...a shift towards technology processing payroll and payroll professionals taking on the ‘human role’ of payroll...
there are many unanswered questions regarding how pay on demand works in practice. In addition to which, there is a concern that this causes a perpetual cycle of debt and, if offered, financial advice should be provided alongside. The future of working Unsurprisingly given the timing of the survey, 67% of respondents stated that they have seen an increase in flexible working requests, with 82% stating that these requests are for the ability to work from home. The Future of Payroll survey was distributed in May of 2020, at least eight weeks into the national lockdown, which prompts the question whether these percentages would have been so high had we not all been ‘forced’ to work from home? A question to which we will never know the answer. What is apparent, however, is that payroll can work from home if technology allows. Meaning that the future of working and how technology will enhance the role of the payroll profession are intrinsically linked. People are also seeking to have flexibility in the hours they work, be that requests for compressed hours (working more hours on fewer days) – 51% – or flexible working within set core hours – 74%. This is supported through wider reading and research which suggests that Millennials and Generation Z workers are motivated by a better work-life balance than has previously been expected by other generations in the workplace. There has been an emergence of different ways of working, with the advancement of the gig economy and more people working to zero-hour contracts to enable the flexibility that they seek. It seems that, as time progresses, and individuals are encouraged to balance their home and work life, the standard 9-5 role may become obsolete. This won’t happen overnight and will require cultural change across many organisations for it to work effectively. It is also becoming apparent that salary
alone is not a motivator to attract and retain employees. The survey showed a range of benefits offered as part of the overall reward package offered to employees, including: ● childcare vouchers (80%) ● tea and coffee in the workplace (74%) ● cycle to work scheme (66%)
professionals having been forced to work from home, it is also supportive of the flexible working requests and shift in working patterns to accommodate improved work life balance. Other skills mentioned include: ● technological skills relating to automated business processing (55%) ● leadership skills (51%) ● communication skills (50%) ● data analytics (47%) ● report writing skills (38%). I think that it is clear from the areas in which development is sought, and linked to other areas within the report, that there is a shift towards technology processing payroll and payroll professionals taking on the ‘human role’ of payroll – responding to queries, leading the team and payroll strategy, analysing data and communicating recommendations. This was supported through asking ‘Do you think that as technology improves, payroll professionals will take on more of an advisory role within the business, focussing more on maintaining compliance?’, to which 84% of respondents said ‘Yes’. Worrying, only 41% of respondents stated that there is a succession plan within payroll. This is consistent with previous years and therefore suggests that little has been done to address this since the first Future of Payroll report in 2018. What has improved is payroll’s representation at board level, with 60% of payroll professionals saying that there is such representation within their organisation. However, this tends to be either via the finance director (28%) or the HR director (22%), with the remaining 10% being a payroll director at this level. n
● salary sacrifice (56%) ● free car parking (54%.)
This section of the survey also asked payroll professionals for their views on Matthew Taylor’s Good Work Plan, which seeks to protect millions of vulnerable workers – perhaps quite timely given recent global events. When asked what they would like to see to make employment fairer, the overwhelming majority (71%) stated more security for zero-hour workers, higher national minimum/living wage (58%), and more rights for ‘workers’ not deemed employees (41%). The latter is perhaps supported by the fact that payroll professionals would like to see the so-called IR35 rules simplified moving forward (74%) – a topic which will raise its head again as we come out of the current pandemic. Skills of payroll professionals and job roles of the future Payroll professionals are used to keeping their knowledge and skills up to date. For this survey, to establish how the profession is changing, we asked which skills you plan to update within the next two years. Again, the timing of the survey may have influenced the results, but it was interesting to see that 56% said they would seek to update their remote working skills (37% said remote management). Whilst this is no doubt a result of lockdown and payroll
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 63 | September 2020
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