What are the most common payroll errors in workplaces?

Errors related to vacation, paid time off, and sick time requests came in second, with 721 errors per 1,000 employees a year at a cost of $255,252.

They were followed by:

• Benefits errors: 503 errors, costing $162,213
• Scheduled earnings and deductions errors: 410 errors, costing $157,540
• Tax withholding (W-4) and tax allocation changes: 229 errors, costing $157,214
• Direct deposit errors: 159 errors, costing $51,948

All figures are per 1,000 employees a year. They cover only the cost of correcting payroll errors and exclude potential compliance costs and other financial consequences for organisations.

Overall, organisations spend an estimated average of $339 to correct each payroll error, nearly 20% more than in EY’s 2022 findings. Respondents reported errors occurring in one in every five payrolls.

Most time-consuming errors

The report also identified the payroll errors that take the most time to fix: missing or incorrect time punches, missing expenses, uniform charge errors, sick time not entered, and health savings plan setup errors.