Shopping for Payroll Services - Why Do Prices Vary?

You're probably staring at a couple of quotes, one much less expensive than the other.

And you might be thinking…

Isn’t payroll just payroll? Isn't it just a check or direct deposit that ends up in someone's bank account?

So, what’s the difference between these payroll providers and their proposals?

In the 30-plus years we've been doing this, we've seen so many misconceptions about payroll services that we could fill a book. But today, we're just going to fill a page.

Here Are the Two Biggest Factors that Influence Cost:

1) How much time the payroll provider gives you.

Time is money, so if your quote is low, then you’re probably getting very little support and will have to do most of the work yourself. We call this DIY - do it yourself.

2) How much the payroll provider spends on their people.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “you get what you pay for.” The same applies here, and you may not want the cheapest price, especially for one of your biggest expenses - paying your employees.

So, now that you know the basic principles that determine the cost of a payroll service…

Let’s say that you decided on the low-cost provider. What can you expect?

Here are the typical things we hear from people who have chosen a low-cost provider. It's usually one of the five following things:

Time

“I wish I had known that the burden of gathering and reconciling all the historical payroll data and employee data was on me. I had to spend days finding all the data and placing it into multiple Excel spreadsheets with a gazillion columns. I’m not a payroll expert, and I’m not even sure if I am doing this correctly. However, I’m smart enough to know that if I get this wrong, I’m going to have nothing but headaches with our new payroll system.”

Responsiveness

“I rarely need assistance, but when I do, I wish I would have known that no one answers the phone, and if I send an email, it takes days for someone to get back to me. This doesn’t work when I have to run payroll that day, and I need an answer right away, or else my employees won’t get paid on time.”

Efficiency

“I wish I had known that I don’t have an assigned person to speak with all the time at the new payroll company. I speak with different people all the time, and I hate this. They don’t know me, and I don’t know them. What a time-waster. And on top of that, they promise to do something, and it doesn’t get done. I’m totally frustrated, and there’s no accountability.

Competency

“I wish I had known that most people I communicate with are new and have been with the payroll company for less than a year. They have not been trained properly and have no clue what they are doing. They are essentially ‘out to lunch,’ and I don’t trust their answers.”

Ease of Use

“I wish I had known that the technology would be confusing, run very slowly, and the reporting is not flexible. I can’t get the reports I need from the system - such as workers comp reports, 401k reports, general ledger reports, time off reports, and union reports - just to name a few.”

If any of these things resonate with you, you may be better off paying a little extra to get a lot extra.

Enter Baron Payroll.

We Are a Different Kind of Payroll Company

The Baron Difference

People

If you’re a person who understands the value of your time, you know how important it is to work with competent people. The last thing you want is to waste your time.

At Baron, you'll have a single point of contact for all your HR and payroll needs. We’ll know you, you'll get to know us, and that consistency of working with the same person for years helps you take care of things quickly.

You'll get the correct answers, and we won't waste your time. In most cases, we can resolve things on the same day and guarantee to get back to you in one business day.

Product

Especially for small and medium-sized businesses, having one unified software platform for payroll, HR, and timekeeping, that’s affordable, makes your business life much easier.

Everything employee-related is in one place, so all the employee records that you’re required by law to maintain for years are easy for you to find and produce when you need them.

Now, let’s talk about data security. For your protection, we partner with one of the world’s largest cloud companies, UKG, and use software hosted, maintained, and secured by UKG.

UKG is the leading global provider of cloud-based HR and payroll solutions and holds the records of more than 50 million people in the cloud. When it comes to protecting your sensitive data from hackers, a $3 billion company like UKG is your best bet to keep your business safe.

Want to see for yourself? Check out our cutting-edge product here.

Process

Last but not least, the process. Ah, the game-changer.

One thing we’ve learned is that every company is different - and the way they do payroll is different, too.

Most new payroll companies you switch to will take your setup and data from your old system and copy it over into your new system as is. Apple to apples, so to speak.

No enhancements.

Never taking a deep dive at your current payroll process with the goal of streamlining and automating things you may be doing manually to improve your accuracy, simplify your payroll process, and save you money.

Not Baron.

We are payroll experts and will take the time to review your current setup and make suggestions that will save you time and money.

And the best part? With a structured and automated process, it’s easy for someone else to step in and do your payroll.

So, if you have an emergency and your regular payroll person can’t do payroll, it’s easy for someone else to fill in.

And if you don’t have someone else or don’t want anyone else seeing how much everyone gets paid, we can do it for you - and Baron can be your backup in an emergency.

It’s like an insurance policy. And if that's not worth a few more bucks, what is? Right?

Wondering how much our services cost? Get your instant price now without even speaking with a salesperson.