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Top three soft skills for payroll professionals
As payroll professionals, we often focus on the technical skills we possess, but Kelly Blake MCIPPdip, payroll operations manager (UK and Ireland), Experian, discusses the softer skills we require to ensure we’re at the top of our game
W hat would I say to provide an insight into the soft skills needed as a payroll professional? To help to explain, I drew on my own experiences of working in payroll over the last (almost) 20 years, to identify some of the skills and traits that make a great payroll professional. 1) Approachability While we all know that rapidly changing legislation can make calculating and processing pay an uphill struggle and demand our time and energy, being approachable can help, rather than hinder, our overall mission to pay people on time and accurately. The amount of times conversations have triggered thoughts, checks and ‘just in case’ moments within my career are huge, and some of them have proved invaluable in ensuring pay accuracy. This has prevented calls on pay day involving an upset individual because something has gone wrong and their pay isn’t as they expected, due to the number of stakeholders whose actions (or lack of) have resulted in inaccurate outcomes. It
also ensures the resolution is proactive rather than reactive, which in turn, can result in less resource impact overall. It can reduce the risk of these kinds of incidents happening again through explanation and collaboration with key contacts. All that said, the ‘just a quick question’ thrown at payroll teams may not be that simple, so be careful to set polite boundaries on how quickly you can respond, or say, ‘I can’t answer that right now, but I can come back to you’. It’s a fine balance between being approachable and being constantly available to respond when critical pay- related processing and deadlines are looming. Approachability is also a big bonus when raising the profile of payroll within an organisation. If people think they’re bothering you or you’re always too busy, they’re much less likely to request your views and opinions on new initiatives or involve you earlier in upcoming projects. This is crucial as they present an opportunity to be ahead of the curve and provide an insight into any challenges or
Payroll professionals must be approachable, to raise the industry's profile
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | December 2022 – January 2023 | Issue 86 36
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