Mar 2020
12
The Challenge of the Coronavirus & How BrightPay can Facilitate Remote Working
Businesses are understandably concerned about the steps they should be taking to manage the risk of COVID-19. This newsletter aims to provide reassurance to our customers that BrightPay is well prepared.
Many businesses are now putting in place precautionary measures to combat the spread of the virus and to protect their employees. The option to work from home is one of the primary ways businesses are changing the way they operate.
It would be advisable to devise an appropriate strategy to protect yourself, your clients and your staff members. This includes reviewing all internal software solutions to make sure they can facilitate remote working. We would like to reassure and update our customers with some advice on keeping their payroll running should they need to work remotely.
How BrightPay Facilitates Remote Working
While BrightPay remains a desktop solution, the software can be installed at ten different locations on ten different PC’s or laptops. BrightPay payroll files can be accessed remotely through cloud environments like a shared server, Google Drive or Dropbox. This flexibility will allow users to continue to operate their payroll as normal. In addition, you can log into your BrightPay Connect account to view your payroll information at any time.
Read our step-by-step guide that explains how to use BrightPay when working remotely.
BrightPay Customer Support - Business as Usual
We are taking precautionary measures and are making a conscious effort to work remotely where possible. All of our staff can perform their roles from home, and all staff are issued with laptops and access to our phone and email systems. We are fortunate in that our support phone lines and our email support hub facilitate remote working. Therefore our customer support is still very much open for business and we will continue to support our customers. Apologies if you hear any domestic background noise while talking to a support operative. This may be unavoidable and we ask that you bear with us for the duration.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact our customer support team here.
How to Handle SSP & Covid 19
HMRC have advised that if you need to take time off work to self-isolate due to Covid 19, the first 3 waiting days that normally apply for SSP will be disregarded and you will be entitled to receive SSP from the first day.
As this is a unique case and BrightPay is programmed to take into account the usual 3 waiting days, an override should be performed in BrightPay by simply marking the previous 3 days on the employee's calendar as sick leave. The SSP to be applied will then be from their first actual day of self-isolation/sick leave.
