getting someone who has the right attitude and attributes and who wants to learn payroll, rather than paying a lot for someone who thinks they know everything. Write a couple of speculative job descriptions: one for an assistant new to the office environment but keen to learn; and another for an administrator who knows your system and has a year or two experience. Put the adverts out on your website – as this costs you nothing – to see what you get. You may be able to pick up someone who has decided they don’t like sixth form or university or are looking to get back into work. Find someone who has the right attitude, who you can train and has potential. It’s worth the risk, but you need to get on it early. ● Risk – you need to think about risk. A massive risk is failure to engage the old provider. You need to list the risks and what you are going to do to mitigate them. Don’t forget about business continuity, what you will do if it all goes wrong; write it down, don’t try keeping it in your head. ● Data security – massively important: how are you going to ensure the data from
the previous payroll provider is transferred securely? There are lots of other methods of transfer, but don’t assume your IT has it in hand so check. You will also need a data sharing agreement between your company and the company coming on board. If in doubt, check. Don’t fall foul here, as it’s too expensive to get wrong. Take advice. ...be confident, professional and prepared ● Pensions – this is an interesting one. The chances are that employees transferring keep their entitlement to their pension provision. There is work to do here. Whatever the pension scheme is – unless it’s the same as one you currently deal with – you have things to learn. If you are about to have 1,000 new members of a pension scheme that you are not familiar with and you have no reports set up to meet the employer reporting requirements, you may come unstuck.
Local government pension schemes seem to have slightly different reporting requirements, e.g. monthly submission of data. Who is going to do this? Though you may have a wonderful pensions administrator they may not have the knowledge or capacity to take on the extra administration; this could be hard work. Beware and find out early is my recommendation here. ● The team – though most teams are ok, what they will really appreciate (other than the occasional ‘thank you’) is to know what’s going on. If they hear third-hand that their payroll is growing by a third but they don’t hear of your plans to increase staffing, they are likely to be unhappy. So, nip it in the bud early. Talk to the team, tell them what you know and be open and honest. It’s better they hear it from you with some supportive corporate spin. Payroll teams are great. I have always found payrollers on the whole to be hard working, passionate about what they do and immensely dedicated. Perhaps I’m just good at recruiting, or maybe it’s something hard-wired in the brains of true payrollers, so if you can filter them out during your recruitment stages you’re on to a winner. ❑
Georgina Mason, marketing manager at The Healthy Employee, offers seasonal advice How to avoid Christmas weight gain
A survey has shown that it takes approximately 33.3% of people four months to lose those gained Christmas pounds – just in time for Easter! ● Eat something before attending a social gathering. ● Decide on specific occasions that you will over-indulge rather than throughout December. ● Don’t be pulled in by supermarket offers. ● On Christmas day, choose just one meal to over-indulge in. ● For every glass of alcohol, drink two glasses of water. ● Stick to lean proteins such as salmon and
turkey. ● Pile your plate high with vegetables – they will keep you fuller for longer. ● Get enough sleep – a lack of sleep will leave your energy levels on the floor, raising the likelihood of you reaching for the sweet bowl. ● Weigh yourself twice a week throughout the Christmas period. This can be a great reality check and means that you can quickly and easily rein in your food intake. ● Focus on the people around you rather than the food. ● Pretend it isn’t Christmas when it comes to meal planning. Calculate sensible portion
control by making enough to simply feed those eating. ❑ Why people gain weight over Christmas ● food is everywhere ● an increase in social alcohol consumption ● more social gatherings ● snacks always available on tap and often high in calories ● you lose track of what you’re eating ● you fall out of your usual exercise regime ● festive snacks are instantly gratifying but almost always highly processed.
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Issue 26 | December 2016/January 2017
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
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