A week in the life of
I am a self-employed payroll professional who has worked in our industry almost all my (very) long working life. I am a payroll consultant, a payroll and human resources trainer, a diploma tutor, a payroll bureau service provider, a conference speaker and a Payroll Assurance Scheme (PAS) assessor. No two weeks are the same as I currently work with seven clients on a regular basis and have several more ad hoc client relationships too. So, my first challenge was to decide which actual week to write about. At the time of writing, my last full week consisted of no work, eating copious amounts of chocolate, parading around my apartment in newly purchased pyjamas, and watching too much TV. No, I wasn’t unwell, it was just the Christmas festive period. So, I’ve chosen a different, and by contrast, much busier week a few weeks earlier. Monday Last night I travelled to London to deliver a very topical training course, IR35 – Intermediaries Legislation, which is my current favourite topic. There were fifteen very engaged delegates and a lot of tricky questions as the represented companies are clearly adversely affected by the changes in the private sector from April 2020. Thankfully, my commitment to preparing thoroughly enabled me to successfully answer everyone’s questions. The return train journey home was the opportunity to catch up on some emails. Tuesday An early start today as I head to Chester to carry out a PAS assessment on behalf of CIPP. This is another rewarding aspect of my work; getting to visit organisations and see how effectively their payrolls are produced, managed, audited and documented. Most payroll departments operate quite differently, Julie Northover ChFCIPPdip, PayPartner Payroll Services
giving me great insight into some unique and innovative approaches that have been adopted. Today’s organisation demonstrated that they had exceptional documented processes and I had no hesitation in recommending them for PAS accreditation. Wednesday I’d planned my week meticulously – not all weeks run this efficiently – and this morning I produced my report of yesterday’s PAS findings whilst the day’s events were still fresh in my mind. After lunch I drove to London for my second Chartered Members Dinner since obtaining CIPP’s Chartered membership status in August 2019. What a lovely way to end the day; eating fabulous food and spending quality time with fellow members, whom I have known for what seems like forever. Thursday Today my adrenalin was running in overdrive. I was attending, and speaking on IR35, at Reward Strategy’s annual autumn conference. Speaking at conferences such as this to my peers is probably the most stressful thing I do. Each year – this was my sixth – I ask myself why I risk the growth of more grey hairs from worrying about my sessions. But my feeling of euphoria (and relief) after each delivery reminds me exactly why I do it. I love my profession and the people who are in it. There is an unspoken bond and mutual understanding between payroll professionals that simply rivals any other. Those of you who know me, will agree that I am not exactly a party animal – having never drunk alcohol is probably my justification for this. Yet tonight was my second consecutive evening out.
It was the Reward Strategy’s awards evening and I was a VIP guest on account of my services as an independent judge for their awards. A great night was had by all and as always there were many worthy winners celebrating their successes into the early hours of the morning. After an amazing meal, excellent company on my table and proudly presenting two of the awards, I sloped off to my fabulous Hilton hotel bedroom to enjoy a lovely cuppa and the view of the Tate Modern from the window. Friday I arrived home from London mid-morning which gave me the rest of the day to catch up on emails, webinars and other reading material. I discipline myself to ensure I keep up to date with all payroll-related news wherever possible. That’s not as easy as it sounds, especially at this current time of so much uncertainty following endless contradictory government announcements following the election, our EU exit predicament, and prior to Budget 2020. I spent the evening preparing for a tutorial in the morning. I have an exceptional group of thirteen students who thankfully are making my work with them very easy as they are all so eager to learn. Their first assignments were the most impressive I have marked in the four years I have been a tutor. The weekend All my students were in high spirits on Saturday. It must have been the hand- made personalised chocolate-filled Christmas crackers I lovingly stuffed for them at 2am that same day. Nothing much to do on Sunday other than unwrapping those new ‘jamas! n
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 57 | February 2020
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