A day in the life of an Payroll Officer

Jonathan

My name is Jonathan. My role is Payroll Officer within the Payroll Services department. I have worked for the Council in this role for 3 years.

Most people don’t choose payroll and come to it a bit later in their career by accident, so starting early will give you a head start! It’s an essential part of any organisation and offers many different career paths to follow.

During my A Levels I started working in Sainsbury’s. I would recommend this as a first ‘Saturday job’ to any one currently studying as this is a highly customer focussed environment which gave me valuable customer service skills. This started out as a weekend job and became full time for 4 years. I also worked in stock control, which fitted in well with my good maths and logic skills. I then worked for the HM Revenue and Customs, which taught me all I need to know about PAYE Tax. I then got the job as Payroll Officer.

Payroll requires a good mix of people skills, customer service, maths and logic.

A day in Payroll at East Devon District Council is often varied. You will find yourself going though spreadsheets, entering data, dealing with enquiries from employees over the phone, by email or in person. You also provide the councillors, senior management and ultimately the Government with important information.

Payroll is well paid as it is a valuable skill to have. All organisations need to pay their employees. You can train with an organisation like I did with East Devon District Council, and go on to do professional qualifications with bodies like AAT - http://www.aat.org.uk/ and The Institute of Payroll Professionals – http://www.payrollprofession.org/ . I did the IPP’s Foundation in Payroll Administration. This was paid for by the council as it is valuable to them to have qualified members of staff. The course took less than a year, and I now have it to put on my CV.

If I want it there are loads of other opportunities for learning and developing. This varies from in house courses to external vocational qualifications. The council also provides me with fun things to help me in my work too, like a Wellbeing week to help us get more out of life through recreational activities. We can also get cheap bikes, child care, health cash plan and a very good pension.

The only downside to the job it that you are at a desk all day, there is little opportunity to get out and about, although you do get to see lots of people as they pass through your office. You get well known as the person from payroll and so everyone says hello, and are usually especially nice to you around payday!

If you like working with numbers as well as people, Payroll could be the career for you, and East Devon District Council would be a great place to do it!

Good Luck in your chosen career!!

Page last updated on 7 November 2008