Our top 10 ways we help Canadian businesses “cut the red tape”

This week, our friends and partners at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) are hosting their annual Red Tape Awareness Week (RTAW). As an industry-leading workforce management solutions provider, we understand the complexities of that “paper burden” all too well.

It can span across all elements of running your business, from paying your people accurately and on time to managing the day-to-day of your workforce (recruitment, retirement and everything in between!). And when it comes to compliance, there’s a lot to think about! Year-end reporting and filing, taxable and non-taxable benefits, statutory deductions, labour/employment standards, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Revenu Québec deadlines, and more.

That’s why we’re here – to help Canadian businesses find efficiencies and time-savings in their workforce management and to stay compliant with important legislative and employee requirements.

This is how we can help “cut the red tape” when it comes to…

1. ... vacation pay rules

The details of an employee’s vacation entitlement differ between provinces and territories in Canada, meaning that the percentage calculation of both wages accrued and years worked is not necessarily the same from region to region. Legislation dictates that when an employee reaches a certain year of service, their vacation pay percentage changes, and remaining compliant impacts payroll – but these facts aren’t necessarily top-of-mind in the day-to-day of running a business. The good news is that Payworks’ Payroll solution can help simplify this process.

Within our system, each employee has a profile that includes information like their hire date. This is an important field, especially as we look at vacation pay rules. Once a particular year of service is reached – as dictated by legislation – the vacation pay percentage will change (yes, it really is that simple!). A warning widget will also notify you of the change. It’s also possible to have email notifications set up to make admins or managers aware of the milestone through our Human Resources solution.

2. ... statutory or general holiday pay rules

Our in-house experts receive many questions surrounding statutory or general holiday pay in Canada. The legislative parameters differ between provinces and territories – including which days are recognized, employee eligibility, and how the statutory holiday pay is calculated. There are also special circumstances too, like if the workplace is federally-regulated or part of a particular industry (retail or construction, for example). You can breathe a sigh of relief, because we do have a way to make it easy using Payworks’ Stat Pay Calculator as a part of our Time Management solution.

Using the Stat Pay Calculator, statutory holiday pay can be calculated in under five clicks. The number of holiday days are entered for the pay period and from there, the statutory holiday pay is calculated on your behalf for each employee and based on your businesses’ jurisdictional legislation. These tallies can be reviewed and then applied to payroll, with the Stat Pay Calculator values visible on the Pay Grid. Another intuitive feature is that our Time Management solution will apply employee eligibility rules surrounding statutory holiday pay to the Stat Pay Calculator.

3. ... overtime rules

Overtime rules can seem straightforward, but deceptively so. Legislation for qualifying overtime hours differs across Canada, and there are additional parameters to consider for double overtime or when banking overtime (if your province or territory permits it). Legislation can quickly become complex to manage, but with our Time Management solution, it doesn’t have to be.

Our Time Management solution includes timesheets. This is where employee hours are captured via facial recognition clocks, more traditional punch clocks, or hours entered manually on a desktop or mobile device by either the employee (with approvals in place) or the admin. The process of capturing employee hours naturally includes overtime hours, where the appropriate legislation is applied for qualifying overtime hours and pay rates in addition to the capabilities to set up time banks.

4. ... minimum wage changes

Federal and provincial legislation dictates that all employees are eligible to receive minimum wage, and those rates vary by jurisdiction and are subject to change. Just as the rates differ, so do the dates on which increases occur, meaning if minimum wage increases in one jurisdiction in October, that doesn’t mean all minimum wage rates are changing on that day or even in that same year. Through Payworks’ Payroll solution, we’re here to inform and empower our clients to remain compliant!

When using our solutions, the home screen has a convenient summary of the most pertinent aspects of your payroll. If there’s a change to minimum wage in your business’ jurisdiction, it will be posted here so that you can apply the change to your next pay run. When reviewing your payroll reports prior to finalizing, a Violation Report will indicate if any of the current wages don’t meet the current legislative minimum. Plus – whether you’re a Payworks client or not – we offer free legislative resources like our Payroll Guide, which keeps you informed on planned legislative changes to minimum wage (and more) throughout the year.

5. ... Record of Employment (ROE) rules

A ROE needs to be produced when there’s a break in an employee’s earnings of two pay periods or more, such as if employment ends or there’s a temporary layoff. There’s legislation (and exceptions) surrounding when to create a ROE, what type of information to include – like employee, employer, insurable hours, deductions and withholding, and more – and the timeline and format of how to submit. Service Canada has a set of validation rules that each ROE has to meet, and it can sometimes be difficult to understand them or get them all correct. If a ROE is not filled out correctly, it’s possible that Service Canada will not accept it. The good news: our ROE Manager makes this process easy and (according to our clients) “faster than ever.”

Producing ROEs can be an infrequent process, which is why our ROE Manager is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive so you can submit it with confidence (even if you’re out of practice). We offer the capability to draft a ROE and return to it later, merge vacation payouts and quickly validate additional payments, download files, and create ROEs for large groups of employees when you have seasonal shutdowns. Better yet, we submit ROEs to Service Canada on our client’s behalf.

6. ... managing Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) & Québec Pension Plan (QPP) contributions

CPP and QPP are mandatory contributions from all eligible employees, employers, and self-employed persons in Canada. Individuals residing in Québec contribute to QPP, while individuals in all other territories and provinces contribute to CPP. There are eligibility requirements, and exceptions to those requirements, that are age-dependent. There’s also a maximum contribution level each calendar year, where an eligible employee’s deductions stop if their income surpasses a designated threshold. As of January 1, 2024, a second earnings ceiling for CPP and QPP took effect, meaning there can potentially be additional CPP/QPP contributions to deduct and remit compared to previous years, and additional requirements on employees’ tax forms.

Our Payroll system is set up to make CPP and QPP compliance a piece of cake! When adding employees into our system, if an important field is missing information, it’s highlighted – like an employee’s birthday, which is especially important as we look at CPP and QPP contributions. After knowing which employees are eligible to contribute to CPP and QPP, those payroll deductions can be set up – and they’ll automatically stop once the employee has reached the maximum allowance for the year (the same intuitive feature is also applicable to Employment Insurance [EI] deductions). When reviewing payroll reports prior to authorizing, the Audit Trail is particularly helpful and will show if there are any CPP/QPP overages or shortages. This information is also available within the Year-End Box Report.

7. ... submitting remittances

There are several remittances for which Canadian businesses are responsible. The location of the business dictates to which government bodies the remittances are sent and on what cadence (weekly, biweekly, monthly, semi-monthly, semi-annually, and annually). It’s possible for a single business to have multiple governing bodies to which they need to send remittances, all with varying legislation and remittance schedules. That in itself is a lot to juggle, but there can also be some significant financial implications if remittances are incorrect, late, or missed altogether, as organizations can face costly penalties and fines levied by those government bodies.

Payworks is here to do the heavy lifting for you! We handle government remittances for our clients at no extra charge. They’re calculated by our Payroll application, and then submitted to the CRA or Revenu Québec on our clients’ behalf. Upon request, most provincial and WCB premiums can also be remitted directly by us and (as mentioned above) we submit ROEs to Service Canada. You’ll have full transparency into those remittances through the Funds Summary Report, which is updated every pay run. Another task we can take off your plate is submission of employee tax forms to the CRA and Revenu Québec during year-end.

8. ... mitigating risk with HR files and processes

Whether you have one employee or 100, the information you need to manage and pay your workforce is not only essential; it’s provided to you with trust. This is an important consideration in reducing your business’ risk and finding efficiencies for yourself. Removing paper processes by using a secure platform to store, process, and archive employees' personal information can also prevent future headaches in the unfortunate event of a break-in or fire, as an example.

Providing peace of mind is what Payworks is all about, from responsibly managing payroll funds to ensuring your employees’ data remains secure. With us, your data stays in Canada. We leverage state-of-the-art physical, network, server, application, and data security to ensure that your data remains private and secure, but also readily available to the right individuals when they need it. By using Payworks’ Human Resources solution, you can embrace better document management with one place for all your employees’ data and records. For each of your staff, you’ll have a digital “file folder” that’s secure but also convenient for you to find and access what you need from a centralized location. Further mitigating risk in your HR processes, it’s also possible to track disciplinary actions so that your processes are well documented.

9. ... managing employee certifications & licenses

Staying “in the know” on your employees’ training courses and seminars may be perceived as simply a best practice, but the reality is that there are many industries where government-mandated certifications are actually required, while in others there are mandatory educational credit hours to track. Ensuring licenses and professional development hours are up-to-date shouldn’t be a liability, whether it’s a liquor serving or driver’s license, or a forklift operator or safety certification.

There’s a way to get a precise view of completed designations and training using our Human Resources solution. You can house specific employee documents such as training courses, certifications, and licenses and further categorize the files and documents for easy reference. Uploads can also be classified as Restricted Documents, ensuring that only those who should be able to access particularly sensitive information can do so (like a vulnerable sector or criminal record check as an example). Using the Notifications feature, where there’s a variety of notification types from which to choose, you can schedule email reminders that include expiring licenses and certification renewals, like an expiring First Aid or Dangerous Goods certification as an example. Plus, you can enjoy the ability to assign as a recipient anyone at your business who needs to stay in the loop.

10. ... questions and queries

Top tech can help businesses “cut the red tape”, but what is *chef’s kiss* is having those solutions backed by superior customer service when a specific scenario arises or you have a less run-of-the-mil question. As someone who wears many hats, you also deserve better than waiting on hold and re-explaining your story for the umpteenth time.

We’re proud to offer the industry’s best service. All Payworks’ clients are assigned a dedicated Client Service Representative (CSR) trained by the National Payroll Institute (NPI) – which means our clients have a direct phone and email to reach expert support from someone who knows them by name and is familiar with their business. Our clients also enjoy the additional resources available within our intuitive solutions, such as a robust Help Centre, screen tours, how-to videos, and more.

Running a business means the to-do list is never really done. Let us show you how easy it can be to check “run payroll” off that list: https://www.payworks.ca/solutions/small-business.