How many of you payrollers have employees in Canada? Raise your hand, don't be shy. I tell my staff that Canada is like one giant state of California, but with better beer. For those who may not be familiar with Canadian labour laws, they are very pro-employee. And why wouldn't they be? It's a socialist country (I'm not going into politics nor am I looking for arguments about medical care. That's a statement of fact).
I've recently bumped into an issue that illustrated that our internal communications around maternity leave are flawed. As a previous supervisor would say, "It's an OPPORTUNITY for improvement." Yes. Yes it is.
I was desperate for a paper ROE so I could amend one we had already submitted (again, flawed internal process). Our company also does not have an ROE on the web account. For those not in the Canadian-know, ROE stands for "Record of Employment". If you have an employee who will be out of work for 7 days or more, you must complete an ROE and submit it to Service Canada (sort of like their DSHS/Unemployment Office).
There's only 1 way to get your hands on a paper ROE. You MUST order them from Service Canada. I called and asked if I could show up in a Service Canada office and grab a stack of ROEs. The answer: "We don't have paper ROEs in our offices. They are housed in our main office and they all get mailed from there." What?
Our US government is horribly flawed, and our various agencies don't always make the life of a payroll professional easy (do they make any one's life easy?). But I can walk into an IRS office and grab a blank form. I can walk into a DOL or DSHS office and get a blank form. But I cannot obtain a blank ROE without ordering one and then waiting while it gets snail mailed from the great white north to me in Seattle.
As a side note...one of my analysts did find an old stash of paper ROEs in our office. Hurray.
Oh..and if you want to sign up for ROE on the web, you must download a paper application and then take it into a Service Canada office. This way a rep can verify your ID in person, and then create an ROE on the web account for you...which will take approximatly 20 days to establish. Nice.
Meetings have been scheduled with our Canadian benefits and medical leaves team. Just thought you'd like to know I'm on this pesky process!
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Making Payroll Sexy Again!
That's right. Wait...was it ever sexy? I can't say for sure. All I know is that our friends in HR and IT get all of the cool kids and payroll gets the old ladies. We're kept locked away in a dark closet and data entry and push a button.
Just kidding....
I'm not old and I don't sit in a dark closet.
I have to admit, I never sought out to be a payroll professional. Who does, really? Like many payroll professionals before me I fell into payroll. It was a collateral duty, and sometimes, it's still viewed as such. No one needed experience in payroll; it's just a process. You only had to be good with math and have a slight understanding of federal and state withholdings (if that).
I learned to deduct taxes using the IRS publications and used ledger books for accruals (ah...sweet memories for those of us born before 1980). And direct deposit didn't exist. Simpler times.
Today's payroll professional has to be an expert in not only federal taxes, but state and local taxes, not to mention reciprocity issues. We must have a solid understanding of state and federal DOL regs, FLSA, benefits issues such as DOMA and its impact to taxation, retirement issues and vacation policies. We must understand finance, forecasting, budget variances and SOX. We must understand technology, how it interfaces with employees, our business partners, and other technology our organization uses.
All of these areas of expertise are necessary to be a successful payroll professional.
So why no sexy? I cannot put my finger on it. In my opinion it's the lack of awareness of what a payroll professional actually does. We're not button pushers. We're not data entry clerks. Sure, in some roles within payroll there are transactional tasks, but you will find that within many professions (you hear me, I9 validator?!).
My goal as a payroll professional is to advocate change and bring awareness of the role. I don't have a roadmap yet, but it's in process. And it's gonna be sexy.
And if you are a people manager, like me, having the above expertise is not enough. You then must deal with the bullsh*t of having direct reports. That's another post.
Until then, my payrollers, keep your head up and your costs low.
Just kidding....
I'm not old and I don't sit in a dark closet.
I have to admit, I never sought out to be a payroll professional. Who does, really? Like many payroll professionals before me I fell into payroll. It was a collateral duty, and sometimes, it's still viewed as such. No one needed experience in payroll; it's just a process. You only had to be good with math and have a slight understanding of federal and state withholdings (if that).
I learned to deduct taxes using the IRS publications and used ledger books for accruals (ah...sweet memories for those of us born before 1980). And direct deposit didn't exist. Simpler times.
Today's payroll professional has to be an expert in not only federal taxes, but state and local taxes, not to mention reciprocity issues. We must have a solid understanding of state and federal DOL regs, FLSA, benefits issues such as DOMA and its impact to taxation, retirement issues and vacation policies. We must understand finance, forecasting, budget variances and SOX. We must understand technology, how it interfaces with employees, our business partners, and other technology our organization uses.
All of these areas of expertise are necessary to be a successful payroll professional.
So why no sexy? I cannot put my finger on it. In my opinion it's the lack of awareness of what a payroll professional actually does. We're not button pushers. We're not data entry clerks. Sure, in some roles within payroll there are transactional tasks, but you will find that within many professions (you hear me, I9 validator?!).
My goal as a payroll professional is to advocate change and bring awareness of the role. I don't have a roadmap yet, but it's in process. And it's gonna be sexy.
And if you are a people manager, like me, having the above expertise is not enough. You then must deal with the bullsh*t of having direct reports. That's another post.
Until then, my payrollers, keep your head up and your costs low.
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