Is your business MOM complaint?

19 June 2018

As business owners are well aware by now, from the 1st of April employers must provide itemised payslips for each of their employees, listing every detail from basic salary to transport claims, CPF deductions and overtime pay. This benefits employees and increases transparency within businesses, but means extra work for employers who aren’t currently in the practice of generating payslips. Failure to comply with MOM regulations could see businesses shell out fines of up to $10,000, something you definitely want to avoid, especially as a small business owner. 

"Failure to comply with MOM regulations could see businesses shell out fines of up to $10,000"

Regulations you might have missed

These stipulations are enough to overwhelm any HR manager, without added fine print to compound the hassle and worry. Not only must the payslips be issued monthly, they must be given within three working days of salary payment. Key Employment Terms must also be issued to employees hired after 1st April, no later than 14 days after the start of their employment. It is not just the neglecting of these rules that could have you facing hefty fines. Also likely to draw penalties is the failure to maintain detailed employment records–of both past and present employees— for up to two years, and the provision of inaccurate information, even without fraudulent or criminal intent. 

Why a payslip template is not enough

To help ease the transition, MOM has provided a basic template encompassing all information that must be listed in every payslip. However, these templates require manual entry, exhausting both time and energy. There is also the additional worry of keeping up with future changes, whether it be in MOM regulations, CPF rates or IRAS stipulations.

Handling payroll via Excel

There are two common approaches to this new regulation. You could either take the traditional excel sheet route, or opt to get a payroll solution. Although the excel sheet method of manually entering and tracking information may seem simpler to do, it can be tedious, susceptible to human error and does not address the issue of having to keep up to date with every new CPF and IRAS change. Furthermore, monthly excel sheet records, especially 2 years’ worth as per regulation, pile up and are a chore to sift through when required.

More efficient payroll software

This is where an automated payroll solution proves to be an indispensable tool. A good automated payroll solution helps you generate and store monthly payslips automatically without the manual input and excessive hassle. Cost-effective payroll software like StarHub’s cloud-based ePayroll address these problems, meeting all your business & statutory requirements at reasonable prices.

Such HRM software alleviates your payroll workload significantly, allowing you to focus on the things that truly matter to your business.

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