The future of payroll
be offset by an increase in the volume of payroll analysts and payroll data experts employed who will specialise in analysing RPA efficiency and accuracy. The requirement for employers to attract skilled payroll talent will become more challenging as the skills gap widens. Employers will, therefore, need to go the extra mile to both attract and retain the best payroll employees. Meanwhile, payroll professionals need to recognise that the skills required by employers in the future will differ from those required today. In the future, payroll candidates will need to understand new technologies that do not yet exist. Meanwhile, payroll management skills in data analytics, digital transformation, global payments, reporting and data strategy will need to evolve. The quick advancements in technology bring requirements for new skills not yet acquired. Small talent pools will drive new demands for niche expertise. As automation takes over the more repetitive tasks, the work left for humans will be more creative, less predictable, and more consequential. A considerable challenge for businesses to ensure the payroll professionals we represent meet the needs of new hiring requirements. Data is the driving force behind both the futures of recruitment and payroll. New demands will bring new job opportunities for the payroll sector. We may not know what the new payroll job titles and requirements will be, but we know they are coming. You may wonder, as a payroll professional, why this is relevant to you? Well, soon data will tell us when a business needs to recruit (rather than the other way around). Algorithms will influence candidate suitability for job roles. Locating payroll talent with the skills of tomorrow will become harder to find, which is why employers will start to see new recruitment solutions replace the traditional contingency search processes of the past. These solutions will affect you both as a payroll candidate and as a payroll employer. As a candidate, what skills will future employers be looking for? What processes will candidates need to is keeping up with rapidly changing hiring needs, which is why payroll professionals will need to pivot quickly to the new technologies flooding the market. Recruiters like myself must remain agile
undertake to secure future opportunities? For example, video interviewing is now an everyday process for recruiters, and yet for many, this will be a completely alien experience. For employers seeking payroll talent, what skills will they require future hires to possess? What strategic impact do employers want hires to have in their payroll departments? Corporate boardroom strategy will always focus on improving speed, profitability, security, transparency and flexibility across all operations. In response, right now, we see antiquated, integrated all-in-one payroll systems replaced by best-in-class payroll solutions focused on solving niche problems within the payroll cycle. The data generated by these solutions provide payroll leaders with new compelling levels of information, which, when interpreted, are driving cost-savings and strategy. In the future, the demand for payroll reporting at board level will increase because the analytical insights payroll professionals can now provide is too valuable to ignore. ...providing reports and insights that Let’s remember that payroll departments handle significant amounts of data, offering substantial value as a primary corporate strategic resource. Data concerning salaries, compensation packages, deductions, earnings, commissions, bonuses, severances, absence, sickness, starters, leavers and more are all under the control of a payroll manager. With data now officially the most valuable resource in the world, businesses are using this data to drive strategic decisions at board level. It is an exciting evolution in the world of payroll. In the future, data will play a significant role in raising the profile of the payroll industry. The payroll manager of tomorrow will need to be a manager of both machines and people. Those who harness the power of data most effectively will begin partnering with business leaders by providing reports and insights that drive change and support organisational objectives
drive change and support organisational objectives. As the value of data increases, regulatory and employee requests for transparency increases. Employees will demand more access to payroll data, which is why we have seen a rise in self- service platforms, mobile apps, payroll-on- demand services and interactive payslips. The government’s Good Work Plan (http://bit.ly/2mQkLDY) and its industrial strategy of moving towards single enforcement will increase transparency further. The plan primarily concerns worker rights, national minimum wage enforcement, holiday pay rights, gender pay gap regulations and pay ratios. Meanwhile, expect to see the practice of naming and shaming employers who fail to abide by legislation that supports fairness become more commonplace. The government wants the future of the UK labour market to be a more transparent one, both for employers and employees, and this will impact payroll departments. Fair salaries are an essential factor for individuals to consider when selecting an employer. Subsequently, organisations are becoming more transparent about the factors that go into determining pay. This data, collated by payroll departments, is analysed and then used to determine fair pay practices that drive remuneration decisions. In the future, we will also see payroll- on-demand solutions continue to roll out across the UK. These offer instant payment options, so employees can access pay as quickly as they earn it. Pay-on-demand will be part of the future of payroll as employees seek more transparent and flexible payment solutions. They also form part of a broader recruitment, attraction and retention strategy as businesses seek to implement initiatives focused on keeping their employees happy. Businesses are calculating success based on their ability to both attract and retain talent. The evolution of the payroll professional and the way employees receive their pay is central to this calculation. The payroll departments that evolve quickest are likely to be the ones that adapt to the new world of work the fastest. These processes will help businesses to attract the best candidates – and that could be the difference to overall corporate success or failure. Companies will want to offer pay-on-demand services
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 58 | March 2020
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