04:05 INTERVIEW
want to be sure your clients consider that they might be overlooking? Anton van Heerden: The biggest mistake I would say most businesses make happens when they are deciding about whether they should outsource. They look at the cost, but they don’t look at that complete cost in relation to their payroll or their labor cost in total. If you look at labor cost for an organization, I think they often miss the bigger picture. They may have a payroll of a billion dollars, but they are squabbling about $1,000 here and there. A good payroll outsourcing partner helps clients protect their investment of the labor cost they have every month. It’s not all about spending money. Not all of them, but many businesses make that mistake. If I can get customers to take those blinders off, that would be ideal. I think it’s about seeing payroll more as a strategic area than just a transactional process. To see it in that context just makes a lot of commercial sense.
I think it’s about seeing payroll more as a strategic area than just a transactional process. To see it in that context just makes a lot of commercial sense.
GPA: What do you see as the future for payroll and the role of payroll professionals? Anton van Heerden: I see payroll as becoming more of a strategic lever rather than just a transactional necessity. From an optimization and compliance perspective, yes, payroll simply has to be done. But it can play much more of a strategic role. Traditionally, payroll normally falls under either HR or finance. Simply given the large overhead, I think it deserves a more strategic seat at the table. Getting the right person to run it can make a massive difference to a business, as opposed to being a function of either HR or finance, because
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GLOBAL PAYROLL MAGAZINE ISSUE 18
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