How to Run Payroll From Your Phone When You're on the Job Site All Day

Most of your day happens on job sites, which is why payroll so often lands at the kitchen table after dark or on a Saturday morning. You can run payroll from your phone on the job site instead. Work back from payday to pick your payroll window, have crew hours in before it, and review and submit payroll from your phone between site visits.

SurePayroll® By Paychex is mobile-friendly payroll software you can run from the phone you already carry.

Working back from payday to set your payroll window

Payday is the fixed point, and direct deposit needs lead time. Start with payday, count back by your payroll provider's direct deposit lead time to find your submission deadline, then choose a daytime payroll window that leaves you time to review and submit before it. Then set your crew's hours cutoff before that window.

You set payday when you choose a pay frequency, such as weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly, within your state's pay frequency rules. How many pay periods are in a year compares them.

Your payroll provider sets how many business days before payday you have to submit payroll for direct deposit to reach your crew's accounts on payday. That deadline is the last day you can submit, so plan to finish before it.

Pick a payroll window at the same time every pay period, with a few minutes you can give your full attention and a connection you can count on. A regular site check-in or the midday break you already take in the truck both fit. Once the window repeats, processing payroll becomes part of the workday rather than something that waits for the evening. Keep the crew's hours cutoff the same every pay period too, so hours are in when your window opens.

Here's an example for a Friday payday. It assumes a two-business-day direct deposit lead time, so use your own provider's lead time when you set yours:

Bank holidays move the deadline. Banks don't process direct deposits on bank holidays, so when one falls on payday or between your submission deadline and payday, the deadline moves earlier, and your window and hours cutoff move with it. How bank holidays affect payday covers how to plan around them.

Getting crew hours ready before the payroll window

Use one method for collecting crew hours every pay period, so complete, checked hours are ready by the cutoff. Paper timesheets and time tracking software both work when the whole crew uses them the same way. If you use a time clock, connecting it to your payroll software brings hours into the run without retyping them.

Before your window, check the hours against what you know about each job:

• Missing days: a missing clock-in or clock-out on a day you know someone worked
• Hours that don't fit the job: time entries much longer or shorter than the site schedule
• Overtime: non-exempt employees who worked more than 40 hours in the workweek, plus any state overtime rules that apply (the small business overtime guide explains both)
• Labor costs: the week's labor costs for each job against the job's cost estimate

How to run payroll from your phone on a job site

With mobile-friendly payroll software, a reliable connection, and a secure sign-in on your phone, you can run construction payroll from the job site. A typical payroll run from your phone looks like this:

1. Sign in and open the current pay period.
2. Review each employee's hours and pay.
3. Check the totals and the week's labor cost.
4. Approve and submit payroll.
5. Confirm that payroll went through.

You review and approve the run before you submit it, so pay goes out on numbers you've checked.

Here's how that looks on a Wednesday. You've walked the morning's site with your crew lead, and you're back in the truck before heading to the next job. Hours came in Tuesday evening, so the run is a review rather than a search for missing timecards. You open payroll, check the week, approve it, confirm it went through, and drive to the next site with payroll submitted before the afternoon starts.

"Very nice and helpful group of people. Easy to use even from a mobile phone. Great service."

— Scott, Trustpilot review

Handling payroll problems in the field

Weak signal. Submit from a spot where your connection is solid, not at the edge of coverage on a remote site, and confirm that payroll went through before you move on. If the connection drops mid-run and you're not sure whether you submitted payroll, check before submitting again so you don't pay anyone twice.

Phone security. Mobile access to payroll is the same access you have at a desk, so secure your phone the same way. Turn on multifactor authentication for every account that offers it, as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recommends. Don't save your payroll password on a phone other people use, and sign out when you're done.

Corrections. A mistake doesn't have to wait until you're back at a desk. Say you submit payroll on Wednesday, and on Thursday a crew member tells you a Monday on a second site never made it onto their timecard. An off-cycle payroll may be a way to pay the difference without waiting for the next regular payday, and you can run it from your phone.

"It is very simple to use. I can get the payroll done in no time, which is great so I can move on [to] the next task."

— Christie, Trustpilot review

Run payroll from the job site with SurePayroll

With SurePayroll, you review and approve payroll from your phone and pay your crew by direct deposit in two business days. Unlimited payroll runs, including off-cycle runs, come with every plan. SurePayroll makes applicable payroll tax deposits and filings.

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