Why upgrading payroll software can future-proof your business
Payroll is expected to tick along quietly in the background, but it’s crucial to an organisation’s long-term success. If clunky payroll software is stopping you from paying your employees correctly and on time, your reputation as an employer is at risk.
Consistent payroll issues affect your employees’ trust and can seriously impact the financial wellbeing of those affected, leading to lower employee morale, a higher staff turnover, and a poor reputation. If the software you’re using is the culprit here, it might be time to upgrade.
Why do payroll problems persist in the digital age?
You might think that all payroll problems were solved as soon as the calculator was replaced by payroll software several decades ago, but they continue to this day.
In fact, our latest payroll research report revealed that 89% of organisations admitted to making payroll mistakes that led to late or incorrect payments in the last 12 months. For over 46% of payroll functions, mistakes occurred between 11 and 40 times a year.
This startling statistic is typically caused by outdated, clunky payroll software. These systems are not in line with the latest employment legislation; are still reliant on manual inputting, which is susceptible to human error; and often require emailed information and even paper form-filing, both of which risk personal financial information being sent to the wrong person.
The impact of payroll errors
Our report also found that 50% of organisations still rely on manually inputted data. If just one digit or letter is miskeyed into a database or spreadsheet, it can lead to incorrect tax calculations, which can take months to rectify with HMRC, and a delay in salary delivery.
With the Financial Conduct Authority’s Financial Lives Survey (2025) finding that 10% of people in the UK have no savings and 21% have less than £1,000 to fall back on, a delay in receiving salary or over-taxing can cause immense financial stress for employees and their families.
Stuart Price, our Head of Product, highlights, “Worryingly, often these human errors never escape outside of the bounds of the payroll department. If a person gets paid late or incorrectly, payroll deals with it and it never gets reported up to the board, who are unaware of the related problems this causes.”
Keeping up with legislation
Since April 2025, we’ve seen rises in National Minimum Wage and employer National Insurance contributions, which might explain why 82% of payroll professionals we surveyed said payroll departments are experiencing more change than ever before.
Adjusting to these constant changes in employment legislation is typically where out-of-date and legacy payroll systems fall short. If your payroll system can’t keep up with legislation, it can result in non-compliance issues, causing further stress for your payroll department and wider consequences for your business.
The benefits of upgrading payroll to a real-time solution
It’s clear that the main issues facing payroll departments are outdated systems, time-consuming manual processes, error-prone admin, and keeping up with ever-changing legislation. The good news is that these problems can easily be solved by moving to an automated, real-time payroll engine like People First.
By streamlining payroll workflows, minimising admin, and ensuring accuracy, a real-time system frees up payroll teams to focus on the more strategic and enjoyable areas of their work and makes sure your people get paid on time, every time.
“People First gives people back time, for example, to have a look at the overtime bill and see where that could be cut back and to read through and understand the latest legislation so that they can explain its impact to the wider business. It gives your payroll department the chance to look at the data and see patterns in the bigger picture,” explains Price.
Ultimately, people come to work to get paid, so if you’ve got a happier, more efficient payroll department, you’ll have a happier and more efficient workforce overall, and you’ll quickly see a return on investment when you upgrade to an automated payroll system.
An automated solution also makes all your payroll data and operations much more transparent and ensures that your C-suite has a better view of how well, or badly, it’s operating. With real-time data at their fingertips, they’ll be able to make data-driven decisions more effectively when it comes to hiring, budgeting, and workforce planning.
Future-proof your payroll
Often only one or two employees know the ins and outs of their organisation’s payroll system, but relying on these single points of contact is risky. If they're ever absent or leave the business, the rest of your team is left struggling to work out where all the data is kept and how to keep payroll running smoothly, potentially leading to late or incorrect payments.
A system like People First limits bottlenecks and removes this dependency on individual employees by storing data in a centralised system that any authorised team member can access and manage. This is key for business continuity and resilience; if a payroll employee leaves or is unavailable, the system continues to function without disruption and ensures your employees still get paid on time.
“Our customers quickly see a rapid return on investment and are consistently impressed by the strategic advantage our platform provides,” says Price. “The move to future-proof their payroll systems not only secures their data and streamlines operations but also empowers them with the scalability and reliability needed to confidently grow their business.”
This is a shortened version of an article produced by and published on Telegraph.co.uk – read the full article here.
The latest payroll research
Stay up to date on the latest payroll innovations with our 2025/26 payroll research report. You’ll discover how AI is transforming payroll, why upskilling is urgent in payroll teams, and how payroll can support financial wellbeing.
