HR and payroll software integration for schools: Benefits of having your payroll work with your HR system

Streamlining school operations with HR payroll software integration

Streamlining operations is essential for the efficient day-to-day running of a school - HR and payroll software integration has a significant role to play here.

Improving efficiency with automated processes

Gone are the days where school HR and business managers would have to waste valuable time on paper-based processes - adding to the dreaded administrative burden.

Automated processes have transformed the efficiency of HR, all the way from budgeting for new team members to paying staff salaries.

With Access Education’s HR and payroll software integration, a connection to Salamander MIS means staff sickness, holiday, contact information and more is fed directly into SIMs and needs entering just once - significantly cutting down on time.

Here, HR and payroll software integration helps avoid unnecessary duplication - particularly useful for school HR and business managers who manage multiple schools in a trust.

Enhancing accuracy in payroll and HR management

Accuracy is undeniably one of the most important components in payroll and HR management. Errors equate to wasted time and risks staff discontent if payment is late or incorrect, which is important to avoid in a time where staff retention is an ongoing issue for many schools.

HR and payroll software integration helps ensure that when pay day rolls around, the correct salary is paid to each employee, automatically factoring in any sort of leave or absence.

Access Education’s HR and payroll software has a 99.9% first time accuracy rating - also carrying a 100% pass mark from the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals’ Payroll Assurance Scheme - so school HR and business managers can be sure they’re in safe hands.

Cost savings through integration

With ongoing pressures like the cost of living crisis, school leaders are always seeking ways to cut costs.

One-off tasks such as responding to data access requests or creating a management report for the board of governors or trust meeting can be costly, not to mention an inefficient use of time.

Automating these processes with HR and payroll software integration helps cut costs and could be the very solution your school is looking for.

Maximising Human Capital Management in education

Simplifying people management is a goal every HR and business manager is striving towards.

With HR and payroll software integration, staff can easily handle holidays, sicknesses, disciplinary or grievance processes, training and more.

With Access Education’s self-service facility, staff can download payslips, amend their profile, book holidays and log expenses - paving the way forward for easy people management.

Effective employee onboarding and offboarding

Effective, simple employee onboarding and offboarding is crucial to making a good impression to new starters, in addition to making HR and business managers’ lives easier when staff leave.

Optimising staff development and training

HR and payroll software integration has a large impact in optimising staff development and training.

For one, it enables managers to easily and securely store information about meetings and reviews with employees, and record the meeting type, date, description, performance and outcome.

Access Education’s software also enables leaders to set employee objectives for follow-up meetings and add training requirements and expectations, with the option to set notifications for automated meeting reminders.

Managing leave and attendance seamlessly

Access Education HR manages the full end-to-end lifecycle of school staff including absence records.

Stored in a central database, records are secure yet easily accessible by the appropriate school staff, to help manage leave and attendance seamlessly.

HR and payroll software integration makes it easy to log and report on absence, utilising Bradford factors, an absence-oriented key performance indicator (KPI), or any other sickness triggers a school uses.

Data security and compliance in school payroll and HR integration

Data security and compliance in school payroll and HR integration is a must, with serious consequences if due processes are not followed.

Ensuring data privacy and protection

Inefficient data management processes bring some very real compliance risks.

Schools must be able to meet compliance responsibilities for the education sector as well as wider requirements such as GDPR, which Access Education’s software helps take care of.

Meeting regulatory requirements

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) puts the onus on the school or trust to take proper care of any information requested, held and processed.

Schools must be able to show good governance, respond to queries quickly and effectively and take appropriate action - all of which becomes much easier with a secure, robust HR system, enabled through HR and payroll software integration.

Auditing and reporting capabilities

Two of the most important management information tasks in a school HR or business manager’s calendar are completing the Schools Workforce Census and collating and managing data for the Single Central Register.

School HR and business managers can save a significant amount of time when this information is collated by individual schools and across a trust. Enter HR and payroll software integration.

With a suite of over 100 reports including absence, turnover, headcount, establishment and more, Access Education’s software helps schools sift and report on important staffing information.

Reports can be scheduled and automatically emailed to specific people, while bespoke dashboards offer a quick overview of key data.

Choosing the right HR payroll software integration solution

When investing in a HR and payroll software integration solution, it is important your choice is right for your school, from features to custom needs.

Evaluating integration features and compatibility

School HR and business managers should focus on integration features which will lead to a seamless end user experience.

For example, Access Education’s employee self-service feature allows staff to view their own payslips and amend their personal details.

Staff have the autonomy to view and acknowledge policies and documents, request annual leave, claim expenses and overtime, as well as log training and timesheets - all from their desktop or mobile to reduce staff admin centrally.

This feature of HR and payroll software integration empowers staff, while also helping school HR and business managers save time - a win win.

Vendor selection considerations

The best school HR and payroll software integration solution should fit a school or trust’s custom needs.

With numerous platforms on the market, schools should look for education-specific solutions and spend time watching demos and asking questions to make sure the vendor is the right fit for them.

Implementing integration successfully

Implementing HR and payroll software integration can be an easy process with successful results. Take it from David Myatt, chief financial officer at the Deal Education Alliance for Learning Trust (DEALT), who significantly cut down the time his trust spent processing data.

By consolidating their HR processes into one system, they gained full visibility of the entire trust, improving reporting and KPI analysis.

Now, staff can simply log in and download their payslips, access holiday requests and log overtime within a few clicks - previously DEALT had to do this process manually over email, taking up important time.

Future-proofing your school's HR and payroll systems

To avoid any issues or wasted time down the line, it is important to choose an HR and payroll software integration solution that fits your school’s requirements.

Scalability and flexibility in integration

A scalable and flexible system is the way forward, ensuring your school can keep up with new regulatory requirements or nationwide pay rises.

Access Education HR also integrates with Access school budgeting software to ensure that any changes in staff pay are automatically reflected in the school budget.

Adapting to changing education trends

Despite the huge challenges it raised, the pandemic did significantly accelerate the adoption of digital systems, unlocking hours of time that would previously have been spent completing paperwork.

Access Education’s HR software is cloud-based, ensuring that staff can access the data they need from wherever they are.

With the education world ever-changing, school HR and business managers can rely on HR and payroll software integration to meet any new needs that may arise.

Continuous improvement and innovation

At Access Education, we are constantly listening to feedback from users to improve our offering and have a dedicated support team on hand - ensuring your school’s HR and payroll software integration is seamless.

How can our software help

Running a school, academy or trust means dealing with a lot of different demands, from finance and payroll to people management and compliance. A robust, fit-for-purpose HR system is key to fixing any issues that may arise.

For school HR and business managers who are used to working with a cobbled together set of spreadsheets, databases and paper systems, Access Education software is the way forward.

Our software is specifically designed to help schools lighten the load and manage key tasks more efficiently. Thanks to HR and payroll software integration, staff are paid accurately, efficiently and on time with no extra input from school HR and business managers.

What next

If your HR processes are already inefficient, perhaps due to more than one legacy system, these problems will only get bigger over time, as new legislation comes into force or if you’re part of a trust which takes on new schools.

It’s vital to have the right operational systems in place and to have a single, accurate record for HR and payroll, which can easily adapt to any changes.