Datagraphic foreword
Glyn King Group managing director, Datagraphic
acknowledging the insurmountable data protection issues affecting all organisations.
As an advocate for the CIPP, Datagraphic is pleased to support the annual Payslip Statistics Survey Report and has done so since it was first published in 2008. The flagship survey has provided invaluable insight into trends impacting payroll processes and payslips and continues to be a helpful resource for organisations of all sizes. In the wake of the pandemic and a relative return to ‘normal’, payroll teams have continued to work relentlessly despite the ongoing challenges. Confronted with changes in confidentiality legislation, privacy, compliance, employment law or regulations, payroll professionals have persevered in a period of hybrid working to ensure employees get paid accurately and on time.
The results show that employers are taking steps to provide secure payroll information. 67% of employees use personal login credentials to access their payslips, and 35% of emailed documents are password protected. However, it remains a considerable risk that 2% confirmed payslips sent via email had no protection of the employees’ personal information. Only 17% use multi-factor authentication to protect data security online. As a payroll specialist, I urge payroll teams without security measures to seek a robust software solution that automatically provides peace of mind against potentially damaging data breaches. Interestingly, how payroll teams communicate the new health and social care levy contributions through payslips arose in the report. While the majority (61%) confirmed they would include the message on all payslips, 18% said they would only display it if the payslip software did so automatically. As payslip information is an opportunity to engage with employees on matters beyond understanding their pay, organisations using outdated payroll technology are missing a convenient and proven method to communicate with employees. Employees want to see their pay information, so why not use it to share other important messages? Datagraphic’s Epay is an excellent way of communicating more than pay information. It can be a communication and resource hub where employees can access documents that are personal to them and company-wide documents such as policies and handbooks. I am looking forward to seeing an uptake in payroll technology that offers a more agile process, flexibility in payments, greater information, and advanced secure payslip distribution.
Since the last survey, I’ve seen first-hand the impact of these numerous obstacles.
The increasing pressure of economic factors over the last 12 months, including a rise in the cost-of-living and the end of the furlough scheme, have manifested in significant changes for payroll teams. Payroll for larger headcounts has reduced, and there have been unprecedented changes in requests to amend pay frequency. The report shows that 23% of respondents confirmed they had implemented a change in pay frequency, compared to just 3% in 2020. Although evident that a wide range of factors has generated these pay frequency changes, redundancies, the collapse of organisations, and higher costs are the harsh reality of the global crisis. Never has it been more critical for accurate data and first-class technology to help payroll teams balance employee welfare with an efficient payroll process. The report shows a continued trend of digital payslips, with 77% of teams using a self-service platform, correlating to how customers have used Datagraphic’s Epay platform over recent years. I am therefore pleased to see questions about the security of payslip information in this year’s survey,
Thank you to the CIPP and all those who contributed to this report. I trust you will find the results to be thought-provoking.
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