FEATURE TOPIC
Which behaviours should professionals develop to support being heard? EC: Professionals should develop their confidence, work on furthering their education and knowledge, be strong- headed and work alongside other professionals to help raise the volume of payroll’s voice. SJ: Relationships are key to the development of any professional. Be proactive and reach out to people both inside the business and across the payroll community. Communication is also essential. Learn to drop the jargon and the acronyms but maintain the message when you’re speaking to people who don’t know payroll, as you can create unintentional barriers otherwise. SO’S : I think we could all do with a bit more bravery! If you’re reading this article thinking, ‘I’d never get invited to a meeting to discuss the company car strategy,’ why don’t you set one up to discuss what value you could add? Let’s start to speak up and get our voices heard. DR: Payroll professionals should be flexible, adaptable and embrace change / technology. They should have more focus on being vocal and shout about their achievements, sharing information to influence pay and benefit structures so that key people hear about the value the department brings to the business. Taking some time and planning a small event to celebrate National Payroll Week is a great way to create wider awareness. LS: I recommend the following: ● l soft skills (listening skills, people management, emotional intelligence and self-awareness, cultural intelligence, inclusive leadership, communication techniques) l presentation of simplistic data l stakeholder management. JW: To be heard more, you should build time into your work schedule to consider what you’re doing, to improve your processes and relationships and to communicate with more people throughout the organisation. If you can, build a ready-made agenda so that any time you get to speak to decision makers you can put a concise business case forward for what you need. You should remember what the business is trying to achieve and help arrange this in a compliant way, rather than being seen as a blocker.
This issue, Jerome spoke to: l Emily Cocking ACIPP , payroll senior, OCL Accountancy l Samantha Johnson LLB (Hons) ChMCIPPdip , payroll services director, Dains Accountants l Devila Rabadia BA (Hons) FCIPPdip , payroll director, Rayner Essex l Lara Smart ChFCIPPdip , director, LM Smart Consulting l Samantha O’Sullivan ChMCIPPdip , policy lead, the CIPP l Jim Woodlingfield ChMCIPP , deputy head of service delivery – benefits administration, Surrey Pension Team. What gets in the way of payroll professionals being heard within an organisation? Emily Cocking: Historically, payroll was perceived as an add-on service in the accountancy profession – it’s been difficult to change that view and promote forward thinking. I think it’s crucial to convey your passion to get yourself heard and make a change. Payroll professionals do a great job of boosting the function’s profile and showing just how important payroll is for every business. Samantha Johnson: I’d suggest the key here is to find those links which make payroll a strategic player in the business’s overall objectives. This could be: l creating cost savings l driving revenue l implementing automation and efficiencies. The list is endless, but if you can establish and articulate those links clearly, you’re much more likely to get the buy-in from stakeholders outside of the immediate payroll department. Samantha O’Sullivan: Unless something goes wrong, people don’t need to think about payroll. But really, that’s the way it should be, right? To all those working in an operational environment, when was the last time an employee called you on pay day, and thanked you for paying them accurately and on time, so they could pay their monthly bills? Never! I can’t tell you what gets in the way of payroll being heard. I think it’s more an opportunity for payroll to consider what value they could add in conversations,
when equally important but more valued departments (finance and human resources (HR)) get the first say ahead of payroll. Following a fiscal statement, payroll should arrange a meeting with board / decision makers / key stakeholders to discuss what this means for their organisation. Freezes to rates and thresholds, like those we’ve seen for 2023/24, mean employers can plan when looking at things like their company car costs and other strategies. “Let’s start to speak up and get our voices heard” Devila Rabadia: Payroll was always seen as a back-office function – a business necessity but a significant company cost. Many people don’t understand or appreciate the knowledge and skills payroll professionals need to ensure various employer obligations are met and to remain compliant with changing legislation to avoid penalties. Generally, professionals work under pressure to meet deadlines to provide accurate, secure and timely payments to employees, every pay day. This means payrollers have very little time to promote what they do and can go often go unnoticed. Lara Smart: Typically, what stops people being heard is not having the following in place: l the confidence to have challenging conversations at leadership / executive level l education – payroll professionals must be educated to discuss, in simple terms, what the impact of something is in a structured way l relationship skills – building relationships creates trust. Trust means people support you and buy into you, thus creating significant value l a simplistic and structured approach – to determine impacts across key functions l profile – create an elevator pitch for you and your payroll department. Tell people what you do in no more than 30 seconds. Jim Woodlingfield: The sheer volume of payroll work can be a major barrier to being heard. If you’re spending more time processing, checking or dealing with unhappy customers, this reduces the time available for more strategic activities.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 93 | September 2023
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