Stop press

Pension remitted on time for clients: 100% (example) Average time to shortlist: 11 working days Payslips sent last month: 4,812 (example) Open roles on the board: 14 Next supervisor course: 18 and 19 November Client retention: 94% (example) Pension remitted on time for clients: 100% (example) Average time to shortlist: 11 working days Payslips sent last month: 4,812 (example) Open roles on the board: 14 Next supervisor course: 18 and 19 November Client retention: 94% (example)

Lead story A1

Payroll, people and paperwork, handled from Agodi

Talentforge runs HR for 140 Nigerian employers (example): payroll, hiring, contract staff and compliance, so owners can get back to the business they started.

By the Talentforge desk · IBADAN

Office team at work around a shared desk — Our advisers work from Secretariat Road and on clients' sites across the South West. Photo for this demo.

IBADAN. Ask a business owner in Ring Road or Bodija what keeps them up at night and the answer is rarely sales. It is the driver who disappeared with the van, the pension arrears a new auditor found, the payroll that took the accountant four days and still came out wrong.

Talentforge was set up in 2014 to take that weight off. We act as the HR department for companies with ten to five hundred staff: schools, clinics, factories, distributors, hotels and fast-growing shops. Clients keep control of every decision. We do the work, file the forms and answer the questions at 7pm when a staff member's salary has not landed.

The result, owners tell us, is fewer surprises. Payroll on the same day each month. Remittances filed with proof. New hires who arrive with a contract, an ID card and a first-week plan. Continued on page A2

The calculator C1

What does your team really cost

Salaries are only part of it. Add pension, NSITF, ITF, HMO, group life, a thirteenth month and the cost of hiring again when people leave.

Staff: 25 Average monthly gross: N150,000

Real monthly cost: N0

Full calculator

This week's rates

Example service rates
Payroll and complianceper employee, monthly	N9,500
Contract staffof gross pay	8%
Recruitmentof first year salary	12%
Bulk hiring, 10+of first year salary	8%
Supervisor courseper person, two days	N85,000
Compliance health checkone off	N120,000

Example rates, VAT extra. All pricing, page C2

Hiring weather, Ibadan

72Demand index
Up 6 on October (example)

Strong demand for nurses, sales reps and drivers. Accountants are taking 3 weeks longer to hire.

B1Section B

Five desks, one HR department

140employers on our books

6,200+staff paid each month

11working days to a shortlist

0missed remittance deadlines this year

Example figures for this demo.

Case report D2

School group cuts payroll errors to zero in a term

Three women in discussion at a table — Bursars at an Oluyole school group. Example case.

Three campuses, 186 staff and four spreadsheets. After one term on Talentforge payroll the bursar now approves a single page summary.

Insight F2

The new minimum wage, explained for small employers

What changed, who it covers, and how to plan the cost without cutting jobs.

Our advisers have run the numbers for clients in retail, schools and clinics. Here is what we tell them, in plain language.

Read on

Insight F3

Seven days: getting pension remittance right

Woman in large glasses looking down at notes

Late pension remittance is the most common finding in our compliance health checks. The fix is mostly calendar discipline.

Letters to the desk

What employers write to us

Before Talentforge, payroll took my accountant four days and we still had queries every month. Now it is approved in ten minutes and the staff understand their payslips.

Example client, manufacturer, Oluyole

They found us twelve drivers in two weeks, all with checked licences and guarantors. One left after a month and was replaced without a fuss.

Adebayo, example client, logistics, Ring Road

The compliance check was humbling. Eighteen months of pension arrears. They sorted it calmly and the auditors signed off without a comment.

Example client, private clinic, Bodija

Advertisement feature

Price your team in two minutes

Put in your roles and salaries. See the full employer cost in-house and with Talentforge, side by side.

Open the calculator WhatsApp the desk