Tag: HR

SCS gets into Pyramid

Posted on August 2, 2016 by - News

camelSpecialist Computer Services (SCS) has written a cheque for Pyramid to maintain its iron grip of the HR and payroll market

SCS already provides HR, payroll and data scanning services to public and private sector customers across Europe and it hopes that the Pyramid acquisition will give it some skilled staff.

Until this point SCS had resold the NGA HR Unipay product but will now be providing its own offering to customers.

Sir Peter Rigby, chairman and chief executive of Rigby Group, which owns SCS said:

“We are very conscious of the loyalty and levels of service that SCS has enjoyed over some 40 years, so it is important we continue to invest in SCS to ensure its growth and success,” he added “Pyramid offers SCS an up-to-date, highly functional HR Payroll solution to market, develop & sell.”

Pyramid has been keeping razor blades sharp for 20 years and its system that SCS takes on covers all aspects of personnel management, including HR, payroll, employee self service, e-Recuritment as well as e-Payslips.

Tim Markham, managing director of SCS, said that the acquisition, for an undisclosed amount, had been made to ensure that it had a product that it could develop and take out to its customers for the long-term.

 

IBM applies science to HR cloud

Posted on August 4, 2014 by - News

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeBig Blue said that it has introduced cloud software and initiatives aimed at using analytics and workforce science to human relations.

The buzzwords IBM is using are “workforce engagement and transformation” – it is introducing a talent and change consulting practice supported by 100 behavioural scientists.

The big idea is to use social analytics to identify “top performers”, and guard against people leaving or being poached.

IBM did a survey which revealed that two out of five CEOs believe a big threat to keeping top people on comes from organisations outside their sectors.

The three cloud based applications are Kenexa Predictive Hiring, Kenexa Workforce Readiness and Kenexa Predicting Retention. IBM is starting to sell these cloud based products today.

HMRC to introduce massive PAYE changes this April

Posted on March 4, 2013 by - News

hmrchqIn just under a month, HMRC will demand all employers, and by extension, all employees will have to move to a new PAYE system – Real Time Information.

In April, the RTI will immediately become effective. For such a considerable change in employment law, the changes have not had much visibility. According to the HMRC website, from 6 April employers must report PAYE information to MRC in real time – in effect meaning employers, accountants, bookkepers or a payroll bureau will have to submit data to HMRC each time an employee is paid, when they are paid. Using a payroll system, they will have to send the information electronically as part of the routine payment process.

The website boldly asks if you are ready for RTI. A survey late last year from the Federation for Small Business revealed that as many as a quarter were not, at the time, prepared at all. Asking 1,700 small firms, 25 percent had not heard of the RTI programme, and just 16 percent of those asked were fully aware of all the details.

Critics have slammed the move as purely political, as the changes are propping up the payments of Universal Credits. HRMC claims that it is aiming to make it more simple to report new starters and leavers, plus making the entire payroll process more simple. At the time of the FSB’s survey, in October 2012, most respondents were not confident that RTI will help achieve those aims. Over sixty percent of small businesses it contacted had not had any correspondence from HMRC.

With just under a month to go for businesses to understand the changes, one SMB told ChannelEye that RTI is a disaster in waiting.

“This year is going to be a disaster,” ChannelEye heard. With barely any visibility to such a massive and immediate change, there are bound to be teething problems if not all out chaos for small business. “Just stand back and watch it all go pear-shaped,” our source said.

A spokesperson for the Federation of Small Businesses said, speaking with ChannelEye: “HMRC has completed a pilot programme and has written to small businesses but we still believe that some businesses won’t know the extent of the changes they will have to make.

“It is going to be a huge learning curve and possibly mean additional costs for small firms if they have to buy new software or use their accountant for longer,” the spokesperson said. “All small firms will have to report in their payroll and we think that the smallest of firms will need to have much more education than the largest of firms.

“HMRC should use the results of the pilot programme to put clear guidelines and a clear education plan for small firms together,” the spokesperson said. “We are pleased that HMRC has said that they won’t implement fines in the first 12 months of the scheme, but they must educate firms within that time if mistakes are made.”