Managing A Payroll Department

Basic Management Theories

Situational Leadership Principle-Centered Leadership Empowerment Theory

No one way is the right way! Management’s

style needs to fit different jobs, situations and

employees.

Situational Leadership Management Style

• Supporting - Low TaskHigh Relationship

• Coaching - High Task High Relationship

• Delegating - Low Task Low Relationship

• Directing - High TaskLow Relationship

Situational Leadership Management Style

• With Situational Leadership the way managers work with staff depends on what two factors? ?

•What do situational leadership proponents emphasize?

Principle-Centered Leadership

Simple statement behind the Principle-Centered Leadership:

Treat People the way you want to be treated!!

4 Fundamental Dimensions:•Security

•Guidance•Wisdom•Power

Empowerment Theory

Key objective is the for employee to take ownership of the process

5 Steps

1. Establish the desired results

2. Provide guidelines

3. Identify resources available

4. Hold people accountable

5. Identify consequences

Key Words from Management Theories Exercise1. Accountable

2. Coaching

3. Consequences

4. Delegating

5. Directing

6. Guidance

7. Guidelines

8. Power

9. Resources

10. Results

11. Security

12. Supporting

13. Tenacity

14. Wisdom

Employee Styles

• Contributors Task and Result Oriented Organized and Dependable

• Collaborators Flexible and Open Cooperative with team members •Communicators Excellent Communication Skills Positive Approach

• Challengers “Devil’s Advocates” Looks for innovated ways to solve problems

Employee Needs

• Contributors Stable Environment To Be shown how to do Encouragement of analytical talent

• Collaborators Create Harmony To be shown Why it’s done Have time to process information

Employee Needs

• Communicators Lots of people contact Plenty of variety

Public Recognition

• Challengers Lots of Challenges To be shown what you want Opportunity to learn new skills

Comparison of Styles

What happens when a Payroll Manager doesn’t learn the strengths and weaknesses of the employees before delegating tasks to them?

Comparison of ER & EE Styles

ER EESupporting – Challengers

Delegating – Contributors

Directing – Collaborators

Coaching – Communicators

Management Skills

• Planning and Organizing-5 Key Activities• Staffing- 4 Skills Sets• Directing Employees- 4 Communication

Skills• Controlling Performance- 4 Steps• Reporting – 4 Customers

Management Case Study

It’s Payday. The checks have just been picked up, and the entire

payroll staff is tense. They are waiting for the irate phone calls to begin. In about ten minutes, the phone will ring and ring and ring as one employee after another calls to complain about their paychecks. Before the day is over, at least one of your staff members will snap at one of your customers--the firm’s employees.

As the manager, what steps do you take?

Planning and Organizing

• Define Goals and Objectives• Define Time Frame• Define Sub-tasks• Analyze Resources• Evaluate Costs

Staffing

• Hiring • Training• Delegating• Coaching

Directing Employees

• Listening • Provide Feedback• Coaching• Leadership

Controlling Performance

• Setting Standards• Monitoring Progress• Comparing Progress With Standards• Corrective Action

Reporting

• To immediate supervisor• To other department heads• To upper management • To employees

Do You Have IT??

IT is the 4 qualities that help make a Payroll Manager a Strong Leader.

• Having a vision• Building a support team • Seeking Partners• Attending APA’s Leadership Certification

Program Visit www.americanpayroll.org

Specific Skills

Conduct and Attend Meetings

Keep Written Policies and Procedures

Crisis Management Time Management

Team Building Performance

Evaluations Promoting Quality

Customer Service Customer Service in

Shared Services

Specific Skills Crisis Management-Once the crisis is over, what are some things the payroll manager

can do to ensure the lessons are not forgotten?

• Conduct a meeting to discuss the crisis and determine which of the problems are preventable

• Initiate a plan to prevent those problems from reoccurring

• List the successful results and include them in a “Crisis File’ for future reference

• List all of the issues that were not satisfactorily resolved and formulate procedures to resolve them

• Express your appreciation to your staff.

Specific Skills Time Management-What four combinations of time categories tell a manager what his

or her priorities should be? • Urgent and Important – Crisis management, immediate

attention needed

• Urgent but Not Important– Pressing activities that may be easy to accomplish

• Not Urgent but Important – Planning and prevention activities

• Not Urgent and Not Important– easily accomplished, time wasting activities

Specific Skills Team Building-What are the four stages of team development?

• Forming – Stage1 The Start-up stage

• Storming – Stage 2 Where Responsibilities and roles are articulated

• Norming – Stage 3 Where Success occurs

• Performing – Stage 4 Where Members feel very motivated

Specific Skills Customer Service -Who are our customers and what is their product? Customer Product1. Employees Checks or Direct Deposits2. Management Reports, Financial Statements3. Government Agencies Filings, Forms, Deposits

What are some of basic principles to providing quality customer service?

Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy Tangibles

Specific Skills Shared Services-What is Shared Services?

Shared services is the consolidation of related functions and integration of the processes involved with them throughout an entire organization.

What departments would be in a Shared Service or a ‘Call Center”?

How would this affect Customer Service?

Research

• Tax Laws and Regulations• Employment Laws and Regulations• Payroll Related Websites• Company Policies and Procedures• Union Contracts

Research-Tax Laws and Regulations

Federal Tax Law begins with Internal Revenue Code (IRC). These are tax laws passed by Congress and signed by the President.

Treasury Regulations= Commonly known as Federal Tax Regulations pick up where the (IRC) leaves off by providing the official interpretation of the law developed by the IRC & approved by the US Treasury Dept.

Research-Tax Laws and Regulations

3 categories of IRS regulations:

• Proposal=Issued for public comments

• Temporary=Used until the final regulations are issued. Identified by a ’T’ following the regulation number (Reg$1.125T). No longer effective after the final regulations is issued.

• Treasury Decision=Final regulation are issued as Treasury Decisions. Expressed as TD followed by the number ( TD 8481).

Research-Tax Laws and Regulations

Additional forms of guidance to interpret tax laws include:

• Publications such as Circular E• Revenue Procedures• Revenue Rulings• Private Letter Rulings• Announcements, Notices and News Releases

Research- Employment Laws and Regulations Wage-Hour FSLA Garnishments Consumer Credit Protection Act Child Support Consumer Credit Protection Act Immigration Illegal Immigration Reform & Immigration

Responsibility Act New Hire Reporting Personal Resp & Work Opportunity Act Family Leave FMLA Unemployment FUTA & SUTA Unemployment Tax Acts State Laws Various

Research- Payroll Related Websites

Chicago Chapter APA www.chicagopayroll.com

American Payroll Associationwww.americanpayroll.org

IRS www.irs.gov

www.irs.govformspubs/index.html

SSA www.socialsecurity.gov

State &Local Links www.taxsites.com/state

Department of Labor www.dol.gov

Direct Deposit www.nacha.org

www.directdeposit.org

Payroll Calculator www.paycheckcity.com

Thank You!!

Good Luck with your CPP test!! Christine O’Hara, CPP

312-474-3221

Christine.O’Hara@IRIWorldWide.com