Payroll Deductions

To implement Payroll Deduction (PRD), the contributor signs his or her pledge card, which authorizes his or her employer to deduct a specific amount per period (e.g. per payday or per month) for his or her United Way gift.

On a regular basis, often monthly but at least quarterly, the firm forwards to the United Way office one cheque covering the total amount deducted for United Way from all employees during the period.

The most common objection voiced about PRD comes from a misunderstanding of the workload it will involve.

The Chief Accounting Officer foresees an unwarranted complication of the payroll task.  Actually, the inclusion of a United Way deduction means very little additional computation and that is only on a one-time basis.  Once the deduction is established, it is simply lumped with the individual’s other deductions, such as tax withholding, and is automatically deducted each payday.  Remittances may be made to the United Way at the same time they are made to the government.

Experience has proven that the implementation of PRD is NOT complicated or overly time consuming.  The initial computation does slightly increase the payroll preparer's workload on a one-time basis.  Once calculated, the monthly workload increase amounts to little more than the time required to prepare and mail the cheque to the United Way.