PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
The future of payroll
RebeccaMullinsMSc FCIPP, UK Payroll &WFMLead, Deloitte , argues that the profession’s future is within our gift and competence
O ur work is being transformed, not only by artificial intelligence and robots, but by forces of change impacting the work itself: who does it and where it is done. It is up to us, as payroll professionals, how fully we embrace this for the future of our profession. Deloitte defines the future of work as a result of many forces of change affecting three deeply connected dimensions of an organisation: work (the ‘what’), the workforce (the ‘who’), and the workplace (the ‘where’). Work: what will it look like? This is not the first time the payroll profession has had the opportunity to change the work we do. Who can remember how happy they were when the P11 deduction worksheets were replaced by technology? It meant no more hours crouched over the huge printed sheets with the tax books open alongside them. What about the implementation of payroll systems resulting in automated statutory calculations? No more tracking absences and calculating statutory sick pay manually; and more recently robotic process automation (RPA/robots) has revolutionised how data is entered,
removing laborious hours of manual manipulation. The World Economic Forum believes that the division of labour between people and machines is expected to continue to shift towards machines, especially for repetitive and routine tasks. As the machines undertake the repeatable tasks, so the work people do becomes less routine. So what is the strategic objective of the modern payroll function, and what are the enduring human skills that are required to meet them? The tasks that remain are those that require advanced expertise in interpretation, for which payrollers are well-suited. Just one examples is the interpretation of how to process the pay of those impacted by IR35 (off-payroll working) legislation. The question is whether payrollers have taken advantage of these advancements to change the perception of their role and value within a business. Or are they still seen as ‘the people who press the big red button once a month’? To make this change happen, payrollers need to show their employer/business the expertise they have and the value they can bring. For example, when a company wins a new contract and payroll will be
required to transfer 200 employees under TUPE (employment protection provisions) onto the payroll next month, it is important for the company and the new employees to have had payroll involved early in the process. How many of us have truly used the huge amount of data we have within payroll to identify how much both the employer or employee could be saving from having more tax efficient benefits? Or to put forward suggestions for new benefits that could improve employee engagement and loyalty? With technology and cloud services driving financial and human resources (HR) transformations widely in the market, the opportunity is clear for payroll professionals to change their role in business. Early stakeholder management will be key in achieving this. Capturing this zeitgeist moment offers the opportunity to change the face of the payroll function. Workforce: who are the payroll team? The types of workforce businesses seek access to today has evolved – including independent contractors, gig workers, crowdsourcing, managed services and full outsourcing. The new workforce is being used to solve problems, get the work done and help leadership build more flexible and nimble organisations. This flexibility of workforce gives organisations the opportunity to be more efficient and creative in managing talent and cost. So, what does it mean for the
...whether payrollers have taken advantage of these advancements to change the perception of their role and value...
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | May 2020 | Issue 60 12
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