You were right to warn readers about the deadline for Bacstel-IP payments in your news story on 27 September. Employers must make the salary payments switch by the end of the year to prevent significant fines yet, surprisingly, 30,000 businesses appear to be sticking their heads in the sand.
Organisations have had three years to prepare for the transition, but sometimes too much advance warning can be a bad thing. Tell employers of any employment change coming into effect in three years’ time and it will quickly become bottom of an infinite ‘to do’ list. This gets worse when employer expense is thrown into the equation.
What organisations need is foresight and planning. It pays to overestimate the time it takes to get any new technology in place and working effectively. In such a fundamental area as payroll, employers can’t afford to be complacent about taking action.
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Get it wrong, and you risk your staff looking for a more reliable employer that cares enough to get it right.
Michael Richards
Chief executive
Snowdrop Systems