When we were young
on the six different teams in the office. I did six months on each section from basic payroll processing in a mix of payrolls, reconciliation, systems and reporting – and this was to become invaluable in my next role and as a foundation in the future of my payroll career. It was interesting to me that in my time a large number of staff stayed in the same role and team. So, I value very much now the ability I was given to rotate and learn across all aspects of local government payroll. ...payroll processing in a mix of payrolls, reconciliation, systems and reporting... Many colleagues gave great support to me, which I now appreciate all the more, as I embarked on what was then a fledgling career asking lots of questions. I recall two colleagues, Ronnie Kettlewell and Anthony Gibson who were particularly patient with me. I had a successful move to Cambridgeshire County Council to head the
‘Decollator and burster’ by ‘uncatigger’ from flickr is licensed under CC by 2.0
reconciliation and reporting team in 1986. (Did I mention I worked on reporting at NYCC? Well, one particular report was the Joint Manpower Watch.) Upon arrival for my interview at Cambridgeshire County Council was a prepared test in which – yes, you’ve guessed it – I had to produce a Joint Manpower Watch from raw data provided. Cambridgeshire County Council was the time of implementing a new payroll system, working long hours, parallel running, the introduction of personal computers, the world wide web, e-mails, the decollator… Ah, the decollator – we all had a stint on that down in the basement – for which the dictionary definition is: “(computing) a machine that decollates (separates) the parts of multipart computer printout and discards the carbon paper”. That definition covers a multitude of sins as the machine
worked to separate into two piles the actual payslips that were sent out and the carbonised copy that would be kept in the office. If the decollator worked successfully it was great, but often it didn’t…and then it was called lots of names, and ‘decollator’ was not one of them. n Some further information In 1992 the era of payroll outsourcing began with Cambridgeshire County Council moving its payroll operation to Data Sciences, then to IBM Global Services, before finally settling with Capita from 1992–2002, where I was managing director of payroll services for twelve centres in the UK. I then moved in 2002 to Rebus (formerly Peterborough Software) as outsourcing director, which was bought out by Northgate Information Solutions in 2004 which in turn purchased Arinso in 2008. The newly formed NGA was then bought out by the global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. For a while I was director for NGA payroll delivery in 44 countries, before leaving (and trying to retire) in 2012 albeit doing payroll consultancy and project work with Ramco, ADP and Capita. During my 43 years I’ve seen a journey for the better for the payroll and pensions industry. A journey covering APSA from 1980, the British Payroll Managers Association (BPMA) in 1985 and subsequently the Institute of British Payroll Management (IBPM) in 1994, the Institute of Payroll and Pensions Management in1998, and now the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals. The aim of these bodies of having qualifications, training and membership have not changed. Ensuring payroll is recognised as a professional profession in its own right is as relevant today as it was to me and many others when we were young.
Some significant developments 1954 – Lyons Tea Company starts payroll processing on LEO – Lyons Electronic Office – a computer it modelled on the Cambridge University EDSAC (electronic delay storage automatic calculator) computer. Later, LEO was offered as a payroll bureau service. 1956 – Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology experiment with direct keyboard input to computers. 1961 – Demonstration of timesharing systems that enable many users to share a computer. 1962 – Announcement of IBM 1311 disk storage drive with a removable disk pack. Each pack weighed about ten pounds, held six disks, and had a capacity of two million characters. 1968 – The bank automated clearing service (BACS) commences.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 63 | September 2020
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