A week in the life of...
Georgina Codling MCIPP, payroll & people operations manager, St James Places Wealth Management
are working with the project team to put in place processes and checklists and also system build for the changes. Plenty of engagement needed with the business over the coming months. Wednesday Working from home means a chance to start or get to grips with more team- focused work and tasks on my to-do list. One of my direct reports is having a well-deserved rest this week, which means a flurry of emails and people calling in sick to deal with. (It’s that time of year.) I usually focus on specific items of work, be that a proposal paper, team planning or project scoping. Today I look ahead to 2020 and put together a plan for our objectives and the projects that we need or would like to deliver, with the focus very much on continuous improvement. There is also some meeting planning and preparation to do. I have a Microsoft ‘teams’ call this afternoon with human resources (HR) and reward – I keep the camera turned off as working from home means no makeup or hair styling. We discuss commencing a plan for a group HR and payroll function, ensuring careful consideration to consult with all the right stakeholders. Thursday Frist job of the day is to check and sign off the monthly return to HMRC. We are making some previous year adjustments this month; although we have approval from HMRC to make these and have previously submitted such returns I still feel nervous that we are suddenly going to find a penalty notice in our in-box. This morning I have the weekly ‘IR35’
workshop. We seem quite advanced with our project compared to other companies, identifying system and process changes that need to be scoped. The administration of contractors sits within my team so we are feeling the change from both an admin and payroll perspective and there will be a need to run two extra payrolls a month. We are, however, making a gain, as contractor details which were on a spreadsheet will now be automated. It’s also the penultimate go-live ESS meeting, with the final reading of the communications before launching the icon on Monday. I prepare for Monday’s weekly team huddle, setting out the key agenda items I need to bring them up to speed on. Friday Weekly payroll catchup with my line manager this morning. He attended a senior leadership team meeting yesterday, so its good to have a catchup on what was discussed. I have a 1:1 with a member of the team who is covering for my direct report. It’s really important to establish rapport so that I am confident in us working together effectively. We go off to the local coffee shop and discuss the week. She is also looking after our apprentice so it’s a good opportunity to catch up on their progress and learning. Some quiet time this afternoon, to start work on the paper scoping our potential in providing the group HR admin and payroll function. This feels me with dread and excitement, at the same time. Diary check for the coming week: have I completed the necessary preparations and blocked out some free time? Oh, and Friday is payday! o
Monday What a start to the week: a 9am project meeting to finalise the system sign off of our employee self-service (ESS) system that is going live next week, the big win being electronic payslips. No longer will the team have to print payslips and unjam the sealing machine; and the post room breathes a sigh of relief. Testing has thrown up a few last-minute changes, and the communication to finalise. It also means some changes to our existing processes as employees will be able to update their own address and bank details in the system. The payroll team are having a section within the company’s benefits portal, and we’re launching a FAQ page. I’ve left it with the team to brainstorm ideas and the design and then we can run through in the next catchup Weekly huddle to discuss workloads and priorities and a good chance to update the team on ESS. Tuesday More testing and some decision-making regarding an element of self-service that we may delay until phase two. Off to the gym at lunch for a kettlebell class, which is guaranteed to help me focus during the afternoon. A meeting regarding our UK team completing the accounts for our Asia office, which will impact employee records, cost centres and journals within the system. So it’s time to consider a proposal by our in-house system support team as to the best-practice approach. Spent time with our senior manager and certification regime administrator. We
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | December 2019 - January 2020 | Issue 56 44
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