FEATURE TOPIC
What kind of person does it take to be a payroll professional? Nick Day: Any person can undertake a role in payroll; to think any differently would be a limiting belief. The reality is that there are now over 60 different pathways within the world of payroll, so career opportunities exist for all individuals. People must be paid accurately and on time for any company they work for. In addition, payroll professionals are needed across all industry verticals, encompassing a vast diversity of company cultures, which means any person can forge a successful career in payroll. The more significant challenge is attracting more people into this exciting profession. Vickie Graham: To be a payroll professional, you need to be someone who cares about people. The objective of payroll is to pay people accurately and on time, every time and sometimes that means the role isn’t nine-to-five. You must work to meet the deadlines, and so, you need to care about the people you’re paying to keep you motivated. Payroll professionals also receive a lot of queries into the department; pay is so personal and emotive that employees are quick to question if they don’t understand an element of their pay or payslip. So, payroll professionals need to be empathetic and understanding so they’re able to listen and understand someone’s position to deal with their query. And, they need to have excellent customer service skills – this might sound obvious for those who are delivering payroll as a service to clients, but it’s equally as important to in-house payroll professionals whose customer is the employee. Payroll professionals should also be confident business advisors. There are over 180 pieces of legislation which impact payroll in the UK alone, and many organisations now operate international payrolls, which only increases this number. Therefore, payroll professionals should be confident in advising business leaders on pay strategies and legislation to effectively recruit and This issue, Jerome spoke to: Nick Day ACIPP, chief executive officer, JGA Recruitment Group Vickie Graham DipM ACIPP ACIM, business development director, the CIPP Samantha O’Sullivan MCIPPdip, policy lead, the CIPP Peter Statham MSc FCIPP, payroll manager, Manchester City Football Club.
transactional aspect of the role can be automated and therefore doesn’t require a payroll professional to manually process employees’ pay. As a result, the role of payroll has changed, and continues to do so. Payroll encompasses more than gross to net calculations and is often used within conversations regarding pay and reward – or overall remuneration packages. These packages impact on recruitment, retention and motivation of employees and, subsequently, the overall productivity and profitability of an organisation. This has thrust payroll into the spotlight and many business leaders now recognise the strategic value of payroll and the importance of asking payroll to influence their reward strategies. SO’S: I believe when payroll professionals were identified as key workers throughout the pandemic, this really highlighted the extraordinary work we do. Payroll is typically one of the biggest spends for an employer, and shouldn’t be the department who sit in the locked office at the end of the corridor. It’s time for payroll to have a seat at the board table, and to help outline their employers’ / clients’ strategic decisions. What are the different career options for payroll professionals? ND: There are too many to mention here, which shows how much the industry has grown and evolved in recent years. Six months ago, JGA Recruitment undertook a research assignment with the CIPP, which identified over 60 payroll career pathways. I suspect this number has already increased. People can embark and enjoy a successful career in payroll pathways ranging from: l project management l implementation l sales l software development l analytics l compliance l training l data science l process improvement
retain employees and ensure the legislative compliance of the organisation. So, in summary, a payroll professional needs to be someone who: l is empathetic l has excellent attention to detail l demonstrates good customer service l can interpret and implement legislation to ensure organisational compliance. Samantha O’Sullivan: Payroll professionals are the best types of people, but we all know that already! We must be able to adapt quickly to change, as demonstrated throughout 2022 with the plethora of changes thrown at us. We must be deadline- driven and as part of this, have impeccable timekeeping and organisational skills. Peter Statham: Payroll professionals must be knowledgeable, patient, have great customer service, be resilient, and be able to decipher incorrect / illegible information and understand what it means. A crystal ball, hindsight and the ability to second guess what people actually mean would also help! Why isn’t payroll a ‘back-office’ function anymore? ND: In the past, payroll was typically a straightforward monthly, or weekly, cycle focused on transactional activities. However, employee demands, and the costs associated with employee attrition, attraction and retention have resulted in businesses investing more in technologies to enhance the employee experience. As new solutions flooded the market, it quickly became apparent that data could be recorded and extracted at every stage of the employee payroll cycle, to provide valuable insights that can help support board-level decisions. Subsequently, payroll data was used to drive broader people agenda objectives. This focus on employee wellness combined with big payroll data has resulted in the profession evolving rapidly from back-office function to strategic powerhouse. Investment in payroll continues to increase and shows no sign of slowing down, which suggests the future of payroll will continue to grow in strategic importance. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be part of the payroll profession. VG: Payroll has historically been seen as a back-office function due to the transactional aspect of the role – calculating someone’s gross to net pay. With advancements in technology, particularly through robotic process automation (RPA), much of this
l customer success l quality assurance l relationship management l policy and research.
These titles don’t include additional career pathways within specific environments or sectors such as global payroll, outsourced payroll, in-house payroll or bureau payroll. It’s
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 88 | March 2023
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