COMPLIANCE
during the pandemic really helped to throw payroll into the spotlight, but often, those from outside the payroll profession still don’t fully understand what the department does beyond calculating gross to net pay. Many of those around the table shared experiences of going into schools and careers fairs to talk about payroll as a career and often being met with a misconception that payroll is ‘part of accountancy’. Therefore, they agreed more needs to be done to educate young people about payroll as a career choice. Yes, accountancy is one aspect of payroll as a career, but so is software development, project management, international payroll, sales / marketing and reward management, for example. The CIPP and JGA Recruitment have worked together to map out the different career pathways available within the payroll industry. They can be viewed here: https:// ow.ly/Tv5e50Q096X. Staying on the theme of education, we talked about the CIPP’s #choosepayroll campaign on social media, which is all about creating a positive message and highlighting the invaluable work payroll professionals carry out, in the hope of retaining staff and attracting new talent into the profession. During and post-pandemic, there was a fight for payroll talent with increased movement of people within the industry, and vacancies which were challenging to recruit for, based on the skills and knowledge required. So, we asked: 'Can upskilling of employees by offering training courses or qualifications act as an attraction and retention tool?' Those within leadership positions recognised that it’s important to recruit people into their teams with the right attributes and attitudes, and to develop their technical skills and knowledge through training and qualifications once they’re in post. Upskilling and education within payroll help to both attract and retain talent within businesses. Many of the service providers taking part in the discussion talked about the academy programmes within their businesses designed to bring people in and then educate them within their technical specialities. Often the programmes are fast-paced and intense, as the technical skills required to run payrolls must be developed quickly for recruits to deliver services to clients. This question is linked to when the most appropriate time is to start talking to young people about careers opportunities, as we’re yet to ‘sell’ the role to new entrants, to show
the variety of career pathways available and the rewarding career journey they can have. The payroll apprenticeship standards, both at level three and five, have started to support new entrants coming into the profession to understand the opportunities available to them. "Being seen as key workers during the pandemic really helped to throw payroll into the spotlight, but often, those from outside the payroll profession still don’t fully understand what the department does beyond calculating gross to net pay" The strategic value of payroll Payroll has been proven to be a strategic partner within businesses. This could be because of: l the pandemic and payroll’s delivery of the coronavirus job retention scheme, or l the recognition within businesses that payroll is their largest expenditure and needs to be managed to ensure continued employee engagement and retention, or, l in the case of service providers, that payroll is a revenue generating part of their service delivery. And what was pleasing during 2023 was the acknowledgement from the chancellor of the Exchequer, of the vitally important role payroll plays in the UK economy. This was evidenced through the letter of support received for National Payroll Week, which can be viewed at https://ow.ly/uaJo50Q0avf. So, if we can get Jeremy Hunt to acknowledge the payroll industry, surely we can get payroll recognised as a key strategic partner in businesses. The payroll leaders around the table talked about how they use the language that their C-Suite uses, to be heard. Payroll is strategic. It has a wealth of data which can aid business decisions, and to mitigate and manage compliance risk. These are things which need to be communicated,
and communicated effectively, through data analysis. Share the wealth of invaluable data that payroll holds, whether that be trends in overtime / sickness, when holiday is taken or what benefits employees are receiving. We can share what may be deemed as inside information about frozen rates and thresholds, to help the wider business strategically plan for a wealth of scenarios, communicating the costs and assessing potential wider business impacts. The importance of relationships and partnerships within businesses and with external suppliers was really highlighted here. As a payroll professional, do you always know how to analyse the data available to you and how to produce meaningful reports your directors will notice? Possibly not. If not, can you work with IT or your payroll software provider to support this? Use the technology available to you to create dashboards and reports which will provide detailed information on, for example, the costs of new starters to your business, the take up of different benefits programmes to identify whether they’re worth the investment or whether sickness absence is a problem at different times in the year so that this can be addressed. We considered whether payroll is seen as more strategic if you work for a service provider, where it can be seen as a revenue stream, as opposed to an in-house function, where payroll can be seen as a ‘cost’. There are opportunities for both in-house and payroll as a service to demonstrate strategic value – it’s just done in slightly different ways. For service providers, it can be done through showing the profit generated through the service delivery. For both in-house and service providers, the value of payroll can be highlighted via the data provided to inform decisions which could increase profits or reduce costs to the business. Future of payments Discussion then moved naturally onto earned wage access (EWA) and the impact this has on payroll and businesses. This isn’t a ‘new’ initiative, as EWA was introduced to the UK around five years ago, having taken off in the US, where it has been offered since 2010. However, it is currently a hot topic within the industry due to its value in employee recruitment and retention. That said, only 3% of respondents within the Payslip Statistics Survey Report 2023 indicated that they offer interim payments
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 95 | November 2023
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