When it comes to recruiting staff, just 16% of respondents said their organisation requests that payroll professionals hold a qualification. Nearly half ( 48% ) give preference to candidates with qualifications when recruiting and a further 37% don’t request professional qualifications. Nearly three in four ( 73% ) of those polled have personally undertaken, or plan to undertake, a payroll qualification, with 7% currently doing so, and 9% looking at taking a payroll qualification. Just 11% had no plans to consider a professional qualification. Enticing more individuals into the payroll profession is one of the challenges regularly faced by employers and respondents’ ideas on how to do this were varied. Overarching themes of education and awareness emerged, with survey participants citing more visibility and information provided in schools, colleges and universities, as well as more apprenticeship opportunities. Some highlighted a need for more recognition around payroll duties and progression opportunities, as well as an emphasis on almost everyone within any workforce having to deal with the payroll team, so it’s a good idea to learn about it yourself. Improving the awareness of payroll not being a click-button profession was another suggestion made.
57% SAY THEIR ORGANISATION OFFERS PAYROLL-RELATED QUALIFICATIONS AS A BENEFIT
Other ideas included higher salaries and benefits, time off to study alongside studying for a professional qualification and more marketing and rewards for joining the profession.
With the advancement of AI both now and in the future, respondents were asked if they think the role of the payroll professional will change. Most ( 84% ) answered yes, with the remaining 16% saying no. Research shows us that there are currently more than 60 different career pathways available in payroll. When considering how the number of payroll career paths are changing due to technology, just under half ( 46% ) believe these would stay roughly the same. Around three in ten ( 30% ) believe the number of career paths is decreasing, with 8% stating they are greatly decreasing. A total of 15% believe these are increasing, while 1% say they are greatly increasing.
In most cases percentages have been rounded to two decimal places for clarity and may not add up to 100%. Graphics may have been rounded to whole percentages.
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FUTURE OF PAYROLL REPORT 2024
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