Bunny Slippers, Bitcoin, and Payroll

Let’s face it, when asked to list cutting edge industries, payroll hasn’t historically made the list. Steady, predictable, compliant are much more the attributes this landscape hails as it’s hallmarks, and with good reason.

That said, the changes impacting the industry today, and on the horizon, will bring some of the most rapid, and complex changes seen to date.

Artificial intelligence, our own behaviors as consumers, and the lasting impacts of a post-pandemic hybrid workforce are the bell weathers for the sea of change and the rapidness with which it will impact independent small payroll providers.

The Opportunity & Challenges of AI:

Ai can help create efficiencies in the industry from error detection to compliance pitfalls and everywhere in-between. The opportunity is Ai will make payroll processing easier and more efficient. The challenge is that it will do so not only for independent payroll providers, but everyone. This means overtime it will become easier for small businesses to take payroll in-house; something the industry has spent years working to convince small business owners is not beneficial. And, while providers with the vision and technology savvy staff to embrace Ai will can enjoy these efficiencies, the same efficiencies are available to larger national providers with the ability and the brand presence to harness these efficiencies to scale faster. In short, the jury is out on whether Ai will benefit or further intensify competition from both sides; the DYI small business and the big-box providers.

How is your business embracing Ai? 

We’d love to hear.

The Permanent Pandemic Workforce Model:

Lately, there have been cries to return to the office from just about every corner of the private sector amplified by Washington. There’s merit to the arguments for more in-person interaction for all of us – personally and professionally. Even if the calls for a return to the workplace are rampant. There’s also a loud chorus of people who firmly believe the hybrid work model is here to stay. What all this does mean is the complexity of payroll, even with Ai efficiencies is here for a while. The impact of this model has been contracted and fractional employees and, for businesses whose model could support it, even small businesses now have multi-state filing requirements and complexities they did not pre-COVID. This, of course, is in addition to parallel regulatory changes such as 2024 laws altering tax requirements and deductions. 

How have your clients navigated the hybrid workplace and the changing regulatory landscape? 

How has it impacted their businesses, and yours? 

We’d love to know!

Employee Demands and On-Demands.

The employee landscape is changing for small business owners as well, and this means changes and complexities for payroll. From television to Amazon to DoorDash, on-demand is here to stay and will continue to broaden its impact on our behaviors as consumers, and as employees. It can be summed in two words: Immediacy and Control. Why should I wait two weeks if I get paid today?

What if I want to be paid in bitcoin, maybe directly to my Venmo account and bypass the traditional bank entirely? It’s only a matter of time before these requests become increasingly more prevalent and the support required, and margin of error, despite Ai and technology even greater. In addition to immediacy, increasingly employees want control – they want it all in the palm of their hands, literally. They don’t want to track down a W2 in one portal and track PTO in another. They want to see their paystub and their benefits statement in the same app. This too adds a level of complexity and coordination for independent payroll providers.

What complexities do you see on the horizon? 

Where do you feel your company is well-poised and what will be a challenge. 

Let us know.