HOT TOPIC
W hat’s a well-rounded payroll professional? Well artificial intelligence (AI) states that a well-rounded payroll professional “combines strong technical skills, excellent communication abilities and comprehensive knowledge of payroll legislation and practices to ensure accurate and timely payroll processing and compliance”. Well, that makes for a short article. But I’m sure you agree that there’s a lot more to it, so let’s explore further. Most importantly? When talking about how to develop well- rounded payroll professionals, it would be sensible to include continuous learning, keeping ahead of changing legislation, software proficiency, analytical skills and customer service. All of which are important to any people or payroll professional’s career development and should be factored into personal development plans. However, I’m going to make a case for managers to prioritise something else in team development plans which will drive self- improvement, passion and engagement. Why do people join our fantastic profession in the first place? Why did you? Although we may start off with some skills that align with the requirements of the role and a keen attention to detail; most people starting off in payroll want to make a positive difference to people’s lives. So, to create a well-rounded payroll professional, we need to create opportunities for teams to continue to connect with the people they serve throughout their career and by extension, their customers. Research identifies that 82% of employees with a strong sense of purpose report high engagement levels, which translates to better performance and job satisfaction 1 . This then leads to positive business outcomes such as enhanced innovation, competitive advantage and talent retention 2 . When we spend so much time on computers, in the detail of tax compliance and salary sacrifice pensions, it could be easy to forget that those processes and numbers relate to people, their families and their lives. As the profession is so rapidly influenced by evolving technical knowledge, we sometimes overlook other aspects of soft skills and customer connectivity. Payroll professionals need to provide what the customers need through accessible services,
education and support, confidentiality and reliability. Connecting your team to the customer not only reminds them of their purpose but also helps them to adapt their service to meet those needs. So, the business case to connect our payroll professionals to purpose is clear: when people feel their work matters, they’re more likely to want to learn and do the best job they can do for the employees. Therefore, they contribute more positively to their career and the organisation. People first So how do we develop ourselves to be ‘well-rounded payroll professionals’? Let’s ask AI again: “Focus on obtaining relevant qualifications, developing technical and soft skills, gaining diverse experience and continuously learning about industry changes.” Sounds reasonable. Article over then? Well, no. Let’s talk motivation again. Whose role is it to create well-rounded people professionals? The manager is required to lead a high performing team, so is it their role? If teams have access to qualifications, soft skills, technical skills and networking, should we assume that everyone will immediately jump at the chance for learning? It could reasonably be argued that by providing all these opportunities, a manager is doing exactly what they need to do to create a high performing team. Except for one thing. Did they put their people first? When designing a team development plan, it would be easy to assume that all employees want the same thing – to develop and grow, and eventually one day become the Head of Payroll or even the Chief Executive Officer! Team development plans are often designed based on everyone being ready and willing to learn everything there is to know. This can often disengage those who don’t want to advance their career and are more than happy to be the backbone of the team, do a great job, connect with their customers and then go home feeling satisfied. It’s also fair to say that with such complex lives, people can’t be 110% all of the time, so engagement and desire for learning can fluctuate. Therefore, knowing people and where they are in their life and what may be influencing their career journey will help you to align plans accordingly. So, to engage the whole team in
continuous learning when the world is continuously changing, the most essential step is to put people first. Get to know them, their needs, aspirations and intended career pathways, connect them to their customers and purpose, then design the team development plan to meet those diverse needs which will enable people to develop to be their best in their own way. People first… again A mistake managers can often make when developing a high performing team is to create a development plan without exploring alongside the team what’s already working well and what the collective areas for development are. So, a great starting point is for people to assess themselves about their own career development, performance and knowledge gaps. This can be done against the key criteria for payroll and reward roles, via skills and competencies as outlined by the CIPP. This means the employee can lead the conversation themselves about what they need to develop on, triangulated with customer and manager feedback through regular performance conversations. If you need further convincing about this approach, ask yourself how you would feel if your manager told you what you needed to develop on out of the blue, without having the opportunity to explore this for yourself first. Giving people the opportunity to self-assess and lead this conversation will likely lead to greater engagement in the tailored development opportunities offered.
And finally… Keeping up with technology, payroll
legislation and other worldly changes is key to creating a well-rounded payroll professional and is in, in fact, essential for any professional’s development. But what’s also highlighted by the AI interactions included in this article is that while new tools are available to make our jobs easier and create efficiencies, exercising human judgment, empathy and people skills is even more critical because this is an area in which technology falls down. n Links 1. The Role of Purpose in Motivation and Retention: https:// ow.ly/6ogs50W2tWa 2. The Role of Purpose in Employee Wellbeing: Why Meaningful Work Matters: https://ow.ly/3fN950W2u0o.
51
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 112 | July-August 2025
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker