Christmas Payroll Tips
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Christmas Payroll is one you may need to give some extra thought to. Regardless of the holiday season, you need to pay your staff. And with extra public holidays there are a few things to watch out for. Here are some tips to help you along. Allow for Christmas and New Year bank processing. Check with your bank what their arrangements are for transaction processing over Christmas. For instance, here is how Commbank handle things:
Christmas Day & Boxing Day processing - Transfers made before 6pm on Friday 23 December 2016 (Sydney/Melbourne time) should get to the recipient's account by Thursday 29 December 2016 (this can depend on how long the other institution takes to process the transaction).
Transfers made between 6pm on Friday 23 December (Sydney/Melbourne time) and 6pm Wednesday 28 December 2016 should be credited to the recipient's account by Friday 30 December 2016.
New Year's Day processing - Transfers made by 6pm Sydney / Melbourne time Friday 30 December 2016 should be credited to the recipient's account by Wednesday 4 January 2017. Transfers made between 6pm Friday 30 December 2016 and 6pm Tuesday 3 January 2017 should be credited to the recipient's account by Thursday 5 January 2017.
Once you know how your bank will do things, you might need to make some adjustments to your pay cycle in order to ensure your staff is paid on time. For example, you might decide to bring forward your Christmas Payroll dates so as to avoid the Christmas banking holidays. Let your staff know what to expect, if needed.
Get people's pay right. When calculating your christmas payroll, make sure that your staff is paid correctly for holiday pay and leave loading (if applicable). If staff will be working on Public Holidays check ahead to the penalty rates right. You can check the correct rates on the Fair Work Ombudsman's web site.
Plan your rosters. It's worth putting a bit of time and effort into planning your staff rosters for the Christmas and New Year period. Think about which staff would be best for particular shifts so you control your costs but have reliable staff rostered and can still deliver good customer service. The least cost staff may not be the best option if you want to make the most of busy trading days over the holidays.
Emergency Contacts. Especially if you are using technology (rostering systems, accounting software etc), be sure you have details of who to contact in case of a problem over the Christmas period. Make a note of any altered hours for helpdesks, and be sure to have their contact details somewhere easy to access.
You can find more tips for how to manage the Christmas Holiday season here.