One of the most important considerations when choosing a service to handle your paychecks is how you get your payroll information to them. There are three key factors to balance: security, accuracy, and timeliness. Here's what to keep in mind before you start comparing services from multiple paychecks providers.

Paycheck security
Keeping your sensitive payroll data away from prying eyes is one of the key responsibilities of a paycheck service provider. Payroll data is among the most sought-after information by data thieves – the combination of social security numbers, bank account information, and direct deposit amounts is very tempting. Payroll data is also potentially valuable to competitors.

To keep your data private, make sure the information for your paychecks is transmitted securely to the provider. Secure transmission is often done over a dedicated modem, or a secure web page. Don't trust email, unless you encrypt the information before you send it.

Another side of security is the delivery of your actual paychecks to your office. While it doesn't quite carry the risk factor of a cash payroll being delivered on a stagecoach, you should make sure that the payroll service takes appropriate caution when delivering your paychecks.

Information accuracy
Making sure employee paychecks are as accurate as possible is a second key to payroll success. Even with a payroll service, processing paychecks every pay period can eat up quite a bit of valuable HR time – going back to redo mistakes can be a real headache.

Since you'll be entering the payroll information, a good part of the responsibility for accuracy falls on you. However, you should make sure the system you choose allows you to easily review and correct information as you go. Many systems offer basic error checking, ensuring that you at least provide information in all required fields. Others can flag entries that vary substantially from previous weeks, as can happen if you misplace decimal point, for example.

The accuracy of your information doesn't always guarantee that the resulting paychecks are perfect, however. During the first few pay periods, review each paycheck for accuracy to make sure service is interpreting your data correctly. Even after the initial start, it's worth spot checking paychecks every few months to verify that the accuracy is still where you want it to be.

Timeliness of paychecks
From an employee point of view, getting paychecks on time is non-negotiable. Whether that's weekly, bi-weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly, people depend on that paycheck being there when they need it. A payroll service should commit to delivering your paychecks on time every time – no exceptions.

As with accuracy, responsibility for timeliness falls partly on your shoulders, as well. Look for payroll services that are easy to use and provide all the help you need to get your information in quickly. In case there ever is a problem, on your end or theirs, find out what kinds of rush services are available and how much they cost.

To find a payroll service that can provide secure, accurate, on-time delivery of your paychecks, whether you have 3 employees or 300, simply fill out a free payroll service price request form and we'll put you in touch with qualified paycheck providers who can meet your needs.