One thing I love about working in this industry is the thriving community of payroll professionals helping one another with any queries they may have, and acknowledging the hard work and hours we all put in to ensure employees are paid both accurately and on time, every time. You only need to take to LinkedIn to get a glimpse into this amazing payroll community (which can often feel like a little family), and to see the support we give to one another.

It’s unfortunate, however, that this same perception of payroll doesn’t appear to emanate through wider organisations. Payroll is often only contacted when something goes wrong, with all the many successes of the department swept briskly beneath the carpet. So, what can payroll professionals do to show other business areas how the work we carry out is complex and intricate, and how can we collaborate with those departments to ensure payroll can be processed compliantly and on time, each and every pay period? Let’s explore some possible options.

Reiterate the importance of deadlines / correct and complete information

Let’s be honest, people go to work primarily to get paid, to fund their lifestyles. We work to live, not live to work. This is why the work of the payroll department is imperative, as it touches every single person within the organisation.

We need to remind the workforce that payroll can only operate based on the information it has received. There is no payroll crystal ball unfortunately. Therefore, accurate, complete data needs to be sent across in a timely fashion by the people responsible for that data. Without this data flow, workers’ pay cannot be correct.

Payroll professionals should ensure regular communications are circulated to the wider business to remind them of their obligations when it comes to submitting payroll data, and highlighting the consequences where information is provided late. Additionally, there should be note made of the issues which can arise where incorrect information is sent, or in some cases, no information at all!

Reminders such as these will hopefully prompt wider business areas into complying with their payroll duties, improving the flow of data and getting everyone doing their bit in ensuring people get paid accurately and on time, every time.

Celebrate National Payroll Week!

Every year, National Payroll Week (NPW) is held to ensure that payroll professionals all over the world are celebrated and recognised for the hard work they carry out. This year, NPW is taking place from 2-6 September, having been established by the CIPP in 1998. It’s been running for more than 20 years now and gets bigger and better every time! You can register your interest in NPW 2024 here: National Payroll Week 2023 Payroll & Pensions Event | CIPP.

This could be the perfect time to plan some payroll-focussed events within your organisation. You could:

• Deliver a presentation to introduce the payroll team, discussing some of the legislative changes which have recently impacted on the work carried out, highlighting how complex ensuring payroll compliance is
  
  
• Decorate the payroll department’s space within the office and invite workers to come and have a chat with you in relation to their pay to enhance visibility of the team and its work. If there are remote / hybrid working arrangements in place, set up some virtual meetings and get everyone talking
  
  
• Attend webinars held by the CIPP held throughout the week to scrub up on your technical knowledge and / or to simply join in with the general celebration of all things payroll. We look forward to seeing how you’ve celebrated the payroll industry and hope you’ll join in on some of the events held over the week.

Highlight the wealth of data payroll holds

It’s often noted that payroll is the biggest expenditure within a business. It’s also regularly recognised that there’s a vast amount of data which flows through payroll, that could be used to help with more strategic-level work. Payroll departments wanting to get recognition at a higher level and that are eager to get involved with larger pieces of work should use these facts to their advantage.

The data and knowledge held by payroll could, for example, be used to help with financial forecasting and budgets. Whenever there’s a fiscal statement (a budget / an autumn statement / whatever it’s currently being referred to as), payroll professionals become privy to key information which can be essential in looking towards the future. An example of this would be with the recent changes to National Insurance announced with really tight turnaround times. Payroll is alert to these changes and can help finance teams to understand the associated financial impacts and the domino effect that these movements cause.

Additionally, where there’s a big project being planned, for example, a new workplace benefits scheme rollout, it’s crucial to get payroll’s insight, as they are the ones best placed to understand any tax or compliance implications. Getting payroll’s involvement at the start of these projects, as opposed to later down the line, can help businesses to understand their duties, obligations and to ascertain the full cost of implementing certain new initiatives.

To close, I think it’s fair to say that we do a great job of congratulating each other within this profession. But we definitely need to take steps to get praise more widely and to receive recognition from those outside the payroll industry. Hopefully some of the steps above have given you ideas on how you can start to do this, to elevate our wonderful profession and to get it the appreciation it deserves.