Think about the near-riots that ensue what a direct deposit goes in even a few hours later than scheduled. But what happens if you have to do more with less in Payroll — no matter what the reason?

You have most — if not all — the info you already need to streamline the payroll process. With a few in-house tweaks, you can use it to offer both employees and managers real-time access to data.

For managers, give them the right mix of supervisory and specific data on their people.

Why not let managers see info about the people they supervise, by month, quarter or year-to-date on an intranet (read only and password protected)? Things like hire and review date data would also be a boon to these folks.

If you want to take that to the next level, some companies add info such as who has a corporate credit card or what training that person has recently attended.

While you’re at it, posting your payroll manual with all necessary forms, from vacation requests to new-hire checklists, can keep your staffers from fielding a lot of repetitive questions.

Employees have their fair share of questions, too. Tax time just ended — no doubt your Payroll people received a good number of inquiries regarding their withholdings. A link to IRS’s W-4 page would minimize those next go-around.

And if someone’s looking to refinance their mortgage, or apply for a new home loan, they’d be able to access the pay info they need with the click of a mouse. (Naturally, this is also something to talk to IT about to protect people’s privacy.)

You certainly want to keep an open-door policy in Payroll.

But by eliminating some of the more mundane and easy-to-answer requests, Payroll will be better able to answer the next-level things people lob at them.

Tags: In-house tweaks, Payroll, Streamlining processes, Tax questions