Seeking success? You may want to upskill

Payroll professionals who want to advance their careers need to focus on increasing their qualifications, broadening their range of skills, and networking. These are among the findings from a new payroll salary survey.

The Hays 2017 Payroll Salary Guide looks at recruitment, retention, salary and workplace trends in the profession. The annual guide includes the results of a survey of more than 1,500 payroll professionals in Canada, including members of the Canadian Payroll Association (CPA) and Hays’ clients.

It found that even though the payroll job market is expected, on average, to be better than it has been over the last two years, most payroll teams say they will not be hiring extensively this year. Although 58 per cent of payroll professionals surveyed think their employer’s business activity will increase this year, 84 per cent expect the size of their payroll team to remain the same.

This means that payroll professionals may have to find ways to be more productive in their day-to-day activities and those looking to change jobs will have to work hard to find a way to differentiate themselves, said Antony McElwee, director of sales and client relations at Hays Canada.

“Companies are expecting to do more with less and within the payroll sector that means we are seeing a lot more efficiency driven in process and the adoption of far more sophisticated tools that can reduce the amount of time that payroll teams spend inputting data,” he said.

The survey also found that while career progression in the profession tends to be flatter than in some other fields, payroll professionals want to advance their careers. Sixty-nine per cent of payroll co-ordinators/administrators surveyed said they wanted to become at least payroll managers and 48 per cent of payroll managers said they were aiming to reach a more senior management position.

The survey also found that while payroll professionals rank compensation as the most important issue when weighing a job offer, other factors combined together could outweigh pay, such as work-life balance initiatives and a good benefits package.

When it comes to salary, the guide stated that payroll professionals in Canada typically earn between about $40,000 and $100,000 per year, depending on the nature of their work and their years of experience.

Payroll analysts and co-ordinators/administrators typically earn about $40,000 to $60,000 a year, while payroll and benefits specialists make between $45,000 and $70,000. Payroll managers and software implementation specialists typically earn between $55,000 and $90,000.

Last year, 68 per cent of payroll professionals surveyed said they received a salary increase, with average raises ranging from about 2.3 per cent to 2.8 per cent. Three quarters of respondents said they expect to receive an increase this year.

Beyond job market conditions, McElwee said the changing nature of the payroll profession is affecting the skills needed to be successful.

“Employers are expecting more of their payroll professionals these days. Gone are the days of inputting time cards into the system and payroll being an unimportant job in the back office that nobody cared about,” he said.

“People have realized that payroll is one of the most important things in your business. It’s 40 to 70 per cent of your overall cost and you better get it right because if you don’t, your workers get annoyed pretty quickly and you can cause some real harm across your business,” he added.

“As a result, employers are expecting to find someone whose got the right credentials, has used their system, and is aware of the compliance around their particular business, whether that be the various provinces that they operate in or the unionized collective agreement that they are under,” McElwee said.

If payroll professionals want to advance with their employer or be hired elsewhere, they have to be able to show that they have these skills and abilities, he added.

“It means you need to be spending far more time upskilling yourself. It’s far more important to be certified now and have that assurance behind your name that you have learned the correct way to do things as opposed to picking them up along the way through your career,” said McElwee.

The survey also shows that payroll professionals holding a CPA certification have an edge in terms of hiring and salary.

“We are seeing hiring managers increasingly prioritize candidates with designations, including the Payroll Compliance Practitioner (PCP) or Certified Payroll Manager (CPM) certifications, especially for roles overseeing more complex payrolls, such as in multi-provincial or unionized organizations,” said McElwee. “Every year, our research shows that certified payroll professionals earn up to 20 per cent more, especially at more senior levels.”

In addition to certification, professional development is critical, he said.

“Payroll people need to be far more up to date these days with changing legislation and rules and different methodologies for calculating the various things that they do in their everyday work life. If you want to progress, you need to be up to date with what is going on in the market.”

He advised that payroll professionals not be shy about asking their employer for professional development opportunities.

“Payrollers are really craving more professional development. Companies think that they are doing it, but payrollers don’t,” he said. “Almost two-thirds of employers say they offer some form of training and professional development, but more than half of payroll professionals say that their organization does not highly value professional development. That’s a real disconnect.”

“(The company is) not necessarily going to know what the most relevant thing is for you from a professional development perspective, so maybe those people need to take control of their career, identify opportunities and ask for it,” said McElwee.

Today’s work environment also requires payroll professionals to show prospective employers, or their current employer if they are hoping for a promotion, that they can contribute to the success of the business.

“You have got to be able to differentiate yourself. You have to be able to sit in a behavioural interview with a (prospective employer) and talk to them about a time when you have improved processes. You need to be able to demonstrate how you have helped a business,” he said.

“People who tend to get looked at first for promotions are those who have led on initiatives within the team. Whether that’s a complete system implementation (or) a process improvement initiative, the people who have really stuck their hand up and shown that they think differently than the rest of the pack are the ones who typically get picked for promotion first,” said McElwee.

Besides having the skills and education, he said finding the right job also requires making more contacts within the profession. “You need to network well. You need to utilize all of the contacts that you’ve got. You need to be active in the market.”

“Payroll is an area where networking could be improved. That would help both jobseekers and employers trying to fill the jobs. It’s not traditionally an area where I think a lot of networking has occurred. There are other professions that are far more advanced at this type of thing,” said McElwee.

Another avenue for career advancement can include moving beyond payroll to gain experience in other areas, he said.

“Payroll can always be a part of what you do, but it does not have to be the only thing that you do. Particularly in smaller organizations, find a way to be more useful outside of one thing because that’s how you become indispensable to your employer. That might mean HR. It might mean some accounting duties. It might mean administering the benefits program,” said McElwee.

Venturing outside of payroll may even take an individual’s career to unexpected places. A 2014 Hays survey of Canadian chief financial officers (CFOs) found that 12 per cent of CFOs started their finance and accounting careers in payroll.

While new opportunities may await those who focus on professional development, learn new skills and network, McElwee warned that payroll professionals who choose complacency may be left behind.

“Those are the people that I think will struggle in the market more and more as we go on and employers expect more of their people in this sector,” he said.