To successfully run a dental practice, there are at least 100 things you have to do. One of the most important is managing your staff—making sure they treat patients well, keeping them motivated, and compensating them appropriately.
Part of your relationship with employees has to do with how you communicate with them, the benefits you offer, and the working environment you create. At the core of that, though, is the consistency of making sure they get their paychecks, for the correct amounts, at the proper designated time.
More than ever, small business owners, including dentists, are turning to online service providers to simplify the payroll process, which can be time consuming and complicated. As the business owner you’re responsible for withholding the correct amount in taxes, as well as contributing your share to Social Security and Medicare. You also deal with federal and state unemployment taxes, bonuses, paid time off, part-time workers, and much more.
According to a recent survey from SurePayroll, more than half of small business owners are using a payroll service.
Should you use a payroll service for your practice?
A lot of business owners are comfortable doing their own payroll. Some even physically write out the checks rather than using direct deposit. Other business owners turn to an accountant. Both are valid methods.
However, as time becomes ever more precious in our busy lives, as more demands are put on the owners of dental practices, including intense competition and tax requirements, there’s a desire to take control of the payroll process, simplify it, and delegate the hard parts.
The benefits of a payroll service to your dental practice
The most important benefits of payroll services business owners reported to SurePayroll regarding why they started looking for a payroll service included paying and filing taxes automatically, the ability to run payroll online, and simplifying the overall process of paying employees.
Today’s online payroll offerings make accomplishing these three things easy. In most cases, it’s just a matter of entering salary and hours numbers, previewing the money that’s to be taken out of your account, and executing the payroll. The added benefit is not only is it automated, but it allows you or your bookkeeper to keep a close eye on the payroll to make sure everything is correct.
This is a good balance for someone who wants to be more involvedin the payroll than simply sending it off to an accountant, but it’s less work than managing everything in an Excel spreadsheet.
The cost of payroll
How much you pay for a payroll service will depend on your number of employees, as you an additional fee for each employee in addition to a flat rate. There are more providers than ever, so when you do you research you’ll want to look for credibility, not just price.
Is the business accredited with the Better Business Bureau? Have they been in the industry for a number of years? Are they backed by a bigger company? These are all things to look for to ensure you sign up with a dependable service you can rely on for many years to come.
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Stefan Schumacher is the editor of SurePayroll’s Payroll Blog, which features the Small Business Scorecard, surveying businesses with one to 10 employees. Stefan has 10 years of experience as a journalist, including as a producer for syndicated radio, a newspaper reporter and editor, and a trade magazine writer and editor. SurePayroll provides online payroll services for dentists and small businesses nationwide.
