Portfolio Insights Building Your High- Performing Payroll Team:
market rates. Understand typical workload distributions. Know what skill sets command premiums right now. Under-resourcing is the fastest route to burnout and turnover. If your team is stretched thin, you're not saving money; you're creating a cycle of recruitment costs, knowledge loss, and operational risk. Work with specialists who understand the current payroll market. The right recruitment partner doesn't just fill your vacancy; they help you evaluate whether your structure, compensation, and role design will attract and retain the calibre of professional you actually need. Hire for Tomorrow, Not Just Today internationally? A solid grasp of multi- country compliance becomes non- negotiable. Reactive hiring fills gaps; strategic hiring builds capability. Before you write a single job description, map your current workflow. Where are the manual bottlenecks? What's your technology actually capable of? More importantly, what's your roadmap for the next two years - HRIS integration, global expansion, increased automation? Your hiring needs emerge from this assessment. Planning a system migration? You need someone with implementation experience, not just day- to-day processing skills. Scaling Hire for Temperament as Much as Technical Skill You already know payroll inside out. Now you're hiring, and the challenge isn't finding people who can process payments, it's finding the right people who'll elevate your function. Here's what matters when you're building or strengthening your team. Start with Your Systems and Strategy, Not the Job Ad You can train someone on your payroll system. You can't train them to stay calm when everything goes wrong three days before month-end; or to be sensitive when dealing with a distressed employee. Look for resilience, accuracy under pressure, and the ability to communicate clearly with non-payroll stakeholders. The best payroll professionals translate complex compliance requirements into plain language for HR and finance teams. They build trust across the business and prevent the kind of misunderstandings that create costly errors down the line. During interviews, ask candidates about their worst payroll crisis and how they handled it. Their answer tells you more than any technical test about how they'll perform in your environment. A Hiring Manager's Guide Portfolio Ins Building You Performing Team: A Hiring By Gillian Owen Director, Portfolio Payroll, part of the P
By Gillian Owen Director, Portfolio Payroll, part of the Portfolio Group
You already know payroll inside out. Now you're hiring, and the challenge isn't finding people who can process payments, it's finding the right people who'll elevate your function. Here's what matters when you're building or strengthening your team. Start with Your Systems and Strategy, Not the Job Ad Before you write a single job description, map your current workflow. Where are the manual bottlenecks? What's your technology actually capable of? More importantly, what's your roadmap for the next two years - HRIS integration, global expansion, increased automation? Your hiring needs emerge from this assessment. Planning a system migration? You need someone with implementation experience, not just day- to-day processing skills. Scaling internationally? A solid grasp of multi- country compliance becomes non- negotiable. Reactive hiring fills gaps; strategic hiring builds capability.
Payroll is changing rapidly. Automation handles more transactional work. Hybrid working reshapes processes. International expansion creates new compliance demands. Your hiring strategy must account for these shifts. The most effective payroll leaders anticipate change and build teams that can evolve with it. Hire adaptable professionals who embrace new technology, collaborate effectively across functions, and actively seek improvement. You're not just filling a role. You're building the team that ensures every employee gets paid accurately, on time, every time while supporting your business's growth and managing increasing complexity. Choose carefully, support properly, and your payroll function becomes a genuine competitive advantage.
Encourage Professional Connection
Know What Drives Payroll Professionals
Know What Drives Payroll Professionals
Isolated payroll teams fall behind. Regulations shift, technology advances, and best practices evolve constantly. Professionals who stay connected through organisations like the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) bring fresh knowledge back into your function.
Payroll professionals aren't motivated by perks alone. What keeps strong performers engaged is recognition that their work matters, clear progression paths, and genuine trust from leadership. Those organisations still treating payroll as back-office admin will find payroll professionals leaving. Your best candidates want to be seen as business- critical; because they are. Public recognition of successful year-ends, complex integrations, or audit outcomes signals that you understand the function's value. Career development is equally crucial. According to recent market research, payroll professionals now prioritise growth opportunities over modest salary bumps. Can you offer a path into systems specialisation, international payroll, or team leadership? If not, your retention will suffer regardless of your compensation package.
Support your team's membership in professional bodies. Encourage attendance at industry events. These aren't just development opportunities, they're how your team benchmarks your processes, spots emerging risks, and brings competitive insights into the business. Those organisations still treating payroll as back-office admin will find payroll professionals leaving. Your best candidates want to be seen as business- critical; because they are. Public recognition of successful year-ends, complex integrations, or audit outcomes signals that you understand the function's value. The best payroll professionals never stop learning. Create an environment where that's expected and supported. Career development is equally crucial. According to recent market research, payroll professionals now prioritise growth opportunities over modest salary You wouldn't run payroll without data. Don't build your team without it either. Benchmark your salaries against current bumps. Can you offer a path into systems specialisation, international payroll, or team leadership? If not, your retention will suffer regardless of your compensation package. Use Market Data to Build Competitively Want to learn more about hiring strategically within Payroll? Register a vacancy or give us a call on 0161 523 5585 Payroll professionals aren't motivated by perks alone. What keeps strong performers engaged is recognition that their work matters, clear progression paths, and genuine trust from leadership.
Matching exceptional Payroll, Credit Control, HR & Reward, and Procurement talent to leading brands. Matching excep
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker