REWARD
The secret to excellence in payroll
AccountingWEB’s managing editor, Richard Hattersley, explores some of the big challenges on the horizon for payroll professionals, and looks at how payroll teams and organisations are attempting to overcome these hurdles
A s entries open for AccountingWEB’s 2024 Accounting Excellence Awards, my mind drifts back to last year’s glamourous award ceremony at the Roundhouse in London, remembering the glittering disco ball, the repartee of host, Tom Allen and the joy of the winners as they bounded to the stage to collect their trophies. But it’s easy when getting swept up in the memory of that October evening to forget the months of hard work, late nights and long hours that led up to the finalists entering the auditorium to vie for a gong. Interwoven within each award entry, across every category, are not only the characteristics and initiatives the firms, teams and individuals hoped would set them apart from their peers but also the challenges they had to overcome. Interestingly, the same challenges kept coming up. This was equally true in the ‘Payroll team of the year’ category, where the challenges raised by the entrants provided a glimpse into the state of the payroll profession and its outlook over the next two to five years. Talent shortage The challenge which kept coming up time and time again by payroll teams and firms was the skills shortage. Staff retention and recruitment have climbed the list of concerns for all entrants to our awards since 2018/19 and haven’t shifted from that top slot.
“With the emphasis on training and development, firms are also turning to the ‘grow your own’ approach and looking for apprentices to fill the talent gap”
This challenge is becoming even more difficult for payroll teams and firms, due to the increasing complexity of payroll processes and legislation. However, firms are addressing this challenge by continually improving their employee on- boarding processes and by investing more into training and educational resources. In one example, a firm noted they’re implementing a ‘repeatable training and testing system’ to ensure their clients can expect the same high level of service from their new employees. As a standard, many are ensuring that resources, attendance at training courses (with entrants citing CIPP industry events) and webinars are available to team members to support their personal growth and success at the firm. One firm underlined the importance of investing in training and personal development for employees as a way of providing quality service and differentiating themselves from competitors who are employing staff in countries where wages are much lower. With the emphasis on training and development, firms are also turning to the
‘grow your own’ approach and looking for apprentices to fill the talent gap but accept that the challenge will likely rear its head again, when they’re fully qualified and the business is confronted with the problem of retaining them. Streamlining processes through technology It’s clear from our previous award entries that the use of technology has become business as usual in streamlining processes and minimising errors. Key areas in which firms are using technology to streamline processes are: l automating data entry l Bacs payments l providing clients with a payslip portal through adopted cloud software. Another firm explained how robotic process automation is being used to automate their administrative processes, sending payslips to clients and, again, minimising human error. This same technology is being used to verify the accuracy of reports and email information. Automation is becoming prevalent elsewhere in payroll firms and teams. As
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | April 2024 | Issue 99 32
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