With a large pool of employees and contractors to pay, the cost and work involved in running payroll at universities can be exorbitant. Here’s how prepaid payroll cards can help.
There are over 3 million people employed by U.S. colleges, made up of both faculty and non-instructional staff, and some universities have up to tens of thousands of employees. These aren’t all full-time, W-2 employees, which makes having a reliable, accurate, and timely payroll all the more important.
Managing Payroll for University Employees
Traditional payroll programs are often clunky and time-consuming, with employees having to wait weeks for a pay cycle. Even for businesses with workforces made up solely of W-2 employees, the process can be costly, slow, and at risk of errors.
When you consider universities with a wide variety of different employee types, payroll can be even trickier. Standard days require a full roster of regular full-time employees, part-time employees, hourly workers, and visiting staff. Game day and other special events can require 1,000 extra people working the stadium or other venue.
In areas like service/maintenance, office/clerical, and technical support there are likely to be hourly or even temporary workers. Constantly adding and updating payroll information can be time-consuming, and some individuals don’t have financial history or a bank account, or prefer not to utilize a traditional bank account..
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, there are around 7.1 million unbanked households in the U.S.
Those in this demographic may earn lower-than average incomes, and may not have adequate education or access to certain financial products. In some cases, limited cash flow can make it hard to open an account.
Unbanked or underbanked employees will find traditional payroll processes particularly hard, paying fees for services like check cashing that could take a huge chunk out of their pay and exacerbate their financial hardship.
The Benefits of Prepaid Payroll Cards for University Employees
Modernizing your university payroll process and using paycards for employees means they get immediate access to their funds. Workers without bank accounts can also enjoy a boost to their financial health, and more financial security. Here are more ways working with payroll card providers can directly benefit university employees:
- Employees aren’t limited to using the cards at a particular store or for a particular purpose. Prepaid Technologies prepaid payroll cards can be used at any merchant that accepts Visa or MasterCard, pay online bills, or even withdraw cash.
- The increased financial security they bring employees will boost their overall wellbeing, which is great for them and great for you as you’ll reap the benefits in terms of loyalty and productivity.
- Unbanked or underbanked employees won’t have to navigate setting up a bank account (unless they’re ready to) and maintaining the minimum balances, or the high costs involved of cashing checks.
- All cards come with full FDIC insurance, so employees know their funds are protected.
As well as the benefits to your employees and contractors, prepaid payroll cards makes the process of managing wage payments to various types of university employees faster, easier, and less expensive–no matter their working arrangement:
- You can easily onboard and securely pay contractors and part-time university staff without the need to rearrange your payroll database, which would be time consuming as well as error-prone.
- Using payroll cards instead of paper check processes saves time, person-hours, and printing and postage costs.
- They allow for regular monthly salary payments as well as one-off reimbursements, contractor payments, and any other non-standardized payments.
- It means your payroll can be transformed to a completely electronic one, making reconciliation and payroll management much quicker and simpler.
- You’ll reduce the security risk of lost or stolen cash and checks, as well as the risk of check fraud.
- The payroll cards can be customized and branded with your university’s logo.
Elevate Payroll Speed and Efficiency with Prepaid Payroll Cards
Prepaid payroll paycards for employees make it much easier for universities to manage the variety of employee and contract types. Your staff will appreciate their payments being accurate and on time, leading to enhanced loyalty and school spirit.
In other words, your university is not just any old job for them. And with a large volume of employee details to handle, the streamlined, electronic process is ideal for schools and universities.
Learn more about Prepaid Technologies’ payroll cards and their mutual benefits to both employers and employees.