REWARD
Payroll perks A career in payroll is by no means boring, and there can be a variety of different paths a role in the industry can take. Here, Lora Murphy MCIPP , editor, the CIPP discusses some of the potential perks of working in payroll
T hose who work outside of the payroll industry often laugh when I say I’m the editor of a payroll magazine. To them, it’s crazy that we have a publication for the profession, and even more bizarre that we have a whole week dedicated to celebrating it every year (as if they don’t know about the best time of the year – National Payroll Week). They do stop and reflect when I explain that payroll professionals are responsible for ensuring they’re paid correctly each pay period, so they wouldn’t be able to maintain their day-to-day lives without the invaluable work carried out by the payroll industry. The fact is, there are so many hidden facets to payroll and such a diverse array of roles on offer in the payroll world that aren’t broadly understood. Think policy and research officer, software developer, payroll director, the list goes on… Not only that but there are also a multitude of great opportunities available when you work within the payroll sphere. I’ve covered a few of them below but this list is by no means exhaustive.
how stressful the job can be and how complex changing legislation and guidance is. Seeing payroll professionals help each other on social media to get the difficult stuff right is amazing.
better. Some of those skills include: ● maths
● customer service ● time management ● interpreting legislation ● stakeholder management ● report generation ● system testing.
And while there is most definitely a linear career path a payroll professional can take (payroll administrator – payroll team leader – payroll manager, for example), there are so many different directions it can go in. Just flick through the pages of any issue of Professional magazine to see the diverse range of contributors, all of whom have an interest in payroll.
Opportunities to travel I know many payroll professionals who have been lucky enough to travel with their roles, whether that be visiting a head office in a different country or because they process global payrolls and their organisation has presence across the world. It could also be to attend events up and down or, even out of, the country (the CIPP Annual Conference and Exhibition, hint hint!). Payroll consultants often get the opportunity to travel extensively within their roles, and this is another job that may not be widely recognised outside of the industry.
Everyone needs payroll Every organisation employing people needs to find a way to pay those individuals. Therefore, payroll is industry agnostic. Whether a company is private or public sector, construction or finance, there’ll be the requirement for a person / people to process the payroll. This means you could, again, find yourself working across a huge range of roles, as each payroll will be different, with companies offering different employee benefits and ways of paying their staff. n If you’d like to share some of the unique perks you’ve experienced during your payroll career, then contact me at editor@cipp.org.uk . I’d love to hear from you.
Join the payroll family The payroll community very much has a family feel to it. Just look across social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) and you’ll see so much activity centred on payroll professionals helping one another or giving each other advice. I’m very proud to be part of that family, and I think it’s because we all understand
Different job options As mentioned above, there are a
multitude of different paths a payroll professional can follow. There are also multiple transferrable skills payrollers can learn and enhance while carrying out their roles. These skills also mean that people from other roles and industries can jump in and make the payroll world bigger and
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 92 | July 2023 - August 2023
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