2016 has been an eventful year, with lots of social and political change occurring around the world. Change, of course, can be a great thing – it can bring new perspective and a fresh outlook, something which also holds true in the context of business and HR.

Payroll is a standard pillar that all businesses need to get right in order to avoid inefficiency and increased costs. Despite this, many organisations are still working with outdated and ineffective payroll systems that eat into valuable HR time, and business profit. As part of our four-part New Years’ Resolution content series, which will run over the coming weeks, our first blog looks at how to avoid key payroll pitfalls and ensure better communication when it comes to the costs involved. So, if you’re a payroll or HR professional with a plan to streamline costs and processes in 2017 but don’t know where to begin, here are four key things to help you get the New Year off to a good start…

Never before has it been more vital for businesses to optimise the ideas, strengths and skills of their entire workforce – and of others within their industry and beyond.

Step back in time five years and you would struggle to move for articles and white papers on big data and analytics. These were the hottest topics in technology and the excitement surrounding them was at its peak. Last year, analyst Gartner dropped its hype cycle for Big Data, confirming in an article, entitled: The Demise of Big Data, Its Lessons and the State of Things to Come” that “we did it to move the big data discussion past hype and into practice”. Certainly when it comes to the HR arena, big data and the analytics tools that can be built on top of it are now in a maturing phase.

In August 2016, HMRC launched a ‘Consultation on salary sacrifice for the provision of benefits in kind’. The indication is to bring in law changes from April 2017.

Often once the deal is done you can’t see the lawyers for dust, so if you receive notice from a supplier or customer that they have been acquired, or if you have been acquired yourself, what do you need to do to keep your current contracts in order?

For the world of business and more specifically HR, the Brexit vote has brought on a time of uncertainty. The momentous decision taken by the public on June 23 has left employers across the UK having to wrestle with a vast range of workforce-related issues.

The 6th April 2017 sees the introduction of a new employment tax on United Kingdom employers. The way the government funds apprenticeships in England is changing, and Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland, each having their share of the levy, will have to decide how apprenticeship spending will take place.

So the UK (as a union) has voted to leave the European Union with some Scottish politicians hinting of a further independence referendum, and some in Northern Ireland wanting a joint Irish nation! At the same time, Job Centre Plus has run out of National Insurance numbers (NINOs) and decided in June 2016 to start issuing NINOs with prefix ‘KC’.

With the result of the UK referendum to leave the European Union and indication by Scotland’s first minister to run a further Devolution referendum, in this blog I consider the potential implications for the next few years for Scotland and Payroll services.

In the UK alone, there are 11 million households with pets, equating to 57 million animals and a subsequent market where £4.6b is spent annually on pampering these additions to our family units. So why then, in the workplace, is our attachment to our pet family members derided and not taken seriously enough? Particularly when their longevity; 15 years for dogs and 20+ years for cats and horses, can mean we share ¼ of our lives with them.

So the nation has chosen to progress leaving the EU with a popular vote of 52%. Whether that was a result that was expected or not, the voice of the people has been cast with change into the future inevitable for both the UK, the European Union and the rest of the world – a wake up call for many. Globalisation may need to reconsider its relevance in reality to people – something’s are appropriate and other things not. There’s Global, Glocal and Local (and ever that were true it is evidenced in international Payroll).