For business owners that operate a business in both the U.S. and Canada, navigating the payroll processing systems in both countries is tricky enough. But this can become even more complicated as other HR and employee management issues start appearing; for small businesses especially, even the smallest paperwork mistakes can be extremely costly.

Many business owners don’t think about the other HR issues surrounding payroll processing, and what first seemed to be a simple task can quickly become an impossible mountain to scale. A recent article published by newswire.ca discusses the new guidelines released by the Canadian Human Rights Commission — guidelines that specifically focus on health issues for Canadian employees. This guide discussed notable statistics, including that the average number of work days taken off for personal reasons was approximately 9.1 in 2010, and that disability accounts for anywhere between 4% to 12% of Canadian payroll costs.

Why Do Business Owners Need to Pay Attention to These Statistics?

For businesses that are based in the U.S. but employ Canadian citizens, it is imperative that corporate management understands restrictions and regulations imposed by Canadian legislation for employing Canadian workers. Knowing how HR regulations differ in both countries, and also how American payroll regulations differ from Canadian payroll regulations, are two imperative parts of running a business between the two countries.

Keeping track of all these differences can quickly become a full-time job, and take time and energy away from managers and owners who should be focusing on the primary core of their business. Many businesses — especially small and independent businesses — find that an easy solution is to outsource payroll tasks to a company that specifically provides payroll services. These companies can be invaluable for business owners because they not only take care of the entire payroll processing task, but they also often provide HR guidance and help owners navigate sensitive employment tasks, such as changes in employee healthcare requirements.

So when should a business owner think about outsourcing payroll? Somewhere around the time when he or she begins spending more time working on employee payroll and not having enough time and energy to focus on the core of the business. Learn more.