Nicki Andrews talks through her day to day duties and responsibilities as a Payroll Administrator…
- What skills do you think are essential to do your role?
- Time management and organisation – Payroll is so deadline driven you have to organise your time and prioritise your workload efficiently and effectively
- Attention to detail – obviously as you’re dealing with figures and people this is key to ensure everything is processed as it should be and to pick up any potential issues
- Communication skills – working in a bureau environment, you’re dealing with a varied client base, so the ability to communicate articulately is vital. Also, being able to communicate with your colleagues to ensure work is completed to a high standard and on time.
- What does a typical day in the office look like? (tasks, responsibilities etc.)
- We work from a shared inbox where work is categorised to individuals or teams, so this is the first point of call. We assess the work that has come in via email and we then work in date order to ensure the oldest emails are dealt with first. We have over 3,000 clients so we also get a high volume of phone calls each day.
- As well as the Inbox, we have a task list that we all work from, which can filtered to bring up the various projects of each team member
- As a team lead I also support members of my team and other junior members of staff.
- What is the most rewarding aspect of the job?
- Many people don’t know much (if anything) about Payroll, however everyone wants to be paid correctly and on time! It’s really rewarding to provide such a vital service to clients each month.
- We also run payrolls for clients that receive direct payments from the council to employ carers in their home. Most of these are elderly or disabled – so it’s great to be able to help people in such desperate need of our service.
- What the most challenging or difficult aspect of your role?
- There are constant deadlines with Payroll as you have differing pay frequencies – for example: weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, annually. The role can therefore be very demanding, which is why it’s so important to prioritise your workload and be as organised and efficient as possible.
- The end of the month in Payroll is generally the busiest time of the month, as that’s when the majority of people get paid. This can make working in a Payroll bureau environment challenging, however it’s really satisfying when all of the work is completed for the month or the relevant period
- What advice would you give to someone looking to move into a similar role?
- You have to be able to manage and prioritise your own workload to move into a role in Payroll
- Don’t think if you have no prior Payroll experience then you won’t do well in the role – I started without any knowledge and within 2 weeks I went from being a junior admin assistant to running payrolls! If you’re a fast learner and are efficient you can do really well.
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