04:05 INTERVIEW
GPA: How did you get into payroll originally? Sharon Tayfield: Like many in this industry, I didn’t start off specifically in payroll. In South Africa, I first qualified and moved into an accounting position. Eventually, I took over the role of first financial manager, later becoming financial director, and, as part of that, payroll reported to me. The long story short is I decided to outsource the payroll, but within about two years, we had a very bad incident with the service provider, and I took the payroll back in-house. Ironically, in pointing out the provider’s shortfalls, they stayed connected with me and later approached me to join them and see if I could expand their business. I ended up leaving my firm to work for the service provider. GPA: How have you been able to progress in your payroll career? Sharon Tayfield: Shortly after I joined the payroll provider, Michele Honomichl of what was then Celergo reached out to me because she was looking for service providers to support within Africa, and we formed a collaboration. I guided the firm
as we provided the in-country support for some of her growing client base. Then, with my husband, we relocated to the United Kingdom, and while I stayed with my employer I also looked at jobs within the UK. I actually did a little spider diagram at the time, and this is when I decided I wanted to go full head-on into payroll, and I eventually got the CIPP certification. I later had the opportunity to have a brief stint in Celergo’s London office, migrated back to the company I came from (while continuing to work closely with Michele and her team), and then moved on to my current employer, BDO, staying in the UK. I’ve been there around nine years in my capacity as client service director. GPA: Tell us about your current role. Sharon Tayfield: My role as client service director means that I can service the client if the client is moving into a new jurisdiction, assisting them because we’ve got that local on- the-ground knowledge through our BDO offices. We can assist in setting up a legal entity. Now, obviously, if it’s a very large
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GLOBAL PAYROLL MAGAZINE ISSUE 20
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