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Has your dealership ever struggled to track flag time for your service workers? From the risk of running an incorrect payroll to unknowingly paying workers below minimum wage to wasting valuable time updating a manual spreadsheet, flag time calculations can lead to countless headaches for dealers.
Today, many dealers still track flag time using antiquated spreadsheets. Typically, flag time is calculated by a service manager, entered into a spreadsheet and either saved into the dealer management system (DMS) where the payroll department pulls data to run payroll, or saved on spreadsheets, which are then sent to the payroll department. Either way, tracking flag time manually always poses a risk for human error, and takes time and resources.
It’s time for dealerships to have a better, more automated payroll experience, which can be made possible by integrating your DMS with a payroll provider. Following are several benefits of payroll and DMS integration:
Run More Accurate Payroll
If you don’t pay your employees with complete accuracy, chances are they won’t stay with your dealership for too long – and might even take legal action. 
In fact, unpaid overtime is one of the top causes of wage and hour lawsuits. An automated payroll experience helps you better track time and attendance – including flag time – and ensure you’re paying employees both accurately and on time, by removing the possibility of human error or a misplaced spreadsheet.
Maintain Compliance
The Department of Labor mandates each employee must be paid at least minimum wage, so if your service department has a slow week, your dealership would need to pay employees a ‘minimum wage makeup’ to ensure you stay compliant with labor laws. This is because automotive technicians are paid based on how much work they complete rather than how many hours they work. Your manual spreadsheet doesn’t understand compliance, but integrating your DMS and payroll can take much of the compliance burden out of your hands. Payroll integration enables you to stay up to date with state-to-state minimum wage laws, and use reporting and tracking tools for the Fair Labor Standards Act (ACT).
Save Time and Money
Manual flag time and payroll processes take time and money away from other tasks that can move the business forward. For a given payroll, a technician might spend time jotting down hours on a Post-it note, then read it off to the service manager, who then writes or types it into a manual spreadsheet and passes it off to HR or payroll, who might re-enter the information yet again, depending on the process you h
ave in place. This takes time away from the technician’s day-to-day job – which can ultimately lead to servicing fewer cars – and can cause a bottleneck with the service manager and HR. With DMS and payroll integration, many of these steps are either eliminated or automated, saving time and money across the board.
Automate Your HR Processes
Other than payroll itself, DMS and payroll integration simplifies your full employee lifecycle – from hire to retire. Using an automated payroll and HR solution, you can control hiring, onboarding, labor, benefits and administrative costs all from a single platform. In the long run, this can make your HR processes more efficient – leading to a more profitable business and better employee experience.
Interested in learning more about how you can integrate your DMS and payroll? Read about our payroll solution here and and schedule a demo today.
