PAYROLL INSIGHTS SURVEY 2026 – PAY PROFESSIONALS
Top tasks for each payroll seniority level
APPRENTICE
ADMINISTRATOR
LEADER / SUPERVISOR
MANAGER
DIRECTOR
1. Employee queries 2. Student loans 3. Assisting co-workers 4. National Insurance calculations 5. Payslip distribution
1. Employee queries 2. Pension deductions 3. Statuary parental leave and pay 4. Student loans 5. Attachment orders
1. Employee queries 2. Pension deductions 3. Assisting co-workers 4. Checking completed payrolls 5. National Insurance calculations
1. Year-end processes 2. Checking completed payrolls 3. Employee queries 4. Analysis 5. Pension reporting
1. Review legislation and policy 2. Analysis 3. Project work 4. Software implementation 5. Budgets
Key points ● Director-level respondents were more likely to report responsibilities such as project work, software implementation, budgeting, analysis and legislative review. This suggests payroll leadership is solidifying itself as a strategic business function ● Year-end processes, analysis and checking payrolls tasks would likely be a manager’s responsibility, showing the logical progression from processing to quality assurance ● Employee queries appeared in every operational role from apprentice to manager level, suggesting they remain one of the most significant demands on payroll teams. This suggests that improving employee understanding could have the biggest impact on payroll team efficiency ● Technical processing tasks sit at lower and mid-level roles suggesting as seniority increases, focus shifts away from transaction processing and towards oversight, compliance and strategy ● Assisting co-workers appears on both apprentice and team leader level, indicating that coaching and team support are important at both the entry and supervisory levels.
PAYROLL LEADERSHIP IS SOLIDIFYING ITSELF AS A STRATEGIC
BUSINESS FUNCTION.
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In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.
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