So, you’ve finally decided enough is enough, you want to switch payroll providers. But the perceived cost of changing to a new supplier is holding you back. You’ve heard it can be mega expensive and won’t there be loads of downtime?

The impact of the global coronavirus pandemic has forced finance leaders to do the impossible; maintain stability in a chaotic environment.

Many UK businesses furloughed their employees to keep paying workers while business was temporarily closed under The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). The government’s measure helped thousands of businesses to stay afloat, but one issue that continues to perplex people is in relation to employee benefits and salary sacrifice arrangements, such as childcare vouchers and cycle-to-work schemes.

As part of the government’s Plan for Jobs, a new £2 billion Kickstart Scheme is set to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people across the country.

Launching on the 7th September 2020, National Payroll Week is raising awareness of the impact of payroll and celebrating the hard-working payroll pioneers who keep the UK paid.

How has your payroll operation performed over the last few months? Has it remained a strong and resilient, or has it crumbled under the pressures of the pandemic? Whatever your answer, the origin is often the maturity of your payroll operation.
 

Working smarter, becoming more efficient and driving cost savings are top of the list for most organisations, but many haven’t uncovered the missing link in their strategy: workforce management.

Over the years, I’ve heard many inaccurate, and often amusing, assumptions of what working in HR is like from outside perspectives. One being, “HR sounds like an easy number they just hire and fire people” Fellow HR leaders, does this sound familiar?

It’s fair to say that HR and Payroll teams have been tested as the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded. But after several months of firefighting, many organisations recognise that they need to make significant changes to their payroll and HR operations.

Since the pandemic struck, HR leaders have been indispensable. Many are working beyond their own organisational remit, in tandem with the rest of senior leadership, to make critical strategic decisions powered by real-time data. All the while, leading with integrity and reassuring the workforce.
 

The global Covid-19 pandemic has challenged even the most robust organisations and smart leaders. It is doubtful that any business anticipated months of lockdown without months to prepare – ‘unprecedented’ is an understatement.