COMPLIANCE
Change doesn’t have to be challenging
Wendy Muirhead, Founding Partner, WH People, discusses why changes to technology are important and shares tips on handling those changes seamlessly
P eople don’t like change … How often have we heard that phrase? Some people don’t like change and yet, there’s a proportion of people who thrive on the concept, and on having the responsibility for driving change. Those ‘change agents’ get a real energy from being a catalyst for transformation, a trailblazer or a disruptor. In our wonderful world of payroll, how often do we see change? Over the last year, since forming WH People, a global people and payroll consultancy, we’ve been supporting organisations to optimise their businesses through technology and processes, while measuring the impacts change has, so they can demonstrate why it’s worth doing. There’s no doubt change can be disruptive. Especially if you’re delivering your payrolls and then along comes a project which is going to impact the way you do your job. All too often, decisions are made in other areas, whether at board level or within human resources or finance, which mean the business changes its technology landscape. How many times have we heard that a decision has been made somewhere else in the world, and so we now must change the ways we operate? That’s okay if it doesn’t impact payroll. However, when it results in re-engineering your business, the data audit, which can add complexity or challenge, can be frustrating. We’re guiding more Chief Executive Officers to ensure the right expertise within the operational teams is directly involved in those discussions and empowered to make their own decisions. Now, when change happens to an internal system which touches every
employee, like payroll, an area to focus your efforts on is educating your employees about where they can find their payslips and how they can raise any questions. If self-service is implemented, then a much deeper education needs to be developed to better support middle managers, and a clear communication strategy would be encouraged to support employees, so they know it’s their responsibility to keep their data up to date. So, for example, if someone moves their bank account, that individual realises they need to update the right details for their pay to be delivered to the correct place. We’ve seen far too often that organisations are so busy driving the business case for change to generate savings that they haven’t considered their change management strategy. In fact, I’ve seen it done where people have believed their job is at risk because a new system is coming. How does that encourage knowledge transfer? For organisations to be successful when it comes to changing technology platforms, they need the expertise and the right company knowledge of how it operates, to support the implementation and transformation for positive growth. This doesn’t mean companies must make people or departments redundant. Technology transformation can absolutely be valuable in helping companies to: l hold better data l have greater clarity surrounding their current costs and investments l gain better insights, to help better decision-making. But if the technology hasn’t had the right information in place to support this, because the experts weren’t included in
the right discussions, it’s a huge waste of time and money. In fact, a poorly deployed technology platform can erode trust so radically with your people that they’ll switch off from using it, and that’s when the questions and negative feedback come. It's critical to ensure that, before any investments are made, the following things happen within an organisation: l a check to ensure the right resources and support are in place to successfully deliver the change l an assessment of whether the change drives greater business value which aligns with the business imperative l there’s an understanding of where the change is driving value for the business l a review is conducted to ensure the organisation has their current processes mapped and clear documentation, and an understanding of where they’re going to leverage the investment to automate the technology l a clear and accountable change management strategy must be in place for the duration of the change programme. Change can be exciting. It’s exciting when something new comes along. By using that excitement to deliver business value to the employee, the payroll department and the wider business, it then becomes incredibly exciting, and you can get the whole team involved. Before change comes preparation. Heard the expression, ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’? It’s the same thing with change, especially when it comes to people technology which can also impact your payroll teams. So, next time you hear something’s changing, yes, it might be some extra work at some point, but if the benefit overall outweighs the pain, it’s all worth it. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | April 2025 | Issue 109 26
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker