Stop running payroll from WhatsApp and Excel
The traditional Nigerian SME payroll: one spreadsheet, bank alerts, payslips forwarded as PDFs. It works until someone joins, someone leaves, or the tax office asks a question.
- Payroll belongs in software with an audit trail — not a fragile spreadsheet tab.
- Staff need payslips that show PAYE, pension, and NHF every month.
- Run one parallel month before you cut over from Excel.
Every founder in Lagos knows the ritual. Last week of the month: open `SALARY_MASTER_2026_FINAL.xlsx`, copy last month’s tab, adjust for the new driver, send net amounts to the bank app, paste payslip PDFs into the staff WhatsApp group. Fast. Familiar. Fragile.
Same people, same salaries — very different risk profile.
Where the old way breaks
Excel payroll survives until the first real test: a mid-month hire, a bonus that changes PAYE, a leaver you prorated wrong, or a pension audit asking for twelve months of schedules. Then you are reconstructing history from bank alerts and chat screenshots.
- One wrong formula copies to every employee silently
- PAYE and pension live in someone’s head — or a hidden column
- No single “paid on this date” record tied to statutory payment
- Staff cannot self-serve old payslips — they message you again
Spreadsheets don’t fail loudly. They fail quietly, with everyone’s trust.
What “proper” looks like for a 10-person team
You do not need an HR department. You need a repeatable pay run: open period, draft, review gross and statutory lines, approve, pay, mark paid, remit, archive. Thirty minutes if nothing exotic happened.
Staff see the breakdown — you stop explaining the same deductions every month.
The switch without drama
- Enter active staff once — names, bank, RSA, basic and allowances
- Run one parallel month: software draft vs your sheet, reconcile differences
- Cut over when numbers match and staff have portal access
- Retire the WhatsApp payslip group — politely
Run your first proper pay period — Nigeria statutory pack · employee portal included