Future developments Well, what does the crystal ball – you know, the one which sits on every payroll person’s desk and which sometimes doesn’t work when other people expect you to be a mind reader – show for the future? I think payroll will become more global in the future. International payments will become the norm and people will expect to receive payment in more than one currency. I also think more deductions will be expected or encouraged to be made from payroll e.g. council tax, gas/electricity payments, perhaps even rent/mortgage payments, and court fines too. There have been attempts made in the past in these areas and I think this will continue. I expect part-time work will be more prevalent and people will have two or three jobs with different employers, so staff turnover may be higher which will increase administration. RTI should help with the tax position of people, but if people have multiple jobs and possibly are self- employed too then there is potential for difficulties which will have to be overcome. As for strategic developments in the
Ironically, one of my regrets concerns the above new payroll system. I should have shouted from the rooftops at the success of the installation and lauded the staff involved. Instead, we stayed under the radar and just got on with it. ...concentrate mainly on training and I can honestly say I enjoyed this more than any other part of my career Yes, I let people know and the staff were praised, but it was a major achievement and should have been celebrated louder. As a profession, we simply did not court publicity and stayed in the background. Our colleagues in other professions (e.g. sales, marketing etc) were much better at highlighting their achievements and I think we suffered from an inferiority complex. To have my time again, I would shout louder.
future…I’m not sure, but so long as us pensioners are looked after, bring it on! ❏ Recognition In 2017, the CIPP awarded Alan honorary fellow membership. Honorary fellowship is granted to those who have spent their careers furthering the industry. They have made significant contributions to both the profession as a whole and the CIPP during the course of their careers. Alan was one of the first two CIPP tutors in Scotland. He performed a number of roles for the Institute, serving as a CIPP representative on some of the government consultation panels in Scotland. The Editor: I recall with fondness my first social discussions with Alan over a few pints of ale in 2003 (I think it was). Alan was so easy to chat with, and he was always insightful, enthusiastic and entertaining with a great sense of humour which comes across in the article. Alan – enjoy retirement, your family and of course golf.
The strange tale of quantum entanglement
I N AN experiment that has smashed the previous world record, Chinese physicists have sent intertwined quantum particles from the Micius satellite to ground stations 1,200 kilometers apart. However, in the experiment – which was done at night to minimise interference from the sun – only about 1,000 photons were recovered out of about six billion sent (i.e. a ratio of one in six million), and the two receiving stations were on Tibetan mountains to reduce the amount of air traversed. Though much better than the results of ground-based experiments, the ratio of 1:6,000,000 remains impractical for
a quantum communication concept involving long strings of entangled photons, shared between distant locations, acting as ‘quantum keys’ securing the communication. Any attempt to eavesdrop such a communication would disrupt the shared key. The Chinese physicists used the Micius satellite that China launched in 2016 as the foundation of the $100 million Quantum Experiments at Space Scale programme. It is envisaged that a network of satellites could someday connect the quantum computers being designed around the world. Such computers are not
limited to the binary one/zero function. For further information visit http://bit. ly/1hpEH7X. ■ Quantum entanglement involves objects being put into the peculiar limbo of quantum superposition, in which an object’s quantum properties occupy multiple states at once and are shared among multiple objects. According to theory, when entangled objects are separated their precarious quantum states remain linked until either is measured or disturbed thereby instantly determining the state of the other object, no matter how far away.
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Issue 32 | July/August 2017
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
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