How to Save 200%-900% Time on Payroll Processing

Payroll is a necessary evil that consumes hours every week.

For construction, labour-hire, and industrial services businesses, manual payroll processing tasks drain valuable time that could be spent growing your business. Chasing timesheets, calculating award rates, applying penalty rates, and lodging STP reports manually can easily consume 5-10 hours per pay cycle — or more if you’re managing complex CFMEU, ETU, or CEPU agreements.

But here’s the thing: businesses using automated payroll software report time savings between 200% and 900%. That’s not a typo. We’re talking about tasks that once took 6-10 hours per week being completed in under an hour.

Key Takeaways

• Manual payroll typically takes 5-10 hours per pay cycle for businesses with 10-50 employees
• Automated payroll systems reduce processing time by 200%-900% through direct timesheet integration, automatic award calculations, and STP automation
• Major time drains include chasing paper timesheets, manual data entry, award interpretation, overtime calculations, and compliance reporting
• Cloud-based payroll software with pre-set awards and custom EBA engines eliminates manual calculations and reduces error risk
• The ROI comes from both time savings and avoiding costly compliance penalties

How Long Does Payroll Really Take?

Before we delve into the time savings, let’s take a closer look at what payroll actually entails.

Most business owners underestimate the true cost. You’re not just “doing payroll” — you’re managing a complex administrative process with multiple moving parts and serious compliance requirements.

The Manual Payroll Process

Here’s what happens every single pay cycle when you’re doing it manually:

• Collecting timesheets — chasing staff who haven’t submitted their hours, deciphering illegible handwriting on paper forms, and consolidating emails, texts, and WhatsApp messages.
• Data entry — manually typing hours into spreadsheets or payroll software, then double-checking everything.
• Award interpretation — looking up the correct rates for each employee’s classification, checking which penalties apply, and confirming allowances.
• Overtime and penalty calculations — pulling out the calculator to work out time-and-a-half, double-time, Saturday rates, Sunday rates, public holiday rates, and night shift penalties.
• Leave balance updates — tracking accruals for annual leave, sick leave, long service leave, and RDOs.
• Payslip generation — creating individual payslips and either printing them or emailing them to every employee.
• STP reporting — lodging your Single Touch Payroll report with the ATO..
• Accounting sync — manually creating journal entries in your accounting software and reconciling everything.

And that’s assuming nothing goes wrong. One missed penalty rate or incorrect award interpretation means you’re back to square one, recalculating and issuing amended payslips.

What Does 200%-900% Time Savings Actually Mean?

Let’s break down the maths, because percentages can be confusing.

When we say “200% time savings,” we mean you’re completing the task 3 times faster. A task that took 3 hours now takes 1 hour. When we say “900% time savings,” you’re doing it 10 times faster — what took 10 hours now takes 1 hour.

Breaking Down the Numbers

Here’s what this looks like in practice:

The actual time savings depend on your starting point. Businesses using spreadsheets and paper timesheets see the biggest improvements. Those already using basic software see smaller but still significant gains when they switch to fully integrated systems.

Real Example: 30 Staff, Under 1 Hour Per Week

For a team of 30 staff, timesheets and payroll typically take 5-10 hours per week when done manually. With automation, this drops to under 1 hour per week.

That’s 200-400+ hours saved per year.

What could you do with an extra 200 hours? Win more contracts. Train your team. Take time off without worrying about payroll chaos. Actually grow your business instead of drowning in admin.

Where Does the Time Go?

• Timesheet collection: 90% reduction — Digital timesheets with auto-submission mean no more chasing staff or deciphering handwriting.
• Data entry: 100% elimination — Direct sync from Wojo timesheets to payroll means zero manual re-entry.
• Award calculations: 95% reduction — Pre-set awards handle ordinary time, overtime, and penalty rates automatically.
• STP reporting: 100% automation — Every pay run is lodged automatically with the ATO.
• Payslip distribution: 100% automation — Employees receive digital payslips automatically.

Why Manual Payroll Takes So Long

Understanding the bottlenecks helps you see where automation delivers the biggest wins.

Chasing Timesheets

Paper timesheets are a nightmare. They get lost, forgotten, or filled out incorrectly. You spend hours every pay cycle chasing staff who haven’t submitted their hours.

Even digital timesheets sent via email or text aren’t much better. You’re still consolidating data from multiple sources, checking for errors, and manually entering everything into your system.

Award Interpretation Complexity

Australia has 122 modern awards, each with different rules for ordinary time, overtime, weekends, public holidays, and allowances.

Construction businesses face even more complexity with industry-specific agreements. CFMEU, ETU, and CEPU agreements add additional layers of conditions, special allowances, and unique definitions of ordinary hours.

Getting it wrong is expensive. Award misclassification is one of the most common compliance failures, and rectifying underpayments can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Manual Calculations and Double-Handling

Calculating overtime manually is tedious. Applying penalty rates for Saturday, Sunday, night shifts, and public holidays requires constant attention to detail. Then there’s leave accruals — annual leave, sick leave, long service leave, and potentially RDOs if you’re in construction. Each type accrues at different rates and needs accurate tracking.

After calculating everything in your payroll system, you then need to enter it all again into your accounting software. Each step introduces the risk of data entry errors.

STP Compliance Requirements

Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 is mandatory for all Australian employers. You must report every pay run to the ATO with detailed income types, tax treatment categories, and employee information.

Manual STP lodgement is time-consuming. You need to ensure correct income disaggregation, proper tax codes, and accurate employee details. Errors trigger ATO queries and potential penalties. From 2026, superannuation must be paid as part of wages rather than quarterly, adding another layer of complexity to payroll processing.

How Payroll Automation Saves Time

Automation eliminates the bottlenecks that make manual payroll so painful.

Digital Timesheets with Automatic Sync

Employees clock in and out on their mobile app. GPS location tagging verifies they’re actually on site. Timesheets auto-submit at the end of each shift. Managers approve timesheets with one click. All data flows directly into payroll software — no re-entry required.

Pre-Set Award Calculations

Modern payroll systems come with pre-configured awards. Wojo provides pre-set awards covering all industries. The software automatically looks up the correct rate based on the employee’s classification. Penalty rates are applied automatically. Overtime is calculated correctly every time.

Custom EBA Rule Engine

For businesses operating under enterprise bargaining agreements, automation becomes even more valuable. CFMEU, ETU, and CEPU agreements have complex provisions around ordinary hours, overtime triggers, special allowances, and unique conditions. Setting these up once in the system means they’re applied correctly every single pay run.

One-Click Pay Runs

All data is pre-populated from digital timesheets. You review the pay run, checking that everything looks correct. Then you click approve. Payslips are auto-generated and sent to employees. STP is auto-lodged with the ATO. Accounting integration syncs data to your accounting software.

STP Phase 2 Compliance Built In

Automatic STP Phase 2 reporting means correct income types and tax categories without manual intervention. No manual ATO lodgement required. The system handles the complexity of disaggregated income, tax treatment codes, and employment cessation reporting automatically.

The ROI of Payroll Automation

Time Savings = Cost Savings

If you’re saving 5 hours per week at an admin cost of $50 per hour, that’s $250 per week or $13,000 per year.

For larger teams or businesses with higher admin rates, the savings multiply quickly. A business with 50 employees saving 8 hours per week at $60 per hour saves $24,960 per year.

Error Reduction = Risk Reduction

PwC estimates that Australian workers’ underpayments amount to as much as $1.35 billion annually across all businesses.

Manual payroll calculations lead to errors. You might overpay staff (which is difficult to recover) or underpay them (which triggers Fair Work penalties and reputational damage). Automation eliminates manual calculation errors. 

Compliance = Peace of Mind

STP penalties are avoidable with automation. Award interpretation errors are eliminated. The system maintains an automatic audit trail.

From January 2025, intentional wage underpayment is a criminal offence. While genuine mistakes aren’t criminalised, having robust systems in place protects you from accusations of deliberate non-compliance.

Cloud Payroll vs Desktop Payroll

Cloud payroll is software accessed via the internet. There is no installation required and data is stored securely in the cloud, so you can access it from any device, anywhere.

Updates happen automatically. When tax rates change or award rates increase after the annual wage review, your system updates automatically.

Benefits of Cloud Payroll

Security and Data Protection

Cloud systems use bank-level encryption. Data is stored on secure cloud servers with automatic backups. There’s no risk of losing everything if your computer dies.

All data is conveniently and securely stored in the cloud, accessible when you need it but protected from unauthorised access.

Choosing the Right Payroll Software for Australian Businesses

Not all payroll systems handle Australian awards and compliance requirements equally well.

Key Features to Look For

• STP Phase 2 compliant: Mandatory from 2022, essential for avoiding ATO penalties.
• Pre-built modern awards: For all non-EBA businesses
• Custom EBA capability: For businesses with enterprise bargaining agreements.
• Timesheet integration: Direct sync from time tracking to payroll.
• Accounting software integration: Seamless data flow to your accounting system.
• Mobile access: Employees can view payslips and submit timesheets from their phones.
• Employee self-service: Reduces admin queries about leave balances and pay details.
• Australian-based support: Local support team that understands Australian awards and compliance.

Integration Matters

Why integration saves time: When timesheets flow directly into payroll, then automatically into accounting, you eliminate double-entry and reconciliation headaches.

Wojo integrates with major accounting platforms, including MYOB, QuickBooks, Xero, Freshbooks, Zohobooks, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle NetSuite, Reckon, MSG, and Pronto XI. This means your payroll data syncs seamlessly with your financial systems without manual journal entries.

Construction and Trades Considerations

Construction, labour-hire, and industrial services businesses have unique requirements:

• CFMEU, ETU, CEPU award compliance
• Complex overtime and penalty calculations
• Site-based workforce with GPS tracking
• Subcontractor management
• RDO tracking
• Portable long service leave reporting

How Wojo Delivers 200%-900% Time Savings

Let’s connect the dots between features and actual time savings.

Why Construction Businesses Choose Wojo

Construction businesses face unique payroll challenges. Managing CFMEU agreements, tracking RDOs, calculating site allowances, and handling portable long service leave requires specialised capability.

When your payroll system understands construction-specific requirements, compliance becomes automatic instead of manual.

Switch and Start Saving

Manual payroll is costing you 5-10+ hours per week that could be spent growing your business.

The time savings are significant, but the real value goes deeper. Fewer errors mean lower compliance risk. Automatic award calculations mean no more underpayment scandals. Real-time reporting provides visibility into labour costs as they occur, not weeks later.

For construction, labour-hire, and industrial services businesses managing complex CFMEU, ETU, or CEPU agreements, the right payroll system transforms how you operate.

Ready to get your time back? Book a call with Wojo to see how businesses like yours are completing timesheets and payroll in under 1 hour per week, saving hundreds of hours every year.