portal as and when they need it. That’s less legwork for you and a simple, well-organised process for the employee.

This can completely replace the more labour intensive process you have now. Payslips can be set up by the user to be automatically available on Thesaurus Connect with an email notification to employees, eliminating the need to email them or print it out to hand out, one-by-one manually.

But, of course, employers should still have the choice to do it their way. The business can always email, download or print payslips from Thesaurus Payroll Manager. Whichever way the client would prefer is fine, but it remains seamless for you, the accountant.

It’s all about what’s most comfortable. With 24/7 access to employee payslips and other payroll reports, missing payslips and confusion will be consigned to the past. No more manual processes, no more unnecessary legwork -- just the information when you need it, in one location, accessible from anywhere for the accountant, employer and employee.

And with Thesaurus Connect, the self-service process empowers the employee beyond payslips. The self-service portal is a powerful, multi-purpose cloud tool.

Employees can access their own personal leave calendar, request annual leave, view and change their contact information, access payslips and other payroll and employment-related documents. Clients can even give managers access to approve leave for their department and restrict access the other sensitive payroll information such as employee salaries. It’s payroll software with integrated cloud automation that’s about so much more than just pay.

Book a Thesaurus Connect demo today to see just how much time cloud automation and integration can save you.

BrightPay Payroll Software | Thesaurus Payroll Software

Posted byKaren BennettinBrightPay Connect

Using intelligent automation to streamline the payroll process

There’s a part in Joseph Heller’s classic novel Catch-22 where the character asks a military officer: “What do you do when it rains?" The captain answers the question frankly. "I get wet.” The captain’s resignation and simple acceptance echo the accountant’s attitude to admin. What else is there to do when processing payroll? Same as getting wet in the rain, payroll processing comes assigned with a burdensome bureaucracy.

Or does it? There are a lot of boxes to be ticked in the accounting profession. There are laws, statutes, regulations, each adding another bit of work to your already busy schedule. Indeed, the profession will never be without its share of bureaucracy and admin. But payroll doesn’t have to mean legwork and elbow grease. By using intelligent automation and the right system, you can cut out many of the repetitive (and plain tedious aspects) of payroll processing. Repetition becomes a thing of the past, too.

With Thesaurus Connect it couldn’t be simpler. Payroll reports are automatically synced to the online employer dashboard where users can log in and view payroll information from anywhere. This includes payslips, periodic reporting, P60s, and P45s.

But perhaps for payroll bureaus the most critical way you can reduce the admin burden is by devolving it, so it’s not all on you. Using the password protected self-service portal, your clients and their employees can login online to view their payroll data. For routine tasks, clients can help themselves. The more mundane aspects of payroll processing hum along in the background while you focus on the important stuff. All while maintaining complete control over the entire process.

So what do you do when it rains? You don’t have to get wet - and if you’re a payroll bureau, there’s a more straightforward, smarter way ahead. Admin doesn’t need to be a by-word for payroll, with Thesaurus Connect it can be a profitable, low touch service.

Book a demo today to find out how Thesaurus Connect can streamline your payroll processing.

Posted byKaren BennettinBrightPay Connect

Thesaurus Connect - The importance of backing up your payroll in the cloud

Disasters happen. It’s all part of being in business: Fire, flood, theft, you name it. If you own premises or an office, it might happen to you.

While acts of god can’t always be helped, you can be prepared too. Of course, you’ll have insurance -- but what about your priceless payroll data? For a payroll bureau or business, these payroll files underpin the vital task of paying employees.

One option is to manually and continually back-up your data. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it still leaves you prone to human error. All it takes is a busy day, and someone might forget the process that keeps your payroll data safe.

A simpler option is automatic cloud backup. Unlike conventional data backup, cloud storage keeps your data stored at a remote location. You don't need to worry about backing up your payroll data every time you run your payroll. When you link an employer to Thesaurus Connect, for example, it can be  synchronised to the cloud as you run your payroll or make any changes.

Thesaurus Connect provides a secure and user-friendly way to backup and restore your payroll data on your PC to and from the cloud. Your historical backups and data files are accessible and can be easily restored. Never worry about losing your client's payroll data again -- and it’s all GDPR compliant.

Now, ‘GDPR compliant’ is often deployed as a throwaway marketing term these days -- but Thesaurus takes your data security seriously. Thesaurus Connect is hosted on the super-secure, industry-leading Microsoft Azure platform.

Every byte of data transmitted to and from Thesaurus Connect is secured using SSL over HTTPS. In non-technical speak, that means you can rest assured that our cloud backups are not only convenient but safe.

It’s all about speed, too. Thesaurus Connect maintains a chronological history of your backups. You can restore or download any of the backups to your PC or Mac at any time. You can restore a backup onto your existing PC or Mac to roll back your employer data file to a previous version, or you can download a backup onto a new computer to get up and running right where you left off.

So whether it’s an innocent mistake or a flood after a particularly wet December, Thesaurus Connect will get you back on your feet in no time. And during business as usual, you know you can relax as the system hums along in the background, ever ready to help right when you need it.

Book a demo today to see just how easy Thesaurus Connect can be.

Thesaurus Payroll Software | BrightPay Payroll Software