Welcome to Meet The Payroll Leaders! This section is designed to give Payroll Professionals the opportunity to share their payroll journeys with other payroll professionals and to inspire them! If you have a story to tell and would like to be featured, please email [email protected]!
How did you get into payroll?
I started as an office junior at 16, at a recruitment agency, and was soon asked to help out with various bits of finance. I was then promoted to branch administrator which included doing the payroll… it was back in the days when the modem squealed like a mouse on drugs when we uploaded the payroll data to HO. I then decided that payroll was what I wanted to do and moved to a job that had an employer funded course in PAYE and bookkeeping….the rest as they say is history!
What do you love about payroll?
I’ve always liked a good detective drama, and let’s face it, payroll is part detective work and part crystal ball! It appeals to my sense of logic, and there’s always something new to challenge you just around the corner.
What is your biggest career achievement?
Hard to choose between becoming a payroll manager at 21 or a system implementation in a 3 month go live window…oh an then there’s furlough…
What is your biggest career frustration?
Aside from furlough…. a toss up between just pressing a button and phoning HMRC and getting someone who knows less than I do!
What excites you most about the future?
The end of furlough?! Retirement 😊
View Sarah’s LinkedIn profile here
How did you get into payroll?
In the year 2003, I was working at Ship builders name North Western Ship repairers now known as Cammell Lards Shipbuilders on a temporary basis in the accounts payable department. One day, The Payroll Administrator for the company decided to walk out and I was only person there available to help out in a crisis situation. I absolutely loved it, and I’ve been working in payroll ever since and I’ve never looked back.
What do you love about payroll?
I really enjoy the constant evolution of payroll which allows for continual professional development. Specifically, over the last 10 years there have been numerous significant changes to the payroll process such as the introduction of RTI in 2012, the rollout of The Workplace Pension in 2014 and more recently COVID-19 related measures including furlough. As a practice, we ensure that we fully understand and embrace new legislation in order to offer the best possible service to our clients.
What is your biggest career achievement?
When I first tendered for what is now our biggest payroll client (450 monthly payroll in excess of £1m monthly BACS payments), I was advised that our predecessor (who is an international payroll provider) was making continual errors and there was no order in the payroll process. I quickly identified that a more efficient system needed to be implemented which filtered from various departments right the way down to the payroll process. In order to achieve this, I worked very closely with our client and created a master template to ensure that the efficient flow of information and data was captured correctly and in a timely fashion. Once this new system was up and running, this eliminated all of the errors that were arising with our predecessor.
To add further to the efficiency, I also introduced an online payslip portal which both the employer and employee were extremely pleased with.
Furthermore, once I had implemented the more efficient payroll process, I was able to take this a step further by offering our client monthly analytical reports which emphasised things like gender pay gap, apprenticeship levy reporting and other statutory analysis along with general payroll costings.
In summary, this was a big achievement because we took on a ‘problem payroll’ which was much bigger than what we had previously dealt with. We then streamlined the whole payroll process which ultimately eliminated the constant errors by the previous payroll provider.
What is your biggest career frustration?
I often find dealing with HMRC a frustration. As payroll has become more complex over recent years, it is at times necessary to communicate with HMRC regarding more technical matters. I often find that HMRC workers lack technical knowledge and take ownership. Furthermore, there agent online portal can be fairly convoluted and over complicated.
What excites you most about the future?
The Growth of LBW excites me! When company was formed 10 years ago there was only 1 member in the payroll team and they looked after less than 150 payrolls. As of today we are a payroll team of 4 and we process over 400 monthly payrolls. We are continuously looking at how we can make the whole payroll process as efficient as possible for the all our clients. Who knows in 10 years’ time we could have over 800 payrolls and a much bigger team – this really excites me.
View Lisa’s LinkedIn profile here
How did you get into payroll?
I started as a payroll trainee payroll clerk at the tender age of 17. It was a job and that was it, I had never heard of payroll.
What do you love about payroll?
In the beginning I loved the variety of work and using a computer! Then when I moved to my next adventure, I loved the interaction with the work force (factory workers), but that got me into thinking I could have a career here.
What is your biggest career achievement?
I was one of the very first group of people to do the CIPP diploma. I worked for a large retail company (no longer on the high street), and like most of the retail businesses then, the back office was manual without any investment, it was all on paper. I brought them from 15000 manual overtime spreadsheet entries to this thing called excel. Training over 700 stores how to use excel and move them into the 19th century. The cost savings were insane. Being recognised as the most efficient manager of the year back then meant so much.
What is your biggest career frustration?
Payroll not being recognised within companies, always fighting for improvements and getting people on board with what a major part we play. I must say I don’t have that now in my current company, we are truly respected.
What excites you most about the future?
The pace of change. How payrollers can influence change. I do admire Kate and her fight for recognition for the profession. I plan on retiring in a couple of years and have started the process of getting people where they need to be for when I take the final leap out of being part of the rat race.
View Ann’s LinkedIn profile here
How did you get into payroll?
I actually did my work experience when I was in secondary school at an accountancy firm. They gave me a job on my last day of the two-week period and said they would pay for me to do an accountancy apprenticeship when my GCSE’s were over. So, I left school in June and started working full time from July and have been ever since. I did my AAT from the age of 16-18 and then moved to a brand-new firm which was opening. It was here that I fell into payroll. With it being a new firm, I did everything, and payroll just stuck. Think that’s the case with most of us!!!
What do you love about payroll?
Hmmmm, do we really love payroll at the moment? I am joking. The diversity, no two days are the same. We get involved in so many projects here at Agilisys, which is always challenging and never a dull moment. Automation and ensuring we have really tight processes is my passion so we are always looking to see what we can do to streamline something. We are currently working on automation of sickness. Agilisys always supports everything we do within the payroll team and we work very closely with the payroll systems team, which makes it very easy to implement change! I also love visiting payroll department and reviewing current processes, writing up a report and giving my recommendations. In fact, this would be my dream job, travelling the Country/World and helping people turn their processes around!!
What is your biggest career achievement?
At the age of just 24, I left sunny Scarborough, seaside resort with a secure job and moved to the big city of Manchester on my own to better my payroll career. I got a job at my current employer and have been there since. I started at the age of 24 as a Payroll Team Leader, then become a Payroll Manger and worked my way up to Head or Payroll.
I manage 2 teams and overall we pay around 38,000 employees!
What is your biggest career frustration?
That no one understands how much work goes into running payrolls. Especially when you manage end to end payrolls with pension and benefit administration, along with 3rd party payments and legal duties. The list is endless. Payroll isn’t recognised for what it actually is. People think we just “push a button” but as we all know, it is much more than that.
What excites you most about the future?
For me personally, I would love to travel and move abroad and with this pandemic, I’ve realised I need to make more time for myself. I’m an all or nothing type of person so give absolutely everything I can into my work life. Not having to commute has really made me realise what my life could be like! That being said, it’s been the busiest time of our careers with the craziest hours so it hasn’t exactly turned out that way, but hoping next year will be different!
