MY CIPP
Back to the heading ‘A day in the life of …’, I entered early retirement five years ago and I have to say, my life completely changed. I joke with my friends and family that now every day is a bank holiday. Yet in retirement, I find myself just as busy as I was when in full time employment. The difference is I work on things I want to do. However, in retirement I found I needed a structure to my day. It was then I realised that the UK wouldn’t work without volunteers and involved myself in this rewarding area. Working with both local and national charities, as: l a house guide for the National Trust at Basildon Park l a debt advisor for a local charity helping those in debt l an emergency responder with The Salvation Army, providing practical and emotional support to the police, fire brigade and ambulance service. When I look back at my success in payroll, I’ve been so fortunate to have responsibilities within our organisation l meeting 7: an internal meeting on what payroll can offer other teams, especially within tax and employment solutions. I’m proud to say we’re a collaborative business, and it’s vital we communicate and work within our internal networks to bring value and benefit to both potential and current clients l meetings 7, 8 and 9: with clients who’ve expressed an interest in our services and today, I have several client leads I can progress. This usually involves an initial introductory phone call, and a follow up email. I enjoy talking to clients and hearing about their problems, explaining how the team can help them, to alleviate worries and stresses they’re facing. It’s also great to bring team members along to these conversations – it’s amazing for development and, as my team members are involved in the day to day, they can understand it from the client’s perspective better than I can. I can see engagement right from the beginning of a payroll contact and consider their possible dedicated processor. I scan the payroll teams timesheets for the week to ensure everyone has entered all their hours. Chargeability is important for any business; however, we also need
several individuals provide coaching and support. The experience and knowledge I’ve gained running my own payroll bureau, building payroll software and taking companies to market I now share with others: l I’ve helped a small accountancy payroll bureau find a suitable software solution and implement better processes l I’ve provided a listening ear to a payroll bureau having challenges with growth l I’m a non-executive director of PayCaptain. Then there’s the work I do as a non-executive director on the board of the CIPP. Fundamentally, my role is to provide a creative contribution to the board, offering an independent view that’s removed from the day- to-day running of the Institute. I love the challenge and the profession, and working with the CIPP allows me to help others to achieve their goals. to look to the future and plan for growth of the team, which is reliant on the hours people work and whether they’re chargeable. I’ve received a statutory maternity query from a client. Alabaster doesn’t get any easier to explain, especially to organisations who pay bonuses or have backdated pay in the relevant earnings periods. I speak to some of my team to see how they are, as I appreciate it’s a hard deadline day during an already busy time. 4:45 p.m: I speak to a client regarding a spreadsheet they’ve devised to calculate figures. 6:15 p.m: I catch up on missed phone calls and conversations; and review my list of ‘to-do’ tasks. It’s also now when I log onto my CIPP emails, to see if there’s anything to respond to or update and view my calendar to check all meetings are in both my work view and personal calendar. My attention goes back to the finance spreadsheet ahead of a chat with my Partner. 7:30 p.m: Cheeky final email check to make sure nobody’s chasing and I haven’t missed anything.
l meeting 3: payroll and information technology (IT) internal leadership meeting. The management leadership within payroll wanted to be prepared for access to new technology and to take a joined-up approach to ensure the team were proficient in using this technology to its greatest potential. I have three people messaging me, or chasing me on Teams, with questions on both clients and payrolls which urgently need responses l meeting 4: to discuss an unexpected internal charge which has appeared against the payroll team. I must investigate the charge and understand how and why it happened, along with ways to prevent it happening in the future l meeting 5: I wanted to establish and develop a pathway for members of payroll and any future recruits. The learning and development team have confirmed they’ll help me with this and how we could approach it, to bring everyone on the journey. I really believe soft skills are a necessary part of the role l meeting 6: the weekly payroll manager meeting. With a team member absent, it’s key that we continue operationally to provide accurate and timely payrolls, as well as meet our
Stuart Hall MA PGMdip MCIPPdip
For some, their daily / weekly timetable finds them repeating the same thing. One could say that about payroll – once the payroll cycle (weekly or monthly) is finished, the process is repeated. I can hear you crying out as I write, no! It’s not like that in payroll and, having spent over 40 years in payroll, I agree with you. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I got into payroll. Working in the office of a large manufacturing company every day of the week was the same and it drove me mad. I asked my then manager if I could move into the payroll department and well, the rest is history.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 92 | July - August 2023
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