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Fourth’s payroll academy team comprising Kathryn Wright (senior payroll manager), Vicky Cresswell (payroll supervisor and trainer), Sue Crossley (team leader and trainer), Alison Walker (team leader and trainer)
Monday
Tuesday
they need to know about payroll – this week its national living/minimum wage and BACS. In the afternoon we have our weekly team meeting. On the agenda we have health check scores, metrics presentations and discussing the upcoming survey which is going out to customers next week. Other tasks today include working with each trainee on their training checklist and helping them to provide evidence to support them with their CIPP Payroll Technician Certificate. The payroll trainees also support our administration team with payslips and P45 forms distribution. Today’s ‘happy Friday’, when we come into work to a delicious breakfast cooked by one of the office teams.. Preparations start for next week’s payroll processing. Our payroll checks can start from Friday onwards for the following week’s payrolls. We have two trainees who have been promoted to payroll specialists today, so the bureau gathers to present them with their academy certificates and to congratulate them on their achievements. It is very rewarding for us when our payroll trainees are promoted – it gives us a great sense of pride that we have contributed to their success. Another working week is over, and it’s an early finish as all the work across the bureau has been completed. The team leave the office satisfied that we are fully prepared for the following week. Happy anniversary to us, and here’s to another successful year. Unusual expense items Fourth’s payroll manager recently claimed for cola and a mountain of sweets: party rings, drumstick lollies, black jacks, fruit salads, Mr chews, jelly babies, love hearts, wham bars, and 80 party bags to celebrate one year of the academy. Friday
It’s 8.25 a.m. and we’re in early catching up with emails. Then our team of payroll trainees start to arrive; though for some it was their first experience of month-end, they still have big smiles. Another busy week for the payroll academy training team, which we start with our daily team huddle. We discuss upcoming tasks and training for the day. Sue and Alison attend the team leader huddle and Vicky attends the supervisor huddle to discuss workload across the bureau to ensure all bureau deadlinesare met. The majority of the bureau’s payroll data is due on Monday morning, so our payroll trainees start to contact customers regarding closing their rotas and sending over payment uploads. Once customers have submitted data, the teams work through payroll checks. Our job on the training team is to support and mentor the trainees providing training on payroll legislation, our payroll checks, how to resolve payroll queries and how to add amendments onto the payroll system. As this week is National Payroll Week, the office has been decorated with balloons and banners and lots of payroll quizzes are happening. It is a double celebration as today also marks the one- year anniversary of the payroll academy training team. We set up the team to give payroll trainees the opportunity to start their careers in payroll and gain a qualification with the CIPP completing the Payroll Technician Certificate. A total of eighteen trainees have been through the payroll academy all passing the PTC qualification with a 90%+ pass rate. All now fully fledged payroll specialists and working on teams throughout the bureau. Office staff join us in a celebratory toast with birthday cake.
Today is payroll preview day for most customers. We work closely with the team to ensure all payroll output gets delivered to our customers on time. The team process any critical amendments and once the payrolls are confirmed by our customers, we close the payrolls ready for approval. We huddle with the team to discuss workload and daily tasks to ensure we meet team and bureau deadlines. Wednesdays are our busiest BACS day; Vicky spends the morning ensuring they are all sent and reconciled for all our customers who are due to pay their employees this Friday. At the same time, the training team are working on tax and full payment submission balancing. Now that the majority of payrolls are closed, today is a time for catching up on bureau projects and preparing for the weekly payroll academy training session the next day. Later on in the afternoon, there is a team leader meeting to discuss plans for the upcoming September month end – one ends and we start preparing for the next. The last working day of the month is also the last Friday of the month so we will be extremely busy. The meeting goes well and we are officially planned and ready for a successful month end. Straight after this we attend the weekly streamlining project meeting where we continue to share ideas and suggest improvements we can make across the bureau. We are continually looking at ways we can improve, so we take away our actions ready for next week’s meeting. Wednesday
Thursday
Each Thursday we deliver weekly presentations to our trainees on everything
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | November 2016 | Issue 25 50
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