Managed Payroll · Manufacturing
Shift differentials, blended-rate overtime, piece-rate work, production bonuses, multiple plants across state lines, and union locals make manufacturing payroll a specialty. We manage all of it at $25-$45 per employee per month -- fully managed, no migration required.
See your exact monthly & annual price - no call required
The Cost of Running It Yourself
How It Works
We map your plants, your shifts and differentials, your pay types, your states, and any union obligations, then map your current process. You get a fixed monthly cost -- no surprises.
We set up shift premiums, piece-rate and bonus handling, blended-rate overtime, multi-state withholding, and department cost centers, then run your first payroll cycles. No migration required -- we work in your existing system. Transition takes 30-60 days.
Every pay cycle, every overtime calculation, every multi-state filing and remittance -- fully managed by BEG. Your team touches nothing.
Compliance Requirements
When a manufacturer pays a premium for second shift, third shift, or weekend work, that premium is part of the employee regular rate of pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and overtime has to be calculated on the higher blended rate, not the base hourly rate. The most common manufacturing payroll error is running overtime at 1.5 times the base wage while ignoring the shift differential, which underpays every overtime hour. The shortfall is small per check and enormous in aggregate, and the Department of Labor can reach back two to three years for back wages plus liquidated damages. BEG folds every shift differential into the regular rate and calculates overtime on the blended rate for each pay period, so the math is right on every check.
Most production and attendance bonuses on a plant floor are nondiscretionary, which means they too must be added into the regular rate and the overtime recalculated for the weeks the bonus covers. A quarterly safety or output bonus has to be spread back across the hours worked in that period and the overtime premium trued up. Manufacturers routinely pay these bonuses as a flat add-on and never adjust overtime, which is a wage-and-hour exposure waiting to surface. BEG identifies which incentives are nondiscretionary, allocates them across the correct hours, and recomputes the overtime owed so the bonus does not create a liability.
Plants that pay by the piece still owe overtime, and the regular rate for a piece-rate worker is total piece earnings divided by total hours worked in the week, with overtime then paid at one half that rate for hours over forty on top of the piece earnings already paid. Some operations pay a mix of piece rate and hourly, which complicates the calculation further. Getting piece-rate overtime wrong is one of the most litigated payroll issues in manufacturing. BEG calculates the weekly regular rate on piece earnings, applies the correct overtime premium, and documents the method so it holds up under audit.
A manufacturer with plants in more than one state, or with sales, service, and remote staff spread across states, owes correct income tax withholding in each work state, state unemployment in each state, and registration with each state agency. Some states also have daily overtime rules beyond the federal forty-hour week, and a few apply industry-specific manufacturing overtime rules on top of that. BEG tracks which state rules apply to each worker, withholds and remits by work state, keeps the company registered everywhere it operates, and applies any daily or state-specific overtime rule that applies to the plant.
Unionized plants run on a collective bargaining agreement with its own wage scale, shift premiums, dues structure, and benefit funds. Every pay cycle the correct CBA rate has to be applied by classification, working dues deducted, and contributions remitted to the health, pension, and other funds with the remittance reports each fund requires. Miss a fund report and the company can face delinquency assessments. BEG applies the right CBA rate to each worker, deducts dues correctly, and prepares the fund remittance reporting so nothing goes delinquent.
Workers compensation premium in manufacturing is driven by class code, and a plant has very different rates for machine operators, material handlers, maintenance, and office staff. Hours charged to the wrong class either inflate premium or create exposure at the annual comp audit. BEG tags each hour with the correct workers compensation class and produces reporting that reconciles cleanly to the annual audit, so the company does not overpay premium during the year or get surprised when the auditor arrives.
Manufacturing labor has to be allocated to the right department, cost center, or job so product costing and margin reporting are accurate. A worker may split a shift across two lines or two cost centers, and that allocation has to flow from the time data through payroll and into the cost report. BEG configures payroll to push hours to the correct department and cost center, so labor cost lands where it belongs and your margin reporting reconciles to what you actually paid.
Manufacturers producing under federal supply contracts can fall under the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act, and those doing on-site service or installation work on federal projects can pick up Davis-Bacon and certified payroll obligations. The covered work has to be paid at the required wage and reported in the format the contracting agency accepts. BEG identifies when a contract triggers prevailing wage or certified payroll, applies the correct rate, and files the reporting the agency requires so a government contract does not become a compliance problem.
Who This Serves
Plant floors running two and three shifts with differentials, hourly operators, and overtime that has to be calculated on the blended rate every week.
Seasonal headcount swings, weekend and night premiums, and piece-rate or production-based pay that complicates the overtime calculation.
Skilled trades, multiple class codes for workers comp, and mixed hourly and piece-rate pay across a single crew.
High-volume hourly workforces where a small per-hour overtime error scales into real back-wage exposure fast.
Production sites in more than one state, each with its own withholding, unemployment, and registration to keep current.
Large enough to need real overtime and multi-state expertise, small enough that hiring and keeping that person in-house is a constant problem.
What You Get
Common objection: "Switching payroll systems during a production year is too disruptive."
We do not require you to switch platforms. BEG operates as your managed payroll team inside your current system. If you want to move to a better platform later, we can handle that too -- but it is never a requirement to get started.
Common objection: "Payroll services charge extra for every state and every off-cycle run."
The $25-$45 PEPM rate is all-inclusive: payroll processing, blended-rate overtime, shift differentials, multi-state tax filing, union fund remittances, compliance updates, year-end W-2s, and support. One number, everything included.
Common objection: "Payroll vendors disappear after onboarding."
Your BEG payroll specialist is your ongoing contact. New shift premium, new plant, new state registration, new union local -- you send one message. There is no ticket queue, no chatbot, and no 1-800 number. Your team has a real person who knows your plants and your pay rules.
The Math on Waiting
A payroll person who understands blended-rate overtime and multi-state filing costs $60,000-$100,000 per year fully loaded. Fully managed payroll at $25-$45 PEPM on a 100-person plant costs $30,000-$54,000 per year. Every cycle you run it manually is a week of regular-rate risk, fund-remittance risk, and back-office time that should be going to running the floor -- not chasing payroll.
Your Next Transition Window
Payroll transitions take 30-60 days. Starting before your next seasonal ramp or new line means overtime and multi-state are handled correctly before headcount climbs. Companies that wait until the middle of a busy run make the cutover harder than it needs to be.
15 minutes. We scope your payroll, give you a fixed monthly cost, and show you what transition looks like.
FAQ
Hourly machine operators and material handlers, skilled trades, shift supervisors, maintenance, and back-office and salaried staff across any manufacturer size, union or non-union.
No. We operate as your managed payroll team inside your existing system. Migration is an option, never a requirement.
Everything: payroll processing, blended-rate overtime, shift differentials, federal and multi-state tax filing, union fund remittances, compliance updates, year-end W-2s, and dedicated BEG support.
Shift differentials are part of the FLSA regular rate, so overtime has to be paid on the blended rate, not the base wage. BEG folds every differential into the regular rate and calculates overtime correctly for each pay period, which is the single most common manufacturing payroll error we fix.
Nondiscretionary bonuses must be added into the regular rate and the overtime recalculated for the period the bonus covers. BEG identifies which incentives are nondiscretionary, allocates them across the correct hours, and trues up the overtime so the bonus does not create wage-and-hour exposure.
Yes. For piece-rate workers the regular rate is total piece earnings divided by hours worked, with overtime paid at one half that rate for hours over forty on top of piece earnings. BEG calculates it weekly and documents the method so it holds up under audit.
BEG withholds income tax by the state where work is performed, remits state unemployment in each state, keeps the company registered with each state agency, and applies any daily or state-specific manufacturing overtime rule that applies to a plant.
30-60 days from scope review to first managed payroll run. We handle setup, testing, and go-live. Your team reviews and approves before anything goes live.
Your rate adjusts with headcount. Adding or removing workers updates your monthly cost at the same per-employee rate, so seasonal ramps and slowdowns are easy to handle. No contracts to renegotiate.
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