How to Keep Payroll Compliant as You Grow from 10 to 100 Staff

When you have 5 or 10 employees, payroll feels simple.A spreadsheet, a few payslips, some bank transfers — done.

But as your team grows into the dozens (and eventually hundreds), payroll gets complicated.

Suddenly, you’re dealing with:

• Different pay grades and allowances

• Overtime and shift differentials

• Changing tax bands

• Pension contributions and statutory deductions

• New hires and terminations in the same month

And here’s the catch — the bigger you get, the more expensive mistakes become.

The Risk of “Almost Right” Payroll

In Kenya, payroll compliance isn’t just a nice-to-have.If you underpay statutory deductions or miss a filing deadline, you can face:

• KRA penalties and interest for PAYE mistakes

• NSSF/NHIF fines for late or incorrect contributions

• Labour disputes if salaries or benefits aren’t correct

• Reputational damage with staff and investors

We’ve seen businesses lose hundreds of thousands of shillings in penalties — all because they “thought the spreadsheet was fine.”

How PaySpace Makes Scaling Payroll Safer

Here’s why we recommend PaySpace to clients growing past 10–15 staff:

1. Automatic Statutory Compliance

   • PAYE, NSSF, NHIF calculations update automatically with the latest rates.

   • No need to manually check KRA or government notices.

2. Centralised Employee Data

   • All contracts, pay grades, benefits, and deductions in one place.

   • Reduces the “lost file” problem when HR grows.

3. Multi-Level Approvals

   • Prevents one person from single-handedly running payroll without oversight.

4. Built-In Reports for Audits

   • If KRA or NSSF audits your business, you can export records instantly.

5. Integration with Accounting

   • Connects payroll data directly to QuickBooks or your accounting system — no double entry.

   
   

From Chaos to Clean Payroll

One of our clients, a construction firm, grew from 18 to 54 employees in under a year.They were still running payroll in Excel, and in month eight, KRA flagged a PAYE underpayment — penalties: KES 148,000.

We moved them to PaySpace, set up correct employee profiles, and automated calculations.Six months later, their payroll passed an NSSF spot-check with zero adjustments.

Your Compliance Checklist

Here’s what every growing business should track (and how PaySpace helps):

What to Track	Why It Matters	How PaySpace Helps
PAYE, NSSF, NHIF rates	Avoid under/overpayments	Auto-updates with correct formulas
Employee contracts	Legal protection	Digital storage linked to payroll
Overtime & allowances	Fair pay & compliance	Automated calculations
New hires & exits	Accurate filings	HR onboarding/offboarding tied to payroll
Filing deadlines	Avoid penalties	Built-in reminders & submission tracking

Don’t Wait for a Penalty to Get Serious

Payroll compliance isn’t something you “fix later.”Every pay cycle is a legal record — and once a mistake happens, it’s on file.

At Remotix, we:

• Assess your current payroll process for compliance gaps

• Set up PaySpace to handle calculations, filings, and reporting

• Train your team to run payroll confidently at any scale

Growing fast? Let’s make sure payroll compliance keeps up. Email us at info@remotixkenya.com to schedule a compliance check.