Square Payroll will make employee benefits easy for small businesses

Jack
Dorsey, CEO of Square and CEO of Twitter, speaks during an
interview with CNBC following the IPO for
Square
REUTERS/Lucas
Jackson

• Payments business Square announced Wednesday it would
  add benefit offerings to its payroll platform.
• This will allow small businesses to give employees
  access to benefits like health insurance and retirement
  savings.
• This can reduce businesses’ payroll tax burden, and
  after one-time enrollment, it will automatically factor
  benefits into the payroll.

For small businesses, it can be
difficult to offer employees benefits, but now Square is making
it easier.

On Wednesday, Square
announced employee benefit offerings with Square Payroll, which
allows small businesses to give their employees access to
benefits like health insurance, retirement savings, pre-tax
spending, and workers’ compensation.

“We believe everyone should have
access to great benefits and the financial security that comes
with it,” said Caroline Hollis, head of Square Payroll.

Square surveyed businesses on what to add the Square Payroll,
and businesses agreed that adding benefits is one of the most
difficult parts. Businesses can face some red tape when it comes
to benefits, but by offering benefits, this can help reduce
businesses’ payroll tax burden.

“We’ve heard again and again from
sellers what a pain point payroll is,” said Alyssa Henry, seller
lead at Square. “We’ve heard that many of them are doing it on
paper or avoiding taxes.”

On Square Payroll, business
owners can select benefits that fit their budgets, and after they
enroll, the benefits will automatically sync with the payroll.
And they can access payroll information such as benefits
enrollments and contributions on a dashboard.

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To make these benefits possible,
Square Payroll partnered with companies like SimplyInsured,
Guideline 401(k), Alice, and AP Intego.

Square Payroll, which includes
features such as tax calculations, payments, and filings, became
available nationwide earlier this month. Square launched Payroll
after surveying businesses and hearing that managing payroll is
one of the most complicated and stressful parts of running a
business.

Just last month, Square also
launched the
Square Terminal, a portable, all-in-one card processing
device also designed for small businesses.