Questions for Carswell’s Payroll Hotline highlight increasing complexity of profession
With the recession, Carswell’s Payroll Hotline has seen a significant increase in queries about layoffs, along with a rise in calls from human resources.
“Clients are totally bewildered because they’ve never, ever had to lay people off,” says Linda Scott, a consultant with the hotline (part of Thomson Reuters, publishers of Canadian HR Reporter) for 10 years.
Scott’s career began years ago as a nurse, before she ventured into retail and accounts payable/receivable, and finally, payroll.
“Everybody seems to follow the same path, they start in accounts receivable and are seconded into payroll and work their way up through different companies,” says Scott.
Part of the reason for choosing payroll as a career was a “fabulous” boss who acted as a mentor and taught Scott plenty about accounting and payroll.
“I had a really good base knowledge to start with,” she said. “I got to deal with people one-on-one.”
After doing national and international payroll for years, Scott felt comfortable joining Carswell as a consultant. But she soon realized there was plenty more to learn, and it took another year of on-the-job training to get fully up to speed on the intricacies of payroll.
The economic downturn has also resulted in more queries about mass terminations, says Theodora Lindsey, another consultant for the hotline, adding changes in legislation are always a challenge.
“You need a degree to do payroll most days — it’s very complex,” she says.
Lindsey has been in the payroll field for 25 years, starting in accounts receivable. She then covered payroll for someone on maternity leave and “the rest is history,” she says.
“I like the challenge of it, there’s never a dull moment, I’m always learning, it’s never boring,” she says.
Lindsey worked for several companies, in retail and manufacturing, with multi-jurisdictional payrolls. Her experiences have been best with smaller employers, she says, because the work is more hands-on, personal and family-oriented.
Reduced workweeks and shared work programs are also common issues with the market collapse, says Patricia Joncas, a bilingual consultant for the hotline who has worked in payroll since 1985.
She also began her career handling accounts receivable but was asked to do payroll part-time years ago and never looked back. Joncas worked as a payroll administrator at the YMCA in Montreal for nine years, then was a payroll supervisor for the clothing store chain Manteaux Manteaux.
Joncas went on to work for the Canadian Payroll Association (CPA) for seven years as a consultant and joined Carswell two years ago.
“I enjoyed my work at the CPA as a consultant and I didn’t want to go back into the field, so I saw the opportunity at Carswell and just fit right in, with no training required,” she says.
Providing support with courtesy, humour
As consultants, their primary responsibilities are to provide payroll hotline support and research to clients, “with courtesy, respect, patience and humour,” says Scott.
The three must also stay abreast of the latest payroll information so clients have the most current and accurate information available.
“This can prove challenging since we have to deal with several agencies and ministries, not only federally but provincially,” which include the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Service Canada, workers’ compensation boards and employment standards agencies, says Scott.
Carswell also publishes a two-volume Canadian Payroll Manual which is updated 10 times a year, and the consultants review the manuscripts for accuracy and content. This includes any “alerts” sent out with news clients require before the next update. The consultants also review guides and forms published by CRA, Human Resources Development Canada and other agencies.
The consultants are busy throughout the year traveling across the country to teach about 70 one-, two- or three-day payroll courses for the CPA. These range from introductory level classes to ones on taxable benefits, special payments, records of employment, terminations, employment standards and year-end preparation.
The hotline receives calls from payroll clerks, vice-presidents and CFOs, with the most common queries concerning terminations, vacation, overtime, retiring allowances, taxable benefits, records of employment, special payments and year-end concerns.
Terminations, taxable benefits, special payments prompt queries
When it comes to terminations, callers want to know what they are obligated to pay and when and how it should be reported at year-end. With taxable benefits, many are absolutely unaware of what’s involved, says Joncas.
With vacation, “clients find it very difficult to wrap their heads around the fact that, depending on their company policy, they may owe an employee on leave of absence a vacation for the entire time,” says Scott. “It’s usually because the employee came to them and said, ‘Employment Standards says you owe me.’”
Employees are savvier than ever, with Internet access and greater awareness of their rights.
“They know who to contact and they aren’t afraid to confront their employer with that knowledge,” says Scott.
With records of employment, callers have questions about pay periods, last day worked, salary continuance and insurable earnings.
There seems to be confusion with the terminology and definitions, says Joncas.
Special payments are also confusing, with questions about bonuses, retroactive pay and taxing methods, says Lindsey.
Range of knowledge a challenge
The biggest challenge for the consultants is the range of knowledge held by callers, who can range from payroll administrators unfamiliar with TD1 forms to chartered accountants or HR professionals who don’t understand the significance of what they’re asking payroll people to do, says Scott.
But the work can also be very rewarding as long-term clients clearly grow their knowledge through the years and eventually start asking more complex questions, she says.
“In payroll, you either love it or hate it,” says Scott. “If you hate it, you’re weeded out fairly quickly because it’s a demanding job and it’s not for the faint of heart.”
Many payroll professionals lack the training or experience to do their jobs effectively, often because employers still think payroll practitioners “do nothing more than push a button on the computer and everything is calculated,” says Scott.
“They don’t realize how much damage can be done to an organization if the payroll department is poorly run.”
Slowly, employers are realizing the value of well-educated payroll staff, but the recession has unfortunately seen many training budgets cut back, says Scott, “so they need our service more than ever.”
