Personal development
Solving payroll recruitment headaches
Claire Younger MCIPPdip, business improvement manager, Moorepay, discusses the issues
R ecruitment is on-track to be hot on the business agenda this year. As we emerge from lockdown, many employees – including payroll professionals – are reassessing what is important to them. And this is already creating a fair bit of churn in the job market. Since the pandemic, how has the value of payroll expertise skyrocketed? What does this mean for businesses as they assess the future vulnerabilities of their payroll function? And are payroll services the answer to their problems or not? Payrollers are jumping ship Following a surge in reliance on payroll teams during the peak of the pandemic, many payrollers have sat back and reassessed their worth. Plus, like other employees, they’ve also reflected on what they want from an employer. Where employers are unable – or perhaps unwilling – to offer continued flexibility in the form of remote working, many payrollers are looking elsewhere. And who can blame them? Choosing a career in payroll often comes with the requirement to work occasional overtime to hit those all-important pay day deadlines. Adding in a two-hour round commute, perhaps a needless one, will almost certainly lead to frustration. Consequently, in the payroll industry we are already seeing plenty of people straying. There’s a huge number of job vacancies advertised right now – a sneaky look on the job boards will confirm that. We can anticipate a lot more movement in the payroll sector during the next six months, as businesses continue to reopen and the economy slowly bounces back.
coronavirus job retention scheme. Even for a seasoned payroll pro it was borderline unmanageable to interpret and apply the new rules deciphered from a sixty-page document, along with the countless updates. ...a huge number of job vacancies advertised right now... For those of us who just about managed this, it was not without some sleepless nights. Because the age-old truth still stands: most people won’t work if they don’t get paid. And that responsibility sits heavy on the shoulders of a payroll professional. Of course, software automation has come a long way. But whilst your software can spit out calculations, it cannot explain why the calculation is what it is – only an expert can do this. You need payroll experience to interpret the legislation, put it into practice, and explain why it’s right. How employers are affected During the height of the pandemic, many employers came to realise just how vulnerable their payroll operations were. Whether it was in-house teams struggling with on-premise software access, complicated furlough calculations, or software weaknesses, last year was challenging. Of course, we’re crossing our fingers and toes that the unusual events of last year won’t repeat themselves. Nonetheless, employers are highly focussed on protecting the function that pays its people. What does this look like? Well, aside
from having secure, cloud-based software, it’s all about resourcing. And not just any Tom, Dick or Harry! It’s got to be a fully- fledged payroll expert. Which, considering the recruitment spike we’re seeing this year, it is not going to be easy keeping hold of the payroll staff you’ve got or recruiting new people. Payroll services At Moorepay, during the pandemic, we offered emergency managed payroll services to customers who needed it most. This was critical to panicked organisations who had lost payroll capacity due to employee absence or resignations. Payroll services are not the right solution for every organisation. But they do solve some of the issues that employers are currently facing, particularly where payroll vulnerabilities have been highlighted. For instance, in the event of new, fast-changing and highly confusing payroll legislation, a huge team of experts are on-hand to figure it out. It’s guaranteed support to make sure your employees get paid accurately and on time. If employers are faced with losing their business-critical payroll staff, they may find using payroll services the most convenient and low-risk solution. A service provider offers expert capability and guaranteed legislative compliance, as well as peace of mind; which, for many, is priceless. A period of change So, what’s next for the payroll profession as the job market goes wild? Well, honestly, we don’t have a crystal ball. But what we do know, is that whilst 2020 was a period of challenge, 2021 will be a period of change. And at the heart of that change, our industry must continue our commitment to this: how can we do things better for the people we pay? n
The value of expert payrollers Last year we saw 31 iterations of the
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 72 | July / August 2021
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