Feature topic - Recruitment, retention, succession
payroll professionals to be agile and adapt to these changes. Change is typically difficult within payroll, as there is little time available between key processing tasks, which can prevent payroll staff from embracing positive change or taking the time to develop their own skillsets. To promote a culture of upskilling our staff, we have found it beneficial to make more time and options available for personal and technical development, along with promoting the benefits of why our teams should broaden their skillsets. Karen Young: Although there are strong plans for automation uptake across the finance and payroll profession, implementation is not without its challenges. In our What Workers Want survey from 2019, we found almost two fifths of employers say that a lack of skills from their current staff is a barrier to the implementation of automation. Employers are also facing a shortage of the right skills to make the best use of automation technology, with both technical and soft skills being in short supply. To make the most of digital transformation in the workplace,employers and employees alike must ensure they view training and development as lifelong learning. Employers should focus on building a culture suited to this approach, and support employees’ development so they do not feel forced to upskill themselves in isolation and without proper guidance. Employees must also take the initiative. Proactively speak with your manager to understand the direction your team is taking to then come up with a training plan together. This is not purely restricted to formal learning – don’t forget the benefits of using online courses, attending free events and reading appropriate
articles to broaden your knowledge and keep up to date with an ever-changing digital landscape. ...a failure to provide the right tools can have an immediate and damaging impact on morale. Payroll departments thrive in a team environment. What tips do you have on creating the team environment without all being in the same physical space? ND: The pandemic helped organisations to discover that payroll professionals can still deliver accurate payrolls remotely. They have also found that a thriving team environment does not necessarily require a physical office space. That is because cultures thrive within people. Essential tips for ensuring a positive team culture are developed include providing every employee with the tools required to work remotely. It may seem obvious, but a failure to provide the right tools can have an immediate and damaging impact on morale. A happy employee can perform necessary tasks seamlessly from any location. Establishing remote working expectations and transparent communication processes are also critical. Employees like to know what is expected of them, and regular review meetings can help ensure that people feel supported and on track. To help forge strong team cultures, we have seen companies introduce events calendars that allow employees
to meet regularly to build connections and relationships and reduce the feelings of isolation that can manifest when employees are working remotely. Some employers even offer buddy systems to provide employees with regular contact, which can help improve an employee’s sense of belonging. Ultimately, companies that provide connection opportunities across work, priorities, interests, and events are more likely to foster strong, thriving virtual cultures than those that do not. SJ: We found as a business that maintaining regular online video meetings/touch points was core to creating a team vibe when we were working remotely – even if only for ten minutes combined with messaging on Teams, Whatsapp or other online platforms. We also use email groups to share successes, ask questions and advice and so on, quickly and easily. We would always say, don’t be afraid of the phone! LL: Using technology to set up team chats and team meetings enables everyone in the team, whether they are working from home or in the office, to engage and contribute to discussions. All team members who are part of the chat group where it isn’t a planned meeting can still see any questions being asked by another team member, which can trigger a discussion for the whole team. Teams will also plan events for social evenings online to stay engaged as a team, whether it is to celebrate a happy event, provide some moral support or just to have an out-of- office catch up. MM: During lockdown, BDO’s entire national UK payroll team had to switch to fully remote working, whilst successfully continuing to deliver our clients’ payrolls accurately and on time. We have even been able to build our client base during this time, onboarding client payrolls as they look to BDO for holistic support across payroll, employment tax and other matters. The switch to a fully remote working environment is the first time the team has had to work in this way, so we were extremely conscious of the impact this could have on the team. As a result, we ensured from day one that a timetable was put in place of scheduled daily team meetings, utilising video calls, with all members of the team
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 71 | June 2021
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