Industry news
Challenges for global payroll industry ACCORDING TO the report Change is coming: The Annual Global Payroll Survey 2017 (http://bit. ly/2BODhxJ), 41% of global and in-country payroll professionals surveyed reported a ‘lack of knowledge of local payroll legislation and requirements’ as their biggest challenge. The report, from TMF Group and the Global Payroll Association, reveals that the most common reason given for payroll errors – cited by 30.2% of those surveyed – was a failure of in- house professionals to understand local rules and regulations, with just under a third of respondents (29.6%) saying they were responsible for sourcing local payroll compliance information but were often unaware of where to find it. Deborah Williams, global head of service lines at TMF Group, said that the report “also shows that many organisations are yet to adopt appropriate technology to support their payroll operations at an international scale. This contributes to the failure of policies and processes. … We now see many organisations turning to payroll outsourcing to fulfil these needs.” Melanie Pizzey, chief executive officer of the Global Payroll Association, commented “professionals responsible for multi-country payroll delivery are facing increased complexities on many fronts. As a result, global payroll transformation is – or will become – a priority for employers so they can achieve consistency in their global operations and maximise the return on their investments.”
Personal data concerns A SURVEY of IT professionals across Europe, conducted last year by Kaspersky Lab (http://bit.ly/2BODhxJ), found that one-in-three (32%) respondents are not confident that their own organisation can successfully demonstrate how, and from where, the personal data it holds is sourced, which could have severe consequences under the terms of the General Data Protection Regulation. Some parts of Europe show higher levels of trust and confidence among IT professionals than others: 76% of IT decision makers in France trust organisations to protect their data, compared to 56% in the UK and just 48% in Germany. Adam Maskatiya, general manager at Kaspersky Lab UK, commented that “This clearly indicates that there is a long way to go before businesses are actually treating the data in their care with the respect it deserves – and before the GDPR deadline hits.” HR pay in parts of the UK lags behind London THE ANNUAL HR Salary Survey by Croner Reward found the average median salary for a human resources (HR) professional in in the UK is £47,919 compared to £77,149 in central London and the overall London average of £52,231. In the regions the biggest disparity was between London and Northern Ireland, with those working in the south west and north east being the furthest behind in England. The difference in salaries is largely because the cost of living, such as house prices and transport, is so much higher in London compared to other parts of the UK. Issues challenging HR professionals THE STUDY – The 2018 HR landscape: What’s in store? (http://bit.ly/2rWmj0E) – commissioned by Cascade HR, has revealed the topics most likely to keep HR professionals awake at night in 2018. Employee engagement topped the list for 44% of the 447 participants, followed by staff retention (36%). Absence management and recruitment came in as joint third biggest worry for 33% of respondents, with succession planning in fifth place (26%). Oliver Shaw, Cascade’s chief executive officer, believes that HR teams should concentrate on the areas where they feel progress has been achieved over the past year. Referring to recruitment, learning and development, and absence management which were among the top five issues for HR professionals in 2017, Oliver commented that “whilst these issues have been cited as challenging, they also highlight the concerted efforts that HR professionals have made to succeed in these respects.”
Absenteeism and presenteeism THE 2017 Britain’s Healthiest Workplace survey (http://bit.ly/2GIaU8i) – developed by VitalityHealth and delivered in partnership with the University of Cambridge, RAND Europe and Mercer – reveals that employees lose, on average, the equivalent of 30.4 days of productive time each year as they take time off sick and underperform in the office as a result of ill-health (otherwise known as presenteeism). The results demonstrated high levels of productivity loss across all sectors and organisational sizes. Translated into monetary terms, the combined economic impact of this ill-health related absence and presenteeism is £77.5 billion a year for the UK economy. Employee work impairment and the associated productivity loss appears to be on a worsening trend, up from 27.5 days and £73 billion respectively in 2016. Shaun Subel, director of corporate wellbeing strategy at VitalityHealth, said: “Our data demonstrates a clear relationship – employees who make healthier lifestyle choices benefit from an additional 25 days of productive time each year compared to the least healthy employees, and also exhibit higher levels of work engagement and lower levels of stress.” Chris Bailey, partner at Mercer Marsh Benefits, said: “The data shows that those organisations [that] take steps to maximise their employees’ productive time at work, for example through supporting an active workforce, promoting good nutrition and enabling positive mental health, enjoy a competitive advantage.”
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | March 2018 | Issue 38 24
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