The question of when our employees will be paid is by far the most common query we receive, just because it’s so important to contractors to know when to expect their money. In fact, in our experience, predictable pay is the answer to most of the stress in most contractors’ lives. In this article we’ll look at why we’ve chosen to focus on making pay predictable, and what you can expect from us as our employee when you get paid.
Making your pay predictable
Uncertainty about your payments can be extremely difficult and frustrating, and knowing exactly when you’ll be paid makes life a lot easier in many ways. In our experience, this is more important than getting you paid quickly.
For example, if you usually receive your money on a Friday, it doesn’t help you to be paid on a Wednesday instead, particularly if we can’t guarantee this every week. What you need is for your money to turn up, as expected, every Friday, so you know what’s going to happen and you can plan your life.
Because we know it makes such a difference, we do everything we can to ensure our umbrella company employees are paid on the same day each week or each month, so you can be confident of when you’ll receive your money. This removes a major source of stress, and frees up your mental space and energy for other things.
How will you know if you’re going to be paid?
We process payments every weekday, and our systems and processes are specifically designed to be robust and reliable. If you’ve worked as normal, your timesheet was completed correctly and we usually make your payment on a Wednesday, that’s what’s going to happen this week.
You can expect to receive a confirmation text message by around 3:00pm on the day we process your payment, and your pay documents will be uploaded to your Fair Pay Companion portal later that day. Payment will clear into your account either that evening, the next day or in two working days, depending on the payment type used. Of course, we’ll make sure you know exactly what to expect.
Bank holidays and other disruptions
Sometimes, circumstances beyond our control prevent us processing your payment on the day we usually would. There are others, but bank holidays are the most common reason for this.
We’re committed to ensuring your pay reaches you as expected, so where possible we’ll either make your payment early, or change the payment type so it clears with you when it usually would.
For example, if we weren’t able to process your pay by BACS on Monday, we’ll use a next day payment on Tuesday, or a same day payment on Wednesday, to make sure you receive your money on time.
How can you help us to make your pay predictable?
We rely on receiving information from your recruitment agency or end client. We work closely with recruitment agencies to smooth out processes and lines of communication, which keeps potential issues to a minimum and makes them easier to resolve when they do occur. From your point of view, the single biggest thing you can do to ensure everything runs smoothly is to correctly follow your agency/client’s process.
Making sure your timesheets and any supporting documents are filled in correctly and signed off on time will eliminate most of the issues we see, though we must stress that even these issues are extremely rare. If you need to submit timesheets on our online portal (we’ll let you know if you need to do this), again making sure you submit them correctly and on time is the best way to ensure you’ll be paid as expected.
When should you chase your payment?
One of the reasons we’ve gone to such lengths to make payments predictable is that we don’t think you should have to chase. Our Contractor Care Team will always be happy to hear from you and eager to help, but if you need to call us every week to find out if we’re going to pay you, something has gone wrong. In general, as long as you’ve followed the correct timesheet process, you can be confident that we’re going to pay you as expected.
In the very rare event of an issue or an error, we will contact you and let you know what’s going to happen, and of course we’ll always make every effort to minimise any delay.
You might want to contact us for information if:
- Your agency or client has made you aware of an issue and you haven’t heard from us
- You have not received the usual notification from us by 4:00pm on the day we pay you
If you have any questions or if we can help in any way, please call our expert team on 01604 360222 (option 2) or email [email protected].
Recent Comments