In recent years, there’s been a growing interest by entrepreneurs, companies and investors on the Southeast Asian market. Seeing the potential, many businesses have specifically targeted Southeast Asia for their next stage of development.

According to reports by Statista and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Asia has been showing high rates of new business ownership. China in particular had a new business overnship rate of 5.9%, meaning of the working population in China (aged 18-64), 5.9% of the people are currently an owner-manager of a new business.

^{Source: Statista}

To properly compete with other startups and businesses in Asia it’s important that companies streamline their processes on fundamental operations. As an HR services provider with 20 years of experience in Asia, Links is specialised in helping clients streamline their HR function. One challenge startups have in particular is with payroll.

With that, here’s 5 things to look out for when considering a payroll service.

5 Things to Look for in a Good Payroll Service for Startups

1. Tailored according to your size

There are many off-the-shelf payroll solutions available in the market. A challenge with this is they’re usually made to meet the needs of larger enterprises, making it harder for startups with less resources to set up and maintain.

Find a payroll solution that will work best for the size of your company. Flexible HR solutions that offers to tailor their service to your needs will make it easier for you while you’re building your company as well as for down the line when your business expands.

2. Technology & accessibility

In this day and age, mobile accessibility should be a must. The point of outsourcing your payroll is to make your life easier, so the user interface should not be riddled with unnecessary features that slow the solution down. A simple way to get around this is to ask for a demonstration? Put your vendor to the test and let their product do the convincing.

3. Easy & secure setup

Before signing with a payroll servicing provider it’s worth taking a more detailed look at the terms of engagement and the projected implementation timeline. A good questions to note is whether or not the payroll service provider is taking the precautions to secure your data.

4. Price & quality

With so many payroll servicing options to choose from, it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg to outsource your payroll. However, you should be careful not to fall into the trap of only comparing prices. To avoid possible problems in the future, it’s important that you find a vendor that’s trustworthy. Is their services professionally certified? If not, then you should be weary of the quality of service they provide.

5. Customer support

A point that’s commonly overlooked in the sourcing process is the level of customer support. While a good payroll service should run with very little hiccup, with payroll, it’s inevitable that there will come a point when you need additional support. When you have your eyes on a selection of vendors, make sure you check to see what others have to say about their service, a great way to see how the service provider actually functions as a vendor.

Do your research

There are a lot of different options in the market but not all payroll solutions are made equal. Make sure to conduct a thorough research and sourcing process to help secure the best solution for you.

Security

At the end of the day, payroll is a highly sensitive matter and not something to be neglected. When considering which payroll vendor to use, it’s important that you take note of their professionalism and examine the precautions they’re taking to protect your data.

Think long term

As a startup, you’re forced to wear many hats at one time and fill in for many roles. That said, to secure your business in the market it’s important to think long term and find a solution that can support you in the long run.

Related Articles:

• Are You Making These 8 Payroll Mistakes?
• How To Achieve Long Term Business Growth
• How Exactly Does Payroll Outsourcing Work?
• Top 5 Cases of Payroll Fraud and Why SMEs Are Most at Risk
• How to Calculate ROI on Payroll Outsourcing
• Three Reasons Businesses Think In-House Payroll is Better than Outsourcing 

Links International is an industry leader in innovative HR outsourcing with services such as payroll outsourcing, visa application, Employer of Record (EOR), recruitment and more! Contact us for more information on how we can help leverage your HR function.