As another financial year comes to an end, is your payroll team feeling the pressure? With the skills gap growing and the pay war fighting on, are remote working payroll staff the solution?
With the vast majority of accountants still working from home or adopting a hybrid schedule, and with record numbers of fully remote working accounting roles listed on online job boards, this way of working is here to stay. When it comes to payroll, can this function thrive remotely?
Known as the silly season, the lead up to April 5th is the biggest push for payroll accountants and many firms experiencing a hiring crisis will have been feeling the pinch. So, should payroll be approached as a separate beast with a more flexible working structure to meet demands?
With over 20,000 payroll job vacancies listed on LinkedIn, it’s fair to say the demand for talent is significant. In fact, LinkedIn released owned data in October 2022 that revealed remote listings received 4x the number of applications than non-remote adverts.
As with anything, there are pros and cons to remote working and firms should consider if a strong remote working team outweighs the traditional in office way of working.
What are the pros of remote working payroll staff?
There’s no argument that remote working provides many benefits and is attributed to an improvement in work-life balance. A 2022 Future Forum survey found that full time in office workers felt the least satisfied with work-life balance, hybrid workers were in the middle, and fully remote workers felt most satisfied. Other studies report that fully remote workers experience higher meaningfulness, happiness, and commitment than in office workers.
But what are the pros for employers? With new ways of working sweeping across employment since the pandemic, new processes, systems, and tools have rolled out to support employers with this shift. In the payroll world, for example, leading accounting software provider Bright launched a cloud-based payroll and HR system, BrightPay Connect. The tool supports businesses moving from office based work to a more remote, flexible environment with built in security measures for peace of mind. And that brings us to the cons…
Are there cons to having a remote-working payroll team?
For staff who process data, does working from home pose data protection issues?
In regards to legal requirements, the short answer is no. Thanks to secure technology and tools with safety features, staff working from home are not in breach of GDPR. Experts in the subject explain that GDPR is based on reasonability, meaning employees are compliant if they’re doing what is reasonably possible to protect data, even if they’re working from home.
When it comes to data protection for remote working accounting staff, firms can provide training in best practices and consider using software that offers security systems.
What you can do
Opening up payroll job vacancies to fully remote candidates will broaden the pool of talented professionals you can access, branching out across the UK by removing the restrictions of locality. Just look at LinkedIn’s data for proof… According to Jennifer Shappley, LinkedIn’s vice president of global talent acquisition, “Data shows that workers continue to prize flexibility and work-life balance even as the economic outlook darkens.”
Is your team in need of skilled payroll staff? Here at Public Practice Recruitment Ltd, we understand the challenges hiring managers are facing across accountancy practice, and we can help find candidates with not only the right technical skills and experience, but also the right soft skills.
Not sure if remote working is the right route for your firm? We can be your sounding board, so contact us to discuss your recruitment worries and wishes.
