Your best payroller has just resigned
Karen Booker, head of payroll for Dimensions, offers some advice when encountering this scenario
S o, your best payroller has resigned, but don’t panic (well, not just yet). Firstly, don’t let them see that you want to pull your hair out and bash your head against the wall. Try and find that rational calm demeanour for conveying positive messages: ‘congratulations’, ‘tell me about your new role’, ‘it sounds like a great move for you’, etc. And remember, this is an opportunity improvements and challenge the status quo. As a manager you can mould them to how you want them to be working; all those annoying traits of their predecessor will be gone and you can get things done just how you want them to be. Your thoughts should turn to finding a replacement, the recruitment process, interviewing, training. How are you going to get another person just like the one who has resigned? The truth is you won’t; so here’s a plan… You want someone who can or has potential to do the job and has the right attributes for the team, the company and to work with you. You don’t want someone who is going to rock the boat too much, but will gently shove it when you need them to, and who is your advocate. (And no, you can’t recruit a clone of yourself.) Write an advertisement and job description according to the role. ● ‘Payroll assistant – GCSEs and some office experience’ – This is a role for someone who wants a career in payroll, may have just left school or may be either trying to get back to work after a career break or looking for a new direction. To me this is entry level payroll. The person specification for shortlisting is vital: if you make it too generic then you will really for you to bring in new ideas and someone who will make some
struggle to shortlist as everyone will have the essential criteria, and if you make it too specific then you won’t be shortlisting anyone. For an entry-level payroll job, the person specification will be more general; any payroll experience will not be essential as the salary will be low. ...person specification might be ‘ability to maintain confidentiality’, so candidates should demonstrate this... You are going to get a lot of applications, as there are a lot of people out there with office experience. So, you are looking for other attributes and looking to invest in someone and teach them the trade. Confident, not arrogant, personable, a willingness to learn and someone who seems genuinely interested in the role and the business. Payroll knowledge is not all that important at this level, but still they are applying for a payroll role, so there is no harm in setting them a short fifteen-minute exercise to see what they know. My first question is always what does ‘PAYE’ stand for, because the majority should be able to get this right. Other questions you might ask someone applying for an entry level payroll post could be ‘What form do you give to an employee when they leave employment?’ As candidates must have ‘office experience’, this links to an interview
question about how they would maintain confidentiality in an office environment. An essential criterion in the person specification might be ‘ability to maintain confidentiality’, so candidates should demonstrate this in their application. If they don’t, they haven’t read what is required so you don’t need to shortlist them. ● ‘Payroll administrator – Payroll experience essential’ – You need someone to come in and at least know the basics of payroll. They should breeze through 99% of the exercise at interview, and demonstrate actual payroll processing experience, not just sending the payroll to a bureau for someone else to process. This will show when they do the exercise, and you can ask probing questions at the interview stage to check they know what they are talking about. If you trip them up during interview, wrap it up and move on. This can easily happen when you ask questions about the qualifications they claim have on their CV. Payroll attributes What are the attributes a good payroller has? Well, it’s someone who: gives you confidence that they can handle the job; is calm, collected, smart and personable; is organised, can prioritise with a ‘can-do’ positive attitude and a willingness to learn; pays attention to detail, and is accurate. Can you envisage them working in a team and answering calls from customers? Your credibility and reputation rests partly on their shoulders. When you ask them a question you don’t want them to bow their head and mutter under their breath; instead, you want them to look you in the eyes and answer. n
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | February 2017 | Issue 27
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