IBEX Payroll

Herd Philosophy / IBEX Payroll — 1 Comment
3
May 12

IBEX Classic or IBEX Direct – You Decide

By IBEX Staff

For the last 2 years IBEX customers have been switching over to our new payroll platform that we call Everest.

We noticed that after the switch to the new system, some of our customers started relying on us less and less and became more and more independent.  They were basically doing their payroll in self-serve mode.  After their initial orientation and a few calls to verify procedures, they hardly called us at all.

We were curious – why were they not calling us?  Don’t they love us anymore?  Do they still need us?  We decided to call them and ask what was going on. They said things like:

  1. We’ve gotten used to this new system and like the fact that we can do our own payroll whenever it’s convenient for us – without having to rely on anyone else.
  2. After the orientation, the new system was easy use.
  3. We like that IBEX is still behind this making sure all the calculations are correct and up to date and making our remittance payments on time for us.
  4. We appreciate that IBEX is always there to help us with the system and to answer payroll questions.
  5. We like that if we have staff turnover, or when our payroll person goes on holidays or is sick, IBEX can step in and do everything for us without us having to learn the system.
  6. We like that IBEX always answers the phone without making us wait.

Some also said they would like to pay a little less since they do most of the work themselves!

Well now we had gone and opened a can of worms!

In the IBEX tradition we started working on a win-win solution to this.  How could we reduce the price for self-service clients and not shoot ourselves in the foot?  We went back to the drawing board, took out our calculators and designed a new self- serve option that recognizes that you’re doing much of the payroll processing work yourself, recognizes you for doing so, and solves a problem for IBEX.

Introducing IBEX Direct

The result is what we call IBEX Direct.  Our new self-serve payroll processing system that will save you approximately 40% compared to IBEX Classic.

Keeping the Familiar – IBEX Classic

What if you don’t want self-serve and you hate those self-check in/checkout thingies?  Well, we thought of that too.  In fact, we came up with a brilliant solution… Change nothing.

Keep everything just the way you like it.  As in, stop reading now and forgive the interruption!

You just keep on doing what you’re doing, the way you’re doing it and nothing changes.  IBEX Classic continues to be the best option out there for flexible, full service payroll.

Since IBEX Direct is new, let us tell you more about how it works.

What part of the payroll processing do you do?

  • Take Everest training (at half the cost of new customers)
  • Login to Everest to be part of each payroll
  • Create your own input sheet for every payroll
  • Enter your own hours and adjustments for every payroll
  • Preview and approve each payroll
  • Print off your own T4’s and ROE’s
  • Add your own new employees to Everest
  • Pay for your payroll by online bill payment, rather than traditional pre-authorized debt.

What does IBEX do?

  • Automatic remittances
  • Offer ongoing support for things like setting up a new deduction, setting up a tricky ROE, interpreting payroll laws
  • Jumping right in for you when your payroll staff is ill, on holidays or retiring – at no extra charge

How can IBEX afford to offer IBEX Direct at 40% of the cost of IBEX Classic?

When you do most of the payroll processing work yourself, we save staff time.  It only makes sense to pass on those savings to you.  But staff savings is only part 1 of the answer, because, after all, our staff will still be there to support you when needed.

The other reason we’re able to pass on such phenomenal savings to you has to do with reducing our credit risk and administration costs.  With IBEX Direct, customers will pre-pay us by online bill payment.  For you, this means you’ll be paying the full amount of your payroll 3 days prior to payroll day by online bill payment.  We have no more bad debts and no more overhead dealing with collection issues for IBEX Direct customers and in return we charge you less for our services.

IBEX Direct will be available to existing IBEX clients starting in October of this year, so you have plenty of time.  If you are interested, please click the link below and fill in the form to let us know, or call Alpine Crew to talk it over. If you decide to go ahead, we will schedule training for you prior to your switch to IBEX Direct, and if you are not in Everest yet, we will make sure you are converted in time to get going.

 

I’m interested in going Direct

 

 

 

 

Customer Profile / Customer Service / IBEX Payroll — 1 Comment
27
Feb 12

Customer Profile: Chocolate by Chocolatier Constance Popp!

by IBEX Staff

Constance Menzies is the owner of Chocolatier Constance Popp!, a four-year-old shop that has already created a lot of buzz in a big way.  On days where the sun is pouring through the windows of the cozy shop on Portage Avenue, Constance is in nonstop motion, moving displays of chocolates in danger of a slow melt from the winter sunlight in between a steady flow of customers.

“When I first started out, my customers were mostly just my circle of  family and friends,” explains Constance. “Four years later, I can say with confidence that people know about us now.”

Chocolatier Constance Popp! is not only in business to be delicious, but there is also a strong environmental ethic that rests within the very floorboards of her shop.

“The floor your standing on? It’s made with re-claimed lumber from a landfill. Our chocolate is made with whole food ingredients, and is packaged in compostable boxes that were made in Manitoba. Every piece of chocolate or baking was made right here in this kitchen.”

With a dedication to being socially and environmentally responsible and creating chocolate from pure whole foods, it is no wonder why word-of-mouth proved to be a powerful tool when the business first started.

“When I first opened the shop in Winnipeg, I had so many people come to me and ask me to speak at conferences and other events. I guess this was because I opened during the time of the recession and I was a female business owner and all that. You would think a woman opening her own business wouldn’t be so fascinating  in this day and age, but people really wanted to talk to me about the shop, so I got out there.”

Although humble, Constance really is a wonder-woman in her own right. She runs almost every aspect of her shop down to the very last detail, from creating every piece of whole food chocolate ingredient by ingredient, to packaging her chocolate creations in attractive boxes, ordering supplies, placing displays, working the books, managing her staff, hiring new team members, and implementing the shop’s marketing initiatives all while catering to the needs of her customers.

“That’s why I love IBEX so much,” Constance explains in between breaths. “They’re so reliable, I don’t even have to think about my payroll. I just send Susan an e-mail and voila! Somehow people get paid.”

The hard work has certainly paid off. The four years that Chocolatier Constance Popp! has been in business, Constance and her team have sent their chocolate to events such as the  2010 Golden Globe Awards in L.A, the Oscars, the 2010 Olympics, and more recently, the Royal visit, just to name a few. While celebs and other big names have sampled her chocolate (Constance is able to drop names left right and centre), there is a wall in her kitchen dedicated to letters from the city and other local organizations commending her work. From Blue Bomber cookies to special chocolate bars embelished with the logo of the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights opening next year in Winnipeg, Constance explains that having her own kitchen has enabled her to make unique quality creations for a number of different clients.

“You would think that the only busy time for us would be around the holidays, but we’re really busy all year round. There’s always a conference or special event happening that we are asked to be a part of. Chocolate is such a great gift that is affordable for people to give. Here, we are able to personalize it and really work around different allergies most of the time.”

Check out this video of our Head of the Herd trying to be a chocolate maker at Chocolatier Constance Popp!

You have not had real chocolate until you’ve tried a delectable creation from Chocolatier Constance Popp!.  

Customer Service / Payroll / System Improvement — 5 Comments
27
Jan 12

A security incident and our response

By IBEX staff

An incident occurred at our office on Thursday January 26th that was the subject of a Global News story on Friday January 27th.

Confidential information for one particular customer was inadvertently routed to a fax machine at Global News in error. We notified both the customer and Global of the error and Global indicated they were going to keep the information secure for us to retrieve  – which we did. Global then chose to treat the circumstance as a news story and interviewed us, our customer and one of their employees.

IBEX personnel feel awful about this incident, and have apologized to the affected customer. The privacy and security of customer information is our highest priority, and we take the responsibility for safeguarding that information very seriously. In light of this event, we have adopted a policy to never fax T4 information to customers. That information will now only be able to be retrieved from our secure website.

If you have any concerns related to this issue, please contact us.

Payroll / Tips and Tricks — 1 Comment
25
Oct 11

Payroll basics for start-up companies

By Kevin Zimmer, Payroll Specialist at IBEX

Payroll challenges begin before you even hire your first employee.  After that, things just get more and more complicated…

Before Employees

Before you hire your first employee, the biggest issue is making sure you take the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and income tax into account on whatever money you yourself take out of the company.   This is where many new entrepreneurs get tripped.   Many go for a while without getting paid at all.  Then, when profits start to allow, they start taking some money for themselves. The problem comes at the end of the year when you have to report the income to Revenue Canada and have to pay CPP premiums and income tax on whatever you have taken out.  If you have taken out all you can and there is not much or any spare cash left (and this is often the case) you may not have the cash to pay the government.  The result – late payments and penalties – not fun.

The right way to handle this is to pay the CPP and tax as you go.  Do not wait until you file your personal tax return. Or, make sure you set aside at least 35% (call us or use the online calculator on the CRA website if you want a more exact estimate) of whatever you take home so that you have the cash to pay at the end of the year.  CRA will start to insist on quarterly payments to them if you do the “pay at the end approach”, especially as the amounts get larger – over $3,000 in tax due at the end of the year will trigger a requirement to pay CRA quarterly.

One benefit of owning your own business is that you do not have to pay Employment Insurance (EI) premiums on your earnings, only CPP and income tax.  At least there is that!  Although, if you get pregnant or things don’t work out – you won’t be able to access EI either.

After Employees

Once you hire someone, things get more complicated.  You are required by law to deduct appropriate EI, CPP and tax amounts from just about anything you pay your employees.  You are also required to submit that money you deduct along with the employer portion of the CPP and EI (yes, you have to top up what the employee is already paying) to CRA at extremely defined intervals.  The collection and remittance of these deductions, referred to as source deductions, is an area you do not want to mess around with, the penalties for late remittances pile up quickly and CRA has very little sympathy for businesses that mess around on this stuff.  Once you start remitting, you are firmly on their radar.  We recently posted a horror story that we were brought into a few years ago along these lines.

The Solution

We feel that there are only two ways to handle the employee situation.  The first one is to purchase payroll software, like the payroll add-on for QuickBooks or a stand-alone system like CanPay or EasyPay and use this software to do your calculations and tell you how much to pay the government.  You then manually pay CRA each month and take care of filing other government forms at year end (t4’s) or when someone leaves (ROE’s) by yourself.   The second approach is to outsource your payroll with a company like IBEX.  I think the outsourced approach is the way to go for start-ups (bet you saw that coming!).  With two employees, the annual fees to have an outsourcer take care of paying your employees by direct deposit, paying the government for you and otherwise keeping you out of trouble is around $300. That’s  less than a lot of the software and best of all, you don’t have to know anything about payroll, other than how much you want to pay people.  The outsourcer will make sure you come across as a professional employer from day one.

When new business owners go down the route of spending too much of their time and energy doing payroll themselves, we often tell them, “You can be the best in your industry at doing your payroll, but you will go out of business if your competition is focusing on what really matters while you try and reinvent the payroll wheel”.

 

Customer Service / IBEX Payroll — 1 Comment
25
Aug 11

A Warm and Fuzzy Email

Excerpt from a customer email today:

AND…just to let you know…working with your staff is always, always a pleasure.
I love the atmosphere that you guys have going on over there

Awesome!

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