We are supporting National Payroll Week 2024 to highlight the fantastic work our payroll professionals undertake every day to ensure the workforce are paid accurately and on time.
The history of National Payroll Week
National Payroll Week was established in the UK by The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) in 1998 to celebrate the payroll profession and to give them all the recognition they deserve.
We have a fantastic payroll team who are accredited to the prestigious Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) Payroll Assurance Scheme (PAS). We work hard as a team to uphold and maintain the very highest of standards within a constantly changing legislative environment.
This year we have decided to focus on payroll as a career choice. The accountancy profession is one that offers people a real choice in terms of career pathway. Some choose to start straight from school, many go on to higher education first and others join later in life. We are seeing more diverse options developing for people to study and work in payroll, including apprenticeships, attracting team members at different stages in their career. There are a growing number of payroll and pension qualifications available and plenty of scope to develop a highly rewarding career.
Lee Duncanson – Payroll Assistant
- How long have you worked for Thomson Cooper? 2 years.
- What were you doing before joining Thomson Cooper? Thomson Cooper is my first job from leaving high school. I started here via a Modern Apprenticeship in business and administration.
- Professional qualifications – SCQF Level 3 Business Administration Apprenticeship
- Training Status – I’ll be starting a CIPP course soon.
- Why have you chosen a career in payroll? I always had a liking for numbers and mixed with my other skills such as effective problem solving and an excellent eye for detail, payroll seemed like a great fit for me, which was correct!
- What are your areas of expertise and interest? My expertise include good communication within the team and also outwith the team, good timekeeping and organisational skills.
- What are the main challenges you face? Managing a big workload in short months can prove to be difficult and exhausting. Maintaining the concentration and focus on larger clients is also more difficult, but more fun!
- What is the most rewarding aspect of working in payroll? Job satisfaction is in my opinion the greatest reward in payroll. My journey so far over the past 2 years has allowed me to reflect on how much I have improved and how I can continue to improve. Resolving client queries & issues not only brings me personal satisfaction, but providing a good service to clients improves client satisfaction too.
- Future goals including qualifications – I look to embark on a CIPP journey starting with the Payroll Technician Course.
- What might surprise people about payroll? A big perception of payroll is that it is rather straight forward. As an experienced payroller, this is not true. Us as a team put in an enormous amount of effort and time to ensure the work we provide is accurate and that we ensure our procedures are up to date and aligned with all legislation surrounding payroll.
- For those looking to move into payroll, what are the key skills that will help someone kick-start their career? Problem solving and a good eye for detail are the perfect start, followed by a love for numbers & strong concentration to really focus on the work. Good communication and the ability to work in a team are good too.
- What advice do you have for others contemplating a career in payroll? For people looking to work in an office environment or to kick-start a career in finance, build team & client relationships, and improve organisation skills, timekeeping skills and much more, payroll is a brilliant way to ease yourself into the world of finance and to gain useful life skills.