{"id":984,"date":"2016-07-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/five-great-places-to-start-analyzing-payroll-data\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T05:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:35:22","slug":"five-great-places-to-start-analyzing-payroll-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/five-great-places-to-start-analyzing-payroll-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Five great places to start analyzing payroll data"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/category\/money-matters\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Money Matters<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFive great places to start analyzing payroll data\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2016-07-18T00:00:00-04:00\">July 18, 2016<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"Five great places to start analyzing payroll data\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/five-great-places-to-start-analyzing-payroll-data\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/header>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author has-dark-background-color alignfull\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/author\/jewelhazelton\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/05\/Jewel.png\" class=\"entry-author__image\" height=\"40\" width=\"40\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Jewel Hazelton<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Payroll is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/why-payroll-is-an-untapped-gold-mine-in-the-business-world\/\">vital source of data<\/a> in your business and has the potential to have an immediate financial benefit. It can provide a monthly snapshot of your company\u2019s health. Furthermore it is, by its nature, one of the most up-to-date sets of data in your business. Businesses are required by law to keep live payroll information, so there is no chance of your making decisions based on old news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a number of payroll metrics that can give you a deeper understanding of how healthy your business is from a financial point of view. Here are five places to look when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/category\/people-leadership\/\">analyzing your payroll data<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Remuneration: Salaries will be an obvious place to start. With these numbers, you can build other metrics into your analysis such as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/na\/~\/media\/site\/Sage%20HRMS\/pdf\/white_papers\/SageHRMS_ROEI.pdf\">return on investment (ROI)<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Turnover: It\u2019s not good news if you have a high staff turnover rate\u2014it may signify a deeper problem within the business when it comes to areas such as conditions, morale, and corporate culture. And it can cost money in lost productivity, recruitment, and training.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Absence: Analyzing data on sick days and vacation time will help you understand when workers are more likely to be absent and whether employees are taking their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/human-resources\/time-management\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">annual leave<\/a> at the right time of year for the business.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Overtime: If employees are regularly working more than their agreed hours, consider what this means in terms of productivity and the way people are working. You can find out whether it\u2019s more cost-effective, for example, to hire part-time or additional staff.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Training costs: Payroll departments can be under pressure to find ways to cut costs and improve efficiency. With a training cost metric, it\u2019s possible to walk that tight line between making cuts and ensuring employees are skilled properly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Across each of these areas you\u2019ll find a huge amount of data available to examine and because it covers such a long period of time, it should be easy to start spotting trends. With the right technology it can give you a great platform for future planning, with the reassurance of knowing you have a constantly up-to-date view of your business. It should be the first place you look, before planning for the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to our Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get our latest business advice delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-ab515c6e-7e90-4c2f-a67e-113872516e8b\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Working from home with tea in hand\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Payroll is a vital source of data in your business and has the potential to have an immediate financial benefit. It can provide a monthly snapshot of your company\u2019s health. Furthermore it is, by its nature, one of the most up-to-date sets of data in your business. Businesses are required by law to keep live [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":2823,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"sage_hide_published_date":false,"sage_hide_read_time":false,"sage_hide_share_buttons":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[170,17,166],"business_type":[40,41],"lilypad":[],"context":[102],"industry":[56,57,411,58,55,54,204,59],"persona":[100,99,98,96,97],"imagine_tag":[234,215],"coauthors":[640],"class_list":["post-984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money-matters","tag-business-strategy","tag-hr-payroll","tag-hr-software","business_type-small-business","business_type-growing-business","industry-ecommerce","industry-financial-services","industry-human-resources","industry-nonprofit","industry-professional-services","industry-retail","industry-technology","industry-travel-hospitality"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-us","author_name":"Jewel Hazelton","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/10\/GettyImages-675926198_super.jpg","imagine_tags":{"234":"Enterprise Management","215":"HR and Payroll"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice US","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/2823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}