38 | THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Payroll as a profession: a dying art or simply misunderstooD?
P ayroll is one of those professions which tends to go under the radar 99% of the time. When it’s done well and people are paid correctly (and on time), no one bats an eye. It’s simply expected. But, given the vital role payroll plays in every organisation, the profession is perhaps unfairly perceived as something of just a stepping stone… a career people just ‘fall into’, rather than aspire to join. A function that keeps the business running yet rarely gets recognised for the impact it delivers. Today, that perception is starting to matter more than ever. In our conversations with both human resources (HR) and pay professionals, a consistent theme emerges: the talent pipeline is under pressure. Many describe a shrinking pool of new entrants, while critical knowledge and experience are being lost as established professionals leave or retire. This is potentially very bad news because payroll sits at the centre of some of the biggest challenges organisations face today: navigating complex regulation, supporting global / hybrid workforces and providing the data that leaders need to make confident decisions. Despite its growing influence, payroll is clearly struggling to compete for attention, particularly with the next generation of talent. This leads us to an uncomfortable question: is payroll a dying profession? It’s something we’ve looked to answer in our latest research. Rejection or just a lack of visibility? Our independent research of 500 UK and Ireland-based graduates aged 18–24 points to a more nuanced reality. On the upside, payroll isn’t being rejected outright as a career choice. The downside? It’s being quietly overlooked,
“Many describe a shrinking pool of new entrants, while critical knowledge and experience are being lost as established professionals leave or retire”
Initially, the data appears to reinforce the belief payroll is an endangered profession. When asked to choose between graduate roles offering equal pay and benefits, only 13% of our respondents selected payroll. In contrast, technology roles attracted 27.4%, while social media and digital careers drew 25.8%. Creative and tech-enabled roles are clearly winning early-career attention. But look a little closer, and a different picture emerges. Despite ranking last in direct preference, payroll is far from being actively dismissed. Only 1.8% of respondents said they were firmly opposed to a career in payroll, while 67.6% said they were either very or somewhat interested. Now, that’s not rejection. It’s simply a gap between awareness and understanding. This distinction matters, because it suggests payroll doesn’t have an attraction problem in the traditional sense. It has a positioning problem. For many young professionals, payroll simply isn’t visible as a compelling option. It’s not part of the narrative they encounter through careers advice or employer branding. And in a competitive graduate market, where perception drives initial choices, that absence has consequences. The perception itself is also strikingly narrow. What is payroll, exactly? When we asked what comes to mind when they hear ‘payroll’, 59% of respondents associated it with financial accuracy and compliance, while 16.6% linked it to administrative or repetitive work. Just 3.4% saw payroll as a source of strategic business insight.
Accuracy and compliance are, of course, fundamental. But on their own, they don’t exactly paint a compelling picture for someone young starting their career. Sure, they signal responsibility, but not opportunity. Precision, not progression. And they fail to reflect how the function is evolving. At the same time, when asked what they want from a career, young professionals prioritised impact, creativity and stability. On the surface, those preferences appear to align more naturally with careers in technology or marketing. But when you look at modern payroll functions, there’s a clear and largely unrecognised overlap. Today’s payroll teams sit between HR, finance and technology. They navigate increasingly complex regulatory environments, support global and hybrid workforces and rely on automation and integrations to deliver accurate, timely outcomes. At the same time, improved data visibility is enabling payroll to contribute more meaningfully to workforce planning, cost control and business decision-making. A damaging disconnect Payroll is one of the few functions that has a direct and immediate impact on every employee. That level of responsibility and visibility is something many early-career professionals say they value, even if they don’t currently associate it with payroll. This is where that disconnect becomes most apparent. The reality of payroll is evolving quickly. However, the perception of payroll isn’t. As that gap widens, it creates
often due to outdated or incomplete perceptions of what the role involves.
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