Glossary of Human Resources Management and Employee Benefit Terms
The responsibility for calculating employee deductions typically falls on the employer's payroll department or a third-party payroll service provider. Here's a breakdown of who's involved:
1. Employer (or Payroll Department):
2. Employee:
3. Third-Party Payroll Services (Optional):
The types of employee deductions
1. Mandatory deductions: These are legally required to be withheld by the employer.
2 Voluntary deductions: These are not legally required but are agreed upon by the employee, often as part of benefits enrollment. They can include:
Employee deductions are important for several reasons, benefiting both employers and employees:
1. For Employees:
2. For Employers:
The responsibility for calculating employee deductions typically falls on the employer's payroll department or a third-party payroll service provider. Here's a breakdown of who's involved:
1. Employer (or Payroll Department):
2. Employee:
3. Third-Party Payroll Services (Optional):
Here are a few ways employees can track their deductions:
1. Pay Stubs:
2. Online Payroll Portals:
3. Employer Benefits Portal:
4. Personal Budgeting Apps or Spreadsheets:
5. Consulting Your HR Department:
Calculating employee deductions in payroll is a crucial step in ensuring employees receive their accurate net pay. Here's a breakdown of the process, typically handled by the employer's payroll department or a payroll service provider:
(A) Gathering Information:
1. Employee Withholding Allowances: This information comes from the W-4 form completed by each employee. It details their filing status and the number of withholding allowances they claim, which affects the amount of federal income tax withheld from their paycheck.
2. Benefit Elections: During enrollment periods, employees choose their desired benefits (health insurance, retirement plans, etc.) and specify their contribution amounts (e.g., percentage of salary for retirement savings).
3. Court Orders (if applicable): In cases of garnishments for child support or student loans, the employer receives court orders specifying the amount to be withheld from the employee's paycheck.
(B) Classifying and Calculating Deductions:
1. Pre-Tax vs. Post-Tax: Deductions fall into two categories:
(a) Health insurance premiums
(b) Dependent care FSA contributions
(c) Retirement savings plan contributions (401(k), 403(b))
2. Post-tax deductions are subtracted from the gross pay after taxes are calculated, directly reducing net pay. Examples include:
3. Calculating Specific Deductions:
4. Finalizing Net Pay:
1. Total Deductions: Once all the deductions are calculated, they are added together to determine the total deductions amount.
2. Net Pay Calculation: The total deductions are subtracted from the employee's gross pay to arrive at their net pay. This is the final amount deposited into their bank account or issued as a paycheck.
5. Payroll software streamlines most of these calculations, ensuring accuracy and efficiency. However, employers remain responsible for:
6. Additional Points:
These are short surveys that can be sent frequently to check what your employees think about an issue quickly. The survey comprises fewer questions (not more than 10) to get the information quickly. These can be administered at regular intervals (monthly/weekly/quarterly).
Having periodic, hour-long meetings for an informal chat with every team member is an excellent way to get a true sense of what’s happening with them. Since it is a safe and private conversation, it helps you get better details about an issue.
eNPS (employee Net Promoter score) is one of the simplest yet effective ways to assess your employee's opinion of your company. It includes one intriguing question that gauges loyalty. An example of eNPS questions include: How likely are you to recommend our company to others? Employees respond to the eNPS survey on a scale of 1-10, where 10 denotes they are ‘highly likely’ to recommend the company and 1 signifies they are ‘highly unlikely’ to recommend it.