Analyst, communicator, reward and well-being partner: will these roles define the payroll team of the future?
This week (3rd September 2018), organisations across the UK celebrated National Payroll Week, shining a spotlight on the hard work payroll teams do to keep employees paid.
Payroll professionals work tirelessly to ensure their payroll data is processed on time. They also handle numerous employee payslip and tax queries and comply with reams of legislation. Did you know 285 pieces of legislation impact payroll in the UK? These highly operational roles are demanding and time-consuming.
But the Payroll Manager’s skill set goes far beyond processing pay and some of the core data and people skills used today, could be key skills for the future.
How the role of Payroll Manager might change in the future
As the workplace evolves, new technology will influence operational tasks. Automation tools such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will streamline processes and deliver data-driven insights. This will open the door for Payroll Managers to focus their skills on more strategic and creative roles – that robots can’t do! As examples, we could see Payroll Managers as Data Analysts: providing strategic insight to the board or Reward Partners: communicating financial and well-being information to educate employees.
The challenge now is for payroll professionals to get to grips with new technologies. To view technology as we do legislation. It’s something that needs to be complied with, so let’s use our research skills to understand and embrace it.
What does the future of payroll look like to you?
Will payroll leave traditional operational tasks to automation tools and focus more on strategic and human roles? Are organisations ready to support their payroll department to evolve in to new future-ready positions? Is this happening already or do you view the future of payroll differently?
We’d love to hear your views on how payroll is evolving. Share your thoughts on Twitter and LinkedIn, or email your comments to [email protected]
