Feature topic – Payroll’s practical role in delivering employee rewards and well-being
Every organisation is different, and one size most denitely does not t all...
payroll can lead on the progression of influencing the design of employee reward and well-being. This can be achieved through the analysis of payroll information and identification of trends, particularly those with financial implications, such as sickness absence. Knowing the problem and identifying solutions from the reward and well-being markets, and matching these to measurable key performance indicators (KPIs), will all help ensure payroll is involved in business change. Simon Juffs: Successful employee rewards and well-being strategies all have one thing in common: an excellent communications strategy. Working within a wider team, payroll can certainly help drive change. As payroll typically communicates to staff on a monthly or weekly basis, gentle reminders and nudges using payslips (whether paper or online) can add value to the overall marketing campaign, so it makes sense for them to be involved at the outset. Glyn King: Payroll professionals already have the key skills and the access to employee information they need to have a real impact on employee well-being. There are some simple ways payroll can help. For example, employees that are nearing the end of their career may feel anguish if they lack understanding about the process, what they are entitled to or the value of saving for retirement. Working with your organisation’s pension providers, you can help communicate and educate employees about automatic enrolment (AE) and the pension scheme(s) available. To what extent must payroll rely on technology and so ware to achieve success? EH: There are two scenarios that come to mind in how we use technology (or not) in payroll. A company I recently worked with receives data via spreadsheets exported out of their human resource (HR) system, which is not linked to their payroll system at all. That data is manually input into payroll, then the team uses the same spreadsheets to perform a 100% check on the data and output from their payroll provider to ensure payroll is processed accurately. The same company did not have a system to record holiday or other absence information, so that data was all held on spreadsheets. Additionally, sickness is recorded by payroll and
calculated manually before being loaded into payroll. Also, in recent months I have been working with a brand new financial technology (fintech) company that specialises in technology and payroll (in the employee well-being sector). I have seen first-hand a payroll that has been fully automated. This is from the moment the client sends their data in a specific format on a secure portal, to that file being picked up, loaded, the payroll run, full validation process performed and reports sent back to the client. All without a single manual intervention. There is a halfway house, though, where the key processes that are most prone to error are automated using a good technology platform, which reduces manual intervention and subsequently lowers the risk of errors. I believe it is crucial for payroll to utilise the best technology available to them. This could be through software providers offering the latest versions of their products or through implementing a new solution that enables more automation. IH: Transitioning to online payroll advice seemed like a huge step when it was first happening but now we would not expect anything else, as we access everything through our phones and have one eye on the environment. Online pay advice will always provide a continuous point of self-service to which other functions can be added and utilised due to the frequency at which pay details are reviewed. I believe we are somewhat dependent on technology to advance the service and offering, and the key word is ‘flexibility’. Every organisation is different, and one size most definitely does not fit all, so what is really needed is functionality that can be turned off and on, as well as being adaptable to ensure it fits correctly. SJ: More and more, we are looking to technology to inform and advise. If we take payroll, we can see that, in recent years, technology advancements have negated the need for AE middleware. This has generally been a huge success, saving money and reducing errors and omissions. The pensions industry has seen less compliance breaches as a result.
The link between payroll software improvements is evident. GK: Whether you view technology as friend or foe, it is undoubtedly shaping payroll. It is creating a path for payroll to spend less time on data entry and number crunching, and more time applying their analytical and communication skills to the more ‘human’ aspects of the role. Unfortunately, without the help of technology, payroll teams will not have the time or resources to be proactive and advise change in important areas such as reward and well-being – areas that are not considered their core responsibilities. Cost controls may be a factor for organisations restabilising and ultimately protecting jobs – how can payroll analyse the data they hold to influence good strategy design? EH: I would like to believe that most payroll professionals are confident that the data in the payroll system is as accurate as it can be, and that being able to utilise that information to inform and support corporate decisions is one of the best ways payroll professionals can influence strategic design. Payroll should be able to accurately report turnover of staff and take up of employee well-being programmes, showing which reward options are more attractive to employees than others. Payroll should also be able to highlight trends in absenteeism using absence data and benchmarking salaries for the industry sector, using the benchmarking and salary surveys that are published frequently in the payroll industry. A company I recently worked with made a strategic decision to close one of their global offices, and the decision process was supported by the payroll team dealing with that particular entity. Unfortunately, incorrect information was provided to calculate the expected redundancy payment, as the system used performed incorrect redundancy calculations, and so the strategic decision to close that office was invalidated. Consequently, this caused quite difficult circumstances for the employer who had much higher costs to contend with than anticipated. IH: I think cost control is, not only about
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 75 | November 2021
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