What are the most significant challenges facing Payroll professionals today? 

Personally I would say that the key challenges we face is recruiting and retaining top talent within Payroll, and then embracing the rapidly changing software/systems landscape and ensuring we are part of the journey so that we are proactive and engaged with it to maximise the benefits for Payroll.

What excites you most about participating in Reward & Payroll Summit this year? 

The best thing about attending the Reward & Payroll Summit is seeing how far the industry has come over the last few years, and having a collection of fellow Payroll professionals who are keen to continue to push the industry forward into the future.

Which session or theme are you most looking forward to, and why? 

As I work with the world of Global Payroll, I will be interested in the sessions on Global Payroll Excellence, to see how other people who manage multi-jurisdictional Payrolls are planning for the future, especially around systems and AI, and how they plan on making the most from the recent improvements we are seeing in this area, feeding into strategies for excellence going forward.

I also think it will be interesting to understand more on the Big Rebrand session, as I firmly believe having an excellent customer experience remains one of the top goals for any successful Payroll department.

What’s a common misconception people have about The New Rules of Global Payroll, and how does your session challenge that? 

One area that I think Payroll has improved on over recent years, is fellow professionals really looking to understand the market for tools that support Global Payroll, so that we can develop a stand alone strategy for how Payroll can take ownership of this area. In the past, we tended to be more tentative to AI developments over job fears, reactive to new entity roll outs, or being driven by HR system choices or businesses choosing the Payroll partner by sticking with the companies that supported the entities incorporation.

Whereas now, I am seeing more engagement in building out our strategies so we can engage early with senior leaders to explain why it is important for Payroll to own this piece, and engage with the software market to ensure we have the best system/processes in place to support our Payroll requirements.

How does The New Rules of Global Payroll connect to broader organisational strategy or business performance? 

A lot of businesses are facing macroeconomic impacts on their operating models in a more complex global landscape, and as such they are looking at ways to innovate to save costs, driving different functions to compete for a limited budget. Therefore, if Payroll is to continue to function within this challenging landscape we need to ensure that we can clearly demonstrate why it is as vital to invest in our function, due to our links to improved business performance (i.e. recruitment & retention), or the risks of reputational damage/financial impacts (i.e. fines for incorrect/late statutory filings) if our strategy is not supported/included in the broader business wide one.

What do you hope attendees will take away from your session at Reward & Payroll Summit?   

Hopefully they can take away that we need to be the ones driving the strategy for Global Payroll, and we should embrace the rapidly changing and expanding software landscape to help evolve our strategies to ensure we are viewed as strategically important to the business. There are now lots of ways we can handle Global Payroll, so there are lots of opportunities to showcase how key of a function we are to the success of the business.

Where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation in Payroll over the next 2–3 years? 

Currently for me, excluding AI, is that I see a shift in the Global Payroll model from the more established in country partner (ICP) model, to a software driven model, which will potentially open up opportunities for us, as a software model will help reduce timing drag on our operating model, as we could see Payrolls being calculated within hours, rather than days.

Even the ICP model will see further enhancements using AI, and the ability for clients to own the process more, taking greater control of the processes which will improve our operating flexibility.

One thing you’re hoping to learn from other speakers at the summit? 

How they plan on continuing to drive the industry forward, as for me, the more we continue to do this, the more opportunities there will be for Global Payroll Director roles, giving Payroll more access to the SLT within companies (rather than reporting into a Finance Director or HR Director), standing us as a separate key function. This will then help with recruitment and retention, as we can show the benefits of a long, varied and rewarding career within Payroll.

Coffee or tea before your big session at the Summit?

Definitely coffee!

Find out more about Andrew’s session, The New Rules of Global Payroll, and everything else on offer at The Reward and Payroll Summit 2026 - Click here to find out more