CAREER DEVELOPMENT INSIGHT
Diary of a student… Samantha Edwards MCIPPdip Payroll and systems manager, JCB
alongside study. Time management is key, and I found the ‘little and often’ approach worked better for me – one or two hours a day for six days a week was much more manageable than spending my whole weekend studying. I always tried to review the material as soon as it was released – giving me the opportunity to use the full-time period between modules. I did have the odd lapse where I fell into temptation and had a two-to-three-week gap between modules, but soon regretted it as I tried to cram everything into a much shorter time frame. Did the fact that the CIPP is Chartered or recognised within the industry influence your decision to enrol with the CIPP? And were there any modules which were of interest prior to enrolling? The recognition that the CIPP gained by becoming Chartered is vital for our industry. The service payroll provides is often taken for granted – yet it requires a breadth of knowledge and skills: from employment law to report writing and analysis. Businesses are beginning to acknowledge the value of payroll – particularly with the spotlight of ‘big data’, gender pay gap reporting, the apprentice levy and real-time information. The recognition of a Chartered qualification is another step in the right direction for the profession. For someone who is thinking about studying for a CIPP qualification, what would your advice be to them? Try to enjoy it! Three years seems like a long time at the beginning of the qualification, but it flies by. Absorb the material, apply it to your role, take advice from colleagues, review with other students and manage your time carefully so you’re not spending all your weekends studying. Embrace it and you’ll get more out of it throughout your studies. n
Can you give us a brief background into your life? I live in Alton village (close to Alton Towers) in Staffordshire with my fiancé Michael, and our Cocker Spaniel ‘River’. We love living in a small rural village and always take advantage of the surrounding countryside whenever we can. We’re both keen travellers and recently enjoyed a two-week Baltic cruise to Russia to celebrate my thirtieth birthday. Can you give us an insight into your career and qualifications background? When I was younger, I always aspired to be a barrister – mostly inspired by an obsession with the 90s American show Ally McBeal – and I continued to work towards a legal career with a degree in law from the University of Leicester. However, during my three years of studying, I realised that the reality of a legal career wasn’t for me. After university, I used my law degree to obtain a civilian job in Leicestershire Police and spent the next few years contemplating the right career path. I’d always enjoyed mathematics and data analysis, so initially I looked to move towards accountancy and studied accountancy A-Level outside of work. While studying, a restructure in my department encouraged me to look for an alternative role within the police and I was recruited into the finance team in the role of payroll administrator in March 2011. Over the last six years, I’ve worked in both in-house and payroll bureau teams. In 2013, I moved to JCB and in 2016, the payroll manager left and I was given the opportunity to lead the payroll team there. I have a team of four payroll advisors looking after 6,000 employees’ pay.
Why did you choose to study the Foundation Degree? When I joined the payroll team in Leicestershire Police, I’d never worked in payroll before and didn’t really know what it was all about. My manager, Yvonne, was very supportive and encouraged me to take the first year of the Foundation Degree to build on my knowledge quickly. Year one covered the key aspects of tax, National Insurance, gross pay, absence and deductions from pay – all of which helped me build a solid foundation for my payroll career. I couldn’t continue with the second year as I left the police force after moving back home to Staffordshire in 2012. However. when I started to work for JCB in 2013, I wanted to continue the qualification as I aspired to move into a leadership role. So, I enrolled for year two in 2014, and completed the qualification in summer 2016. How important is this degree in relation to your career? With no experience in payroll, year one helped bring me up to speed quickly, and broaden my knowledge beyond my eighteen months’ experience. Year two and three helped to develop my understanding of leadership styles, how payroll can align to and support business strategy, and how good working practices can allow payroll as a service to continually improve. How did you cope with the work-life balance and your study? Maintaining a good work/life balance whilst studying is difficult, particularly when working forty-plus hours per week
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | December 2018 / January 2019 | Issue 46 14
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