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obligations in terms of sick pay, holiday pay and the national minimum wage. In Europe, legislation like the Platform Workers Directive 6 is pushing companies to improve working conditions and provide greater transparency, which includes fairer and more timely pay. This law also emphasises the importance of correctly classifying workers in order to protect their statutory rights. The Resolution Foundation 7 has argued compellingly that the timing, not just the amount, of pay is critical to financial resilience, especially for lower-income workers. Furthermore, new rules around digital time tracking will soon mandate that all businesses have accurate, digital systems for recording daily working hours 8 .
This regulatory push for better data is, in fact, an opportunity. The proliferation of sophisticated workforce management (WFM) systems, such as Deputy, Square Shift and Legion, means work is increasingly being tracked in real-time. These platforms can auto-approve shift completion using geo-fencing and provide a verified, digital source of hourly data. The technology to know precisely when work has been done and how much is owed already exists. The bottleneck is the payroll system’s inability to act on this data instantly. The shortcomings of payroll systems have created a vacuum which has been filled by solutions like earned wage access (EWA). These solutions offer a valuable service by improving cash flow for some workers, particularly in times of financial need. However, they’re often better suited to predictable pay structures and may not fully address the complexity of shift-based work. Many EWA models function as early access to accrued wages rather than providing real-time net pay calculations. Some providers also charge fees to end users (employees), a model which could potentially contribute to financial distress when used frequently.
need control, accuracy and efficiency at higher velocity. This regulatory push for better data is good for payroll accuracy: cleaner, structured timesheet data reduces downstream errors. It also raises the bar. Payroll engines must map fine-grained events to complex pay rules in near real time, and they must do so with the same rigour historically reserved for end-of- month runs. The opportunity for payroll is to become the real-time financial system for work: event-driven, compliance-first and capable of paying the right amount to the right person at the right time. Whether that’s monthly, weekly or immediately after every shift. This means: l integrating seamlessly with modern WFM platforms via application programming interfaces l handling varied pay components like tips and overtime outside of the core cycle l providing employees with genuine control over when they access their earned wages. Above all, solutions must adhere to the principle that payroll is a right, not a luxury benefit, meaning workers shouldn’t have to pay to get paid. The challenge is significant, but for pay professionals who can embrace this change, the opportunity to add strategic value and shape the future of work is even greater. Links corner 1. ’On-Demand Pay: Payroll That Works For All’: https://ow.ly/X0BC50XqH58 2. ’Earned Wage Access: An Innovation in Financial Inclusion?’: https://ow.ly/ UN5l50XqHav 3. ‘Ceridian Study: Vast Majority of Working Americans Want to be Paid On-Demand’: https://ow.ly/bf7e50XqHei 4. ‘How Gen Z is Rewriting the Rules of Hourly Work’: https://ow.ly/ tEeM50XqHhf 5. ‘Gig Economy Firms Warned by UK Government They May Be Operating Illegally’: https://ow.ly/HC3450XqHyV 6. ‘Parliament adopts Platform Work Directive’: https://ow.ly/PEEn50XqHjk 7. ‘A New Settlement for the Low Paid: Beyond the Minimum Wage to Dignity and Respect’: https:// ow.ly/640p50XqHmS 8. ‘Recording Working Hours: Requirements Across the European Union’: https://ow.ly/2u6250XqHp5.
The challenge for pay professionals
Microshifts and polywork are changing how labour is supplied and revealing the limits of monthly, batch-oriented payroll. Regulators are pushing for better time data, workers are pushing for faster access to earnings and employers
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