Overcoming Aged-Care Payroll Challenges
Not all payroll systems are the same
When it comes to Aged Care, not all payroll and HR systems are the same. In fact, few can manage the inherent complexities. Frontier Software delivers payroll and HR software and services to many Aged Care providers throughout Australia. The reason for this is simple; we have an in-depth understanding of the unique requirements of your industry, and the solution to meet them. Here are five common challenges you can overcome with the ichris payroll and HR solution from Frontier Software.
1. So many transactions and updates are date-driven
Any industry that is governed by awards needs a system that can apply date-effective changes. Perhaps you need to pay an allowance part-way through a pay period, process a back-pay or apply award increases across multiple employees? No matter what the reason, ichris is purpose-built to apply date-driven changes. Just enter the details and the effective date and the system does the rest. It can even apply bulk rate changes without having to update individual employee details, including mid-cycle or future-dated updates. This powerful feature saves time,increases accuracy and ensures compliance for even the most complex of awards and agreements.
2. Accuracy of award management
The Aged-Care and Health industries are subject to complex award rules, and with so many moving parts, it’s easy to overlook a task or inadvertently breach award conditions. But ichris makes their administration simple with clever functions to ensure adherence to rules, like automatic rate increases based on hours in a role and bulk rate updates. Working alongside your nominated workforce management solution, these smart features ensure compliance and reduce the chance of costly errors.
3. Workflows that don’t work
Workflow is a powerful tool, but only if it can handle multiple possibilities or pivot to accommodate alternative outcomes. IWF21-Intelligent Workflow enables you to design workflow processes that mirror the way you work. It could mean routing leave approvals based on leave type or length or automating form-based applications and approvals. You can also track workflows and redirect them if required. For business processes with decision points or variable paths, consider automating them with IWF21.
4. Finding the right person for the job
Aged Care is a highly specialised industry, with employees filling a wide variety of roles, all needing a unique set of skills. Rostering is complex enough without the added burden of checking the credentials of every employee on every shift. Using ichris, you can store the skills, licences and qualifications of every member of the team. So, when scheduling your people, you can allocate the right person every time, which removes the burden of compliance. That means you can be confident that every resident and every patient is in expert hands.
5. Accurately paying staff filling multiple roles
Our Aged care clients have many employees who fill multiple roles, completing basic carer tasks one day and complex nursing tasks the next. This can challenge most payroll systems that struggle to pay and accrue entitlements based on the position filled. The ichris solution makes capturing and paying hours for employees with multiple roles easy. Every position is treated as a separate contract with its own set of rates and entitlements, but still associated with one employee. When an employee works in one position, they are paid at that rate and accrue entitlements for that position. When they fill another, the new rates and accruals are applied and processed by payroll. Approvals are routed to the manager responsible for each position, and payslips can reflect individual position or combined figures.