MYOB working with businesses to simplify employment

MYOB working with businesses around NZ to simplify employment

Essentials Payroll and MYOB YourPay products launched

Leading online accounting and payroll software company MYOB is meeting with small business employers across New Zealand this week to help make it easier for SMEs to understand their employer obligations and pay staff.

To complement the rollout of MYOB’s next-generation payroll solutions, recently showcased at the company’s nationwide roadshow ‘INCITE’, the MYOB Employer Essential seminars are being held to help explain the new legislation, payroll compliance changes, employment law and provide advice on meeting employer obligations.

The seminar series, launched in Auckland yesterday with events also in Wellington and Christchurch, includes guest speakers from the Inland Revenue Department, myHR, PeopleSafe, and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). With the events quickly reaching capacity, MYOB has also scheduled a webcast for regional business operators to download.

MYOB General Manager – SME Solutions James Scollay says that employing staff can be one of the biggest pain points for a small business owner.

“Our research has told us that almost three in four SME employers struggle with issues related to employing staff. Understanding their employer obligations, dealing with compliance, reporting and record keeping requirements are just some of the challenges they frequently face,” he says.

As the new financial year approaches, employers will face new compliance requirements. From 1 April, the Health and Safety Reform Act and proposed Employment Standards Legislation Bill come into effect and include changes to paid parental leave and zero hour contracts.

“MYOB’s online payroll software is designed to mitigate this very stress; it’s designed for New Zealand businesses and is automatically up-to-date with payroll compliance including IRD changes, Holidays Act requirements, ACC, Student Loan and KiwiSaver rates. This means business owners can leave the payroll grunt work to us and rather use the time saved to focus on being great employers. As the new financial year begins, it is important that employers understand the new legislative compliance changes and how it affects them,” says Mr Scollay.

MYOB estimates that its software is used to pay over 30 per cent of the New Zealand workforce. The company has been investing strongly in the local market, developing new technology and extending the scale of its offerings with payroll-focused acquisitions including Pay Global in 2014 and ACE Payroll and IMS Payroll in 2015. MYOB now covers payroll for businesses of all sizes, from 1 – 20,000 employees.

“MYOB’s Essential Employer seminars are part of our ongoing commitment to support local employers and help make business life easier,” says Mr Scollay.

Essentials Payroll and MYOB YourPay out this week

In line with their ongoing investment into payroll in New Zealand, MYOB’s latest extension of their product offering for employers is also being launched this week. Essentials Payroll and MYOB YourPay were announced at MYOB’s annual INCITE roadshow in February.

“Essentials Payroll is an online payroll system that can be used as a stand-alone product or integrated with our popular Essentials Accounting product. It helps employers pay their staff quickly and accurately in three easy steps and collaborate with their accountant or bookkeeper to manage the process,” says Mr Scollay.

To streamline communication between employers and their staff even further, MYOB YourPay is a mobile web app, allowing staff to complete timesheets and receive their payslips online.

Jeanine van Kradenburg, owner of the Kapiti-based catering business Party Perfect, describes both products as “life-changing”.

“One of the most difficult things about becoming an employer was figuring out how to pay my staff. Due to the different sized events my business caters for as well as running a café, I have a lot of staff that work on a casual basis and at differing rates,” she says.

“So much of my time used to be taken up figuring out illegible paper-based timesheets or texting staff to get their hours, whilst also needing to work out things like holiday pay and statutory holidays etc.

“[With] MYOB YourPay, sorting out timesheets and payroll has never been so simple. The app makes it so quick and self-explanatory for my staff to enter in their timesheets and when I open up my [Essentials] payroll it is automatically populated into the system.

“Essentials Payroll then helps me to work out their pay easily. I do everything online now and my accountant can access my business data easily if I need anything. It really is wonderful!”

Mr Scollay says MYOB believes working to reduce payroll complexity and ensure compliance for New Zealand businesses of all sizes will make a real difference to the local economy.

“Our vision is to provide a connected, end-to-end payroll solution for all employers that enables them to engage with employees, collaborate with service providers, automate compliance and integrate systems to minimise data duplication and manual processing,” Mr Scollay says.

“If we can make the key processes of employment much easier, and less time-consuming, it will not only free up time for small business owners, it will also remove one more barrier to employment and growth in the small business sector.“

For more information on employing staff, local business owners can register their interest to receive the MYOB Employer Essentials Seminar webcast, or download their free Essential Employer Guide at www.myob.co.nz/employeressentials.

ENDS

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