“Chaos is roving through the system and able to undo, at any point, the best laid plans.” Terence McKenna (1946–2000) (https://bit.ly/3hxEJtg)
This issue provides extensive coverage of the 2020 National Payroll Week (pages 11– 17). Though the role of payroll professionals – keeping people paid, and maintaining the flow of colossal amounts of revenue to the Treasury – has not generally been acknowledged
I am delighted that this issue features the return of ‘Confessions of a payroll manager’, with our heroine, Penelope Fortham, being urgently recalled from her overseas secondment (page 52). And to lighten the mood even further in these dreadful times, this issue also features a selection of payroll horror stories using Halloween as a timely excuse/medium (pages 24-26).
widely, surely the industry deserves status as a key strategic sector of the UK economy? Although I left the payroll processing frontline long ago, I am pleased and proud to be part of the payroll profession. This issue achieves a first-ever: a Wordsearch puzzle, related to the feature topic of mastering software (page 17).
Mike Nicholas MCIPP (editor@cipp.org.uk) Editor
This issue’s key theme is around mastering software. I am firmly a believer that technology should be an enabler. It must be simple to use – which means intuitive; so, should be built with the Chair’s message
flexible products for the consumer. Wearable technology is where a lot of new products are developing currently – with internet enabled watches that connect to phones and other devices. I am sure the technology gurus are considering how best that can support developments in the future. Of course larger enterprise resource planning applications have to service many different functions of a business and its customers; and whilst these can become very large and complex, the same simple approach needs to be applied to support the end-user in both processing and extracting the information into meaningful management information. Whether your needs are large or small, I hope you and your software work well together, and am confident you will enjoy reading the articles contained herein.
end-user in mind. Just like the software in a car (you don’t care how it works, you want it to be available when you need it), the software in a payroll, pensions or human capital management system should be available to you wherever and whenever – and ease of use is important. This need to access from anywhere has been driven to the forefront since the pandemic, with those more able to work remotely quickly more able to keep processing requirements on schedule. For those in the profession looking at different routes than the traditional management route, then if you have a tendency towards software engineering and development, there are fantastic opportunities to be had, with an ever-expanding legislative requirement as well as the need to build ever more
Jason Davenport MCIPP MIoD (jason.davenport3@cipp.org.uk) Chair, CIPP
The CIPP team are in the midst of a busy autumn season of CIPP virtual events. We celebrated the 22nd anniversary of National Payroll Week online on the 7 September, supported by our chair, Jason Davenport. In CEO’s message
breakout discussion rooms and 1-2-1 meeting requests. The CIPP and our members and guests are looking forward to the highlight of our year with the Annual Conference and Annual Excellence Awards on 15 and 16 October. We have a high calibre agenda (created to be presented online) with highly recommended and professional keynote and motivational speakers and some excellent workshops and roundtable discussions lined up to ensure the continuous professional development of our members. Normally in November we would hold our Graduation Ceremony for those who have successfully completed our university approved qualifications, but due to the current situation the decision has been taken to postpone the event until November 2021, when we will hold two ceremonies on the day for the classes of 2020 and 2021. Here’s hoping the world looks a safer place this time next year for meeting colleagues face to face in all of our events!
virtual attendance were Chartered and fellow CIPP members, as well as an excellent turn-out including many distinguished guests. It was a pleasure to support this key week celebrating the payroll profession with other organisations playing an active part in promoting and educating payroll professionals from the Global Payroll Association, Reward Strategy and the Payroll Centre. We recognise the need for ably taught and educated payroll professionals and it was great that for the second year running we were able to collaborate and celebrate NPW. The week culminated in our virtual National Payroll Week Conference and Exhibition (originally planned to take place in Glasgow) on Thursday 10 September. This was managed extremely well with a greater than planned attendance and everyone enjoyed live sessions, question and answer sessions and networking through
Ken Pullar FCIPP (ken.pullar@cipp.org.uk) Chief executive officer, CIPP
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 64 | October 2020
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