What is the Role of a Payroll Manager?

The Payroll Manager is responsible for ensuring that all employees are paid, managing payroll-related information, and submitting all required employee remittances.

Employment can be salaried, hourly, commissioned, or casual. Each form presents its own set of challenges in terms of getting your employees paid on time and correctly. The payroll manager ensures that all of these obstacles are overcome.

A payroll manager, also known as a payroll administrator or a payroll officer, has nothing to do with determining how much employees are paid; that is negotiated between the employee and his or her employer or between management and the union; however, they are responsible for ensuring that the company meets its contractual rates on time. This responsibility can be fulfilled by the payroll manager by performing three types of tasks: employee information management, payroll and taxation administration, and employee communication and verification.

Employee Information Input & Management

Legal names, permanent addresses, social insurance numbers, bank account numbers, tax exemption forms, timesheet systems, and expense reports are just a few of the details that must be collected from each hire and updated as individual circumstances change. The payroll manager compiles this data and creates a profile for each employee. The payroll manager also establishes expectations and deadlines for employees to provide regular updates, such as when to update time sheets each day or week. They will also outline change processes, such as adding a new baby to the health benefits package or replacing an old bank account for direct deposit with a new one. Each year a new TD-1 form should be filled out for each employee, and this often neglected. All Social Insurance numbers should also be collected in advance of any employee beginning work.

Payroll Taxation and Administration

The payroll manager will set up and use the software system that calculates general and specific payments and deductions based on the profile of each employee. They must ensure compliance with federal and provincial taxes, the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance premiums, and the Workers' Compensation Board. Furthermore, employee health plan premiums and shared pension scheme contributions must be deducted while salaries, commissions, and bonuses are paid. This software will also be used by the payroll officer to track and report vacation and sick time that has been banked for future use or that has already been used by the employee. Taxable benefits are a critical area that is frequently overlooked by management, payroll administrators, or both. This relates to items such as company vehicles, cell phones, benefits, and even gifts, lodging, travel, and a host of other items.?This is a key area of audit for the Canada Revenue Agency.

Employee Communication and Verification

The payroll manager is in constant communication with every level of employee in the enterprise. Employees have to know whom they should approach if they change banks or don’t get paid as expected. In addition to managing details and diverse populations, payroll managers have to have the emotional fortitude to be part of both employee celebrations, like creating a profile for a new hire, or changing details to accommodate a raise or promotion, and dealing with employee difficulties like an employment termination, a mass layoff or even closing profiles and payroll accounts for an employee who has died.

Detail-oriented jugglers of information, effective communicators who are emotionally mature, payroll managers fulfill responsibilities for their employers and give employees the peace-of-mind of knowing they will be paid properly and on time.