A week in the life of... A week in the life of returns...
Natalie Scott Paul ACIPP CIMA Cert BA, payroll manager, Cambridge Commodities Limited
Monday I like to look at my diary for the week ahead and ensure I’ve got my head around the meetings and deadlines for the week. Organisation is, as many people tell me, my ‘thing’ and I find this a fundamental skill in my payroll and workload management. Currently my workload covers a salaried and hourly UK payroll (start to finish in house) plus six European countries, supported by bureaus in each, and the payroll for our sister company in the US, currently spanning exempt and non-exempt employees across four states, with more countries being added all the time. This variety in payrolls, although an amazing learning opportunity, presents its own challenges, usually with different state legislation and regulations, translation or timing complexities. That’s where my country colour coded wall planner comes in as it really helps me to continually look ahead, factoring in state/city specific public holidays. But today means that our bi-weekly US payroll submission is due. I work a short day in the office so I can pick up my work in the evening from home. Our sister company in California is eight hours behind, which can result in delayed communication, fortunately me being able to work in the evenings really helps. I liaise with our office manager there regarding the teams’ time and attendance for the period, get our submission pulled together, along with our sickness and vacation accruals to our bureau. Learning the US payroll has at times been like learning another language – ‘vacation’ instead of ‘annual leave’ – but in 2018 I attended the CIPP and APA US Payroll Essentials course in London. It was in- depth three-day training, but I can honestly say it was one of the most insightful and
worthwhile courses I’ve done, and I would recommend it to anyone who covers the US – it was a great networking opportunity too and I got so much insight from speaking with other international payroll managers. Tuesday and Wednesday I don’t work in the office two days a week, due to having two small children and a great employer who supports flexible working. To compensate I work in the evenings (eight hours across the week) which can float across different days depending on deadlines that are often date specific. The ever-changing goal posts of a monthly payroll meant that having two days completely off just didn’t work and this was causing delays that could have the potential to negatively impact employees. This, coupled with the addition of the US payroll, made working from home the practical and sensible choice. I use these days to do project work, journals or management account analysis, looking at my payroll nominals. I completed my Chartered Institute of Management Accountants qualification up to operations level before my promotion to payroll manager so analysing costs and noticing trends or patterns still intrigues me. On Wednesday my US payroll comes back for me to check and finalised. Pay stubs – I’m learning the lingo – are released and payments scheduled for pay day Friday. Thursday Back in the office and, as it’s heading towards the end of the month, I’m submitting all the European payrolls – remembering all the different submission requirements and ensuring I’ve completed
them all. Next, I work on finalising my UK
payrolls. We use Sage to complete our payroll in house and, luckily, I have the support of my fabulous assistant to help me pull this together. Next week I will do all the reporting required regarding our pension and benefits as this is also one of my many hats. Friday When I’m not payrolling I enjoy using my organisational skills elsewhere in the business as part of the events team. I am very passionate about positive employee engagement and I have found that being an approachable face for all members of staff means that should they have a payroll query or something they want to discuss they don’t hesitate to knock on our door. This year was our company’s twentieth birthday so to commemorate this we set ourselves the target of raising £20,000 for the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, our local hospital. We came up with so many ways to do this including bike rides and bake sales, but we also decided to put on a charity ball. Having led this project, the pressure is on to deliver. When you look at the skills that we have as payrollers – planning, eye for accuracy, need for order/structure – I think these are transferable skills into event organising and part of the reason I enjoy it so much. I am delighted to say that our fundraising efforts were a success and it was amazing to be able to present the Trust with a cheque for £51,272. A week as a payroll manager is never the same, never fully predictable, but I personally thrive on the variety. We plan as much as we can, which I know is fundamental, but never knowing what the challenge is around the corner definitely keeps me on my toes. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | March 2019 | Issue 48 48
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