One of your employees has informed you that they did not receive their payroll direct deposit. What happened? What will happen to the funds that you have sent them? There are several reasons why this employee may not have received their funds but the most common reason is they may have overlooked informing you of a change in their banking or personal information.
Here are some best practices that may help to reduce the risk of this happening to your employees.
Send Out Quarterly Reminders for Profile Updates
Sending out quarterly email reminders to employees with a read-receipt request allows them ample time to update their banking or personal information and will keep you in the loop as to who has read the email and who hasn’t for easier follow-up. Also, for security reasons, accepting a change of information via email is not recommended.
Ask for a Voided Cheque or Payroll Deposit Form
If an employee has closed or changed their bank account information, they can obtain a counter cheque either directly from their bank or even print a voided cheque or direct deposit form through their online banking. When payroll is deposited into a closed bank account, the bank will reject the deposit and the funds will be returned to the sender within 3-5 business days.
Proof of Name Change
In the case of an employee changing or intending to change their name (ex. marriage, preference, etc.), as an employer, you’ll want to confirm that the name change appears on their Social Insurance (S.I.N.) Card before updating their name in your organization’s payroll system. To avoid S.I.N. mismatches, employers should ensure the name in their payroll system matches the one on the employee’s current S.I.N. card. If the employee has not updated their S.I.N. card, the old name should remain in your payroll system until the name is updated.
Employers will also want to update personnel records, phone lists, e-mail systems, and other employee lists and systems that include employee names. Where applicable, employers should cross-reference the previous name and new name so that a search using either the new or old name will retrieve the same records.
Once you have the correct information, update your payroll software. If you are using Telpay for payroll direct deposit, you can learn more about how to change your employees’ information by clicking here.