REWARD
If I had a Tardis…
Dianne Hoodless MSc ChFCIPP FHEA, head of group payroll, The Foschini Group, takes us on a trip down memory lane, to the world of payroll processing in the 80’s and considers how different it is now
I f I had a Tardis, I would travel back to the 1980’s to be a fly on the wall and watch the day-to-day duties of a payroll manager. I would then compare the role seen in the 80’s to the one we see today. Has it changed? Let’s see! Here goes, I’m pressing the ‘button’ (sorry, I had to put that in)! Well, here in the 80’s, I find the payroll manager sitting in an office on their own, looking at a big blue ledger trying to get the figures to balance – payments, deductions, union dues etc. They’re using what I can best describe as an adding machine, which has a tally roll. Someone has just arrived with a coffee and been referred to as the office junior. They’re being told to collect the post from the post room and promised they’ll be able to sit with someone to learn payroll. The payroll manger has just mentioned they need to check the clock cards on the clocking system, which is called ‘Tardis’. (Yes, it’s true, there was a clocking system in the 80’s with this name.) They’re now extending the cards to add extra hours, which gets the employees’ hours ready for the following week. Here in the 80’s, it seems most of the workforce is paid weekly, in cash. I can see from the ledger that a few managers are paid monthly by Bacs tape, which is taken directly to the bank. Woops, it looks like this was missed last month and employees were paid late. It seems the courier never arrived on time. That’s odd, as all the employees are based in the UK. The security team has just arrived, and the payroll manager has received several
brown payslips. These are ready to give to the employees and contain actual cash. The payroll manager is having to count and check each payslip before handing it to the employees, which is taking a long time. Oh dear, one employee is short, so they’re raising an advance from the petty cash tin. The security team have just left, so the payroll manager is heading back to their office. The obvious thing missing is a computer screen, how do they make payroll changes? The payroll manager has taken out a large workbook and is writing payroll data into it. Now where are they going?! As I follow them into an office full of people, I see they’re sitting behind monitors with green screens. The notice on the door says, ‘Punch room’, so this is where the data gets added, and goes directly on to the mainframe. The payroll manager leaves with a batch of reports for checking. Back in the office, I see no signs of the business strategy or mission statement, no signs of employee appraisals, and I get the overall feeling they’re not part of a team. Here in the 80’s, it’s very much focused on the role and not the bigger picture. Let get back to 2022 – wow, things have changed Today, the payroll manager not only leads the team, but also, importantly, focuses on their team’s development. The payroll manager plays a part in the organisational strategy, as the data held in payroll shows trends, absence pattens and workforce strategy. An organisation can use this payroll data to forecast labour costs and ongoing activity. This data can also
be used at board meetings to make swift, important decisions. With more payroll managers having a seat on the board, they can share their expertise to identify the measures most useful for overcoming challenges faced by their organisations, which can be backed up by the essential data the payroll department holds. The introduction of digitalisation, cloud-based payroll solutions and artificial intelligence has allowed payroll teams to become faster, accurate and more efficient with employee documents online. This frees up time for the payroll manger to spend on analytics and broader thinking, which is needed within any organisation. Payroll managers have an important role to play in: l employee well-being
l financial wellness l diversity strategies.
Understanding patterns in staff turnover can inform those initiatives, which can then feed into the organisation’s strategy and support workforce planning. More payroll managers now need an understanding of global payroll, as since the pandemic, there’s been an increase in employees able to work from anywhere in the world. This also helps with staff retention and recruitment, broadening the talent pool an organisation has access to. Today, there are professional bodies that shout from the rooftops about payroll, the importance of getting it right and the compliance surrounding it. These bodies are ensuring payroll professionals are qualified and trained to a high standard to become the next line of successful strategic payroll managers. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | October 2022 | Issue 84 52
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