The first full week of September will begin on Monday the 2nd and marks the start of National Payroll Week. In the lead-up to this, MHR, the HR, payroll and finance software provider has revealed insights on the sentiment of UK payroll workers.
The 2024 MHR payroll report highlights that over half (56 per cent) of all payroll workers believe greater investment is required in the sector. In fact, 47 per cent see untapped potential within the payroll function in their organisation.
There seems to be a growing level of discontent within the industry as 40 per cent of payroll workers are unsure if they will still be in the function within the next five years. Reasons for this include:
high levels of stress (34 per cent)
job security (31 per cent)
lack of investment in individuals (22 per cent)
Crucially, this year’s report from MHR highlights payroll professionals do not feel equipped to embrace the future of the industry. Fifty-seven per cent believe they need to learn new skills to take advantage of the innovation happening within the industry. In fact, only four in 10 are comfortable with the pace of change. Low skills and confidence are ultimately thwarting morale, with just 45 per cent of professionals excited about the future of the industry.
Jeanette Wheeler, chief HR officer, MHR
Jeanette Wheeler, chief HR officer, MHR said: “Our data is clear – it’s time for organisations to take action when it comes to supporting their payroll workers. If they fail to act, then a brain drain is likely to follow. The arrival of new technology has the potential to make a career in payroll more rewarding and productive, opening up diverse and exciting career opportunities.
“However, this won’t happen by accident, and organisations must support employees, invest in their skills and development, and champion the function to ensure its potential is realised.”
Payroll awareness
This year’s report also highlights the low visibility payroll has among other departments. In fact, just half (50 per cent) believe colleagues understand payroll well, reflecting a lack of potential in it. Furthermore, in the current cost of living crisis 49 per cent of payroll workers believe there is an opportunity for payroll to support colleagues with their financial wellbeing.
Wheeler adds: “As this year’s National Payroll Week theme underlines, there are exciting career opportunities for those who choose payroll. To make this a reality, organisations must innovate their payroll function, maximising the opportunity new technology such as artificial intelligence brings to empower workers, increase accuracy and attract new talent into the industry.”
The right investment
While investment in skills is crucial, data highlights that this will be futile unless organisations invest in the right technology too, with 38 per cent still manually inputting data and 30 per cent piecing data together from several different reports.
This lack of investment is leading to errors, with 89 per cent of payroll workers stating there have been mistakes in the past 12 months which have led to late or incorrect payments. To help remedy this, 37 per cent believe artificial intelligence will hold the greatest impact on the payroll function over the next five years.
Similar research from payroll and payments solutions provider CloudPay also found that tech, such as AI, could have a positive impact on the sector. It has the potential to reduce error-making, as well as more issues being picked up at the validation and checking stages.
John Pearce, chief customer officer at CloudPay
John Pearce, chief customer officer at CloudPay commented on how the future of payroll will be built on a platform of emerging technologies: “The greater adoption of emerging tech is helping to reduce errors and quicken processes, which can only benefit the sector as a whole, and the organisations we work with.”
“Not only is technology helping to improve processes, it also frees up expert time for more strategic and potentially valuable tasks. This trend will only grow in the future; we’re already seeing gen AI review complex documentation and check for anomalies and more effective integrations with HCM platforms and other systems will help the sector to evolve further. We’re really excited about the future of the industry and how technology – and humans – can interact and work together to provide the best possible outcomes.”
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