Survey provides insights on how payroll is changing
Businesses are demanding more from their payroll staff, but there are rewards for those who rise to the challenge and gain the education and skills needed to succeed. That is one of the findings of a new payroll salary survey from staffing firm Hays Specialist Recruitment Canada.
"People with a professional payroll designation are paid $10,000 (a year) more than people without one. What that means, I guess, is that companies are becoming more cognizant of the fact that their payroll professionals actually need to be professionals and qualified to do the role rather than traditionally, if you step back a number of years, payroll was often a vocation that you could fall into doing as opposed to thinking about doing it as a career," says Antony McElwee, senior manager with Hays Accounting and Finance in Calgary.
Overall, the survey found that people working in payroll in Canada typically earn between $40,000 and $90,000 per year, depending on their years of experience and the nature of their work. Payroll analysts and co-ordinators/administrators generally earn between $40,000 and $60,000, while payroll specialists earn $50,000 to $70,000, with some making over $100,000.
Salaries for payroll managers and software implementation specialists typically range from $60,000 to $90,000, with some earning upwards to $150,000. On average, the survey expects payroll salaries to rise by about 2.7 per cent this year.
The results are based on a survey of employers and over 2,000 payroll practitioners in Canada, conducted with the help of the Canadian Payroll Association (CPA). The survey also looked at how payroll practitioners spend their time, the types of computer systems they use, the most important job benefits and employer hiring plans.
Fifty-eight per cent of employers and payroll professionals surveyed said their company’s business activity increased in the last 12 months, but only 24 per cent said their permanent recruitment numbers went up in that time.
Looking to this year, 64 per cent expect business activity to rise, but only 12 per cent plan to increase permanent headcount.
"Companies are expecting a heck of a lot more from their payrollers," McElwee says. "In the past, companies were just happy that someone was there and paying the payroll and paying people correctly and doing it on time. And they weren’t necessarily that worried about how many people they had in payroll or how they were running the processes or what effect that had on the business."
With a sluggish economy, more employers are looking for ways to be as efficient as possible and McElwee says he sees this trend in payroll recruitment.
"The most common brief that we get from clients when we are asked to recruit someone in payroll, whether that be at a junior level or a senior level or even a manager level, is we would really like someone who could think a little outside the box and improve processes."
Steven Van Alstine, vice-president of education at the CPA, agrees that a shift is taking place in the way employers perceive payroll.
In the past, he says, "Employers viewed it more from an administrative, functional perspective and I think they are starting to realize with the magnitude of legislation and the changes that take place and how important it is to remain up to date and the compliance risk that exists with payroll, they are coming to recognize the importance of the role that payroll plays within an organization."
He adds, "When you consider that payroll does compose, in many cases, one of the largest expenses in an organization, it’s pretty important from a compliance perspective that those that are in that role know what they are doing (and) can do it effectively because it does have a big impact on the organization."
Annually, payroll practitioners pay about $860 billion in wages and benefits and remit close to $270 billion in statutory remittances to the federal and provincial governments, he says.
"They play a very significant role. If practitioners weren’t complying, if they weren’t knowledgeable in what they are doing, it could have a significant impact for an organization from a compliance risk perspective."
McElwee says when employers are looking to recruit for payroll, they search for specific skill sets and payroll professionals who have them are sought after.
"The key things that can really advance your career would be, obviously, to get your designation qualification. The second thing would be to deal with as complex a payroll as you can. When I’m talking about complex, I’m talking about the multijurisdictional or the number of different unions so that there are a number of different collective agreements you are dealing with. And the third thing would be system implementation or improvements. Those are all very attractive things."
He notes that the need for payroll professionals with the ability to handle multijurisdictional and international payrolls is becoming more prevalent due to business mergers, takeovers, expansions and relocations, as well as globalization.
"It’s something that on the face value seems like a very simple thing to deal with, but when you start thinking about all the logistics of paying payrolls in a lot of different jurisdictions, it’s quite a hard thing to do," he says, adding, "it can cost your business a lot of money if you’ve got bad people on your payroll team."
Company demands can be challenging for payroll practitioners, said Van Alstine, especially since 79 per cent of payroll functions in Canada are carried out by payroll departments staffed by only one to three people.
In a one-person department, "that payroll person is operating solo and is commonly the communication conduit for the whole organization when it comes to issues around individuals’ pay," he says.
Payroll certification is an essential tool to help payroll practitioners succeed in a challenging environment, says Van Alstine. "At one time it certainly gave you an advantage, but now employers are demanding it."
Payroll professional development and staying on top of legislative changes are also important.
"Because of the 190 federal and provincial regulatory requirements right across the country, it can be challenging to make sure that you are keeping up to date, so you really need to be tapped into a resource where you can do that," he says.
In addition, Van Alstine says it is essential that payroll practitioners develop good communication skills.
"Payroll plays a very key role in communicating. And that’s push-and-pull communication, you know, understanding when you are receiving communication about changes and how they impact on the organization and being able to push that information out to the employee population and being able to effectively communicate with the employee population."
McElwee agrees that strong communication skills and professional development are vital as payroll becomes more complicated.
"Those people who have been successful in payroll are the ones who are upskilling and they’re going and getting their designation or their qualifications from the CPA and they are doing more than just processing the payroll," he says.
