Reducing payroll costs for long-term care facilities can be difficult due to the industry’s unique staffing challenges. You want to keep overtime and payroll expenses down without sacrificing the quality of care provided. It can be a delicate balance, but with the right long-term care payroll management system, it can be achieved.
Assessing Current Payroll Practices
Start with a thorough audit of your long-term care facility’s payroll processes and expenses. Running historical data through predictive analytics can help identify patterns and trends that allow you to take a more proactive approach to staffing and resource allocation. This enables you to pinpoint areas where costs can be reduced—particularly in overtime pay—without impacting the quality of care you provide.
Optimizing Staff Scheduling
Overtime pay and understaffing are serious challenges that every long-term care facility faces. High turnover rates are common because healthcare providers work long hours and experience burnout. The industry is growing rapidly as baby boomers reach their elder years, so industry-wide worker shortages are a real problem.
Implementing efficient scheduling practices is a key strategy for reducing overtime pay and addressing understaffing. The right scheduling software can help ensure optimal staff coverage based on resident needs, ultimately reducing costs and improving care quality.
Implementing Time and Attendance Solutions
Adopting an advanced time-tracking system allows you to monitor employee hours accurately. Biometric or key card systems enable workers to clock in and out effortlessly, relieving HR staff from administrative tasks like tallying employee hours and calculating withholding.
All-in-one systems that integrate employee time tracking directly with payroll can reduce time theft and highlight areas where staffing changes are needed for optimal patient coverage. The increased accuracy of such systems also helps you avoid mistakes in overtime pay, which can lead to hefty fines under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Leveraging Technology for Payroll Management
Adopting payroll software allows you to automate many processes, reducing the administrative burdens on your HR staff. For example, withholdings for taxes and insurance are automatically calculated when the software is integrated with time tracking.
The ability to seamlessly integrate time tracking and payroll systems with other HR and financial systems enables streamlined operations like never before. For instance, employee benefits such as paid time off (PTO) accrual and retirement contributions can be directly integrated with time tracking and payroll. Employees can access their information through a secure, cloud-based application, providing exceptional transparency.
Explore more about our HCM add-ons that can enhance your payroll management system.
Training and Development Programs
Hiring more staff doesn’t always need to be your "go-to" answer for every challenge that long-term care facilities face. Investing in staff training can improve workforce efficiency and reduce the turnover rates that are such an issue in the healthcare industry. By enhancing employees’ skills, they can perform multiple roles within your facility, reducing the need for additional hires.
Training and development can also boost morale, as it shows employees that you are invested in their careers. This investment in your workforce can reduce the need for extra hires as employees take on a variety of duties.
Outsourcing Payroll Services
Outsourcing your payroll services to a third party can provide many benefits to your long-term care facility. With a specialized provider managing payroll expenses, you no longer need in-house staff to fill that role. Payroll employees require salaries and benefits like all other workers, so outsourcing these duties can reduce your overhead costs.
Outsourcing payroll also represents significant time savings for your organization. Without the burden of payroll management, you can focus on providing quality care for your residents. Specialized payroll providers have compliance experts who ensure that your facility stays on top of employment law while reducing errors. This allows you to access payroll expertise without overspending, and third-party providers can keep your accounts safe from mismanagement and data breaches.
Learn more about our payroll services and how they can benefit your long-term care facility.
Monitoring and Controlling Overtime
Overtime can easily get out of control in a long-term care facility due to the nature of the job and understaffing. If one employee calls in sick, another often ends up working a double shift.
Implementing policies to manage and control overtime expenses becomes easier with the use of time-tracking software. The customized systems offered through Workforce PayHub can help you limit time off on days when you know you’ll be understaffed. Encouraging a culture of efficiency and productivity will help minimize unnecessary overtime.
Incentive Programs and Performance-Based Pay
Keeping your employees engaged can help push performance to new heights while achieving your cost-savings goals. Employee incentive programs boost productivity and morale simultaneously. Implementing policies that allow employees to share ideas, identify inefficiencies, and be rewarded for their contributions can foster a culture of continuous improvement. Aligning pay with performance also encourages high-quality care and cost efficiency.
Continuous Improvement
Regularly reviewing and updating your payroll strategies is essential for adapting to industry changes and maintaining cost efficiency. Continuous improvement ensures that your payroll management practices evolve with the needs of your facility and the industry, allowing you to stay competitive while providing high-quality care.
Role of Workforce PayHub in Reducing Payroll Costs
Managing quality care and cost effectively is challenging, but Workforce PayHub makes it easier with our managed solutions. We offer tailor-made services for your business, including payroll management, human capital management, time and labor management, workforce HR consulting, and benefits administration. Our list of services is constantly expanding as we discover new ways to assist long-term care facilities in achieving their financial goals. We partner with you to implement cost-saving strategies without sacrificing the high-quality care your residents deserve.
Discover how Workforce PayHub can help you manage payroll costs without compromising care quality. Contact us today for a customized solution.