By Brandi Britton, Global Executive Director, Contract Finance and Accounting, Robert Half
Payroll touches nearly every part of the employee experience and represents one of an organization’s largest financial obligations. Yet payroll leaders aren’t always at the table when decisions are made that can affect the function and, by extension, the business.
A hiring surge, a system implementation or an organizational restructuring are just a few examples of significant changes that can impact pay, compliance, cash flow and employee experience. When payroll is brought in only after plans are set, teams may be left to address issues that could’ve been anticipated, and the organization can face unnecessary cost, risk and rework.
That disconnect was at the heart of a panel discussion I joined at PayrollOrg’s 44th Annual Payroll Congress in Nashville earlier this year. Titled Strategic Payroll Leadership: Earning a Seat at the Table, the session brought me together with Sarah Chasney, Director, North America Payroll Service & Delivery at Mars Veterinary Health, and Michael Francis, Director of Global Payroll at SBA Communications, to discuss how payroll leaders can build greater influence and participate earlier and more actively in business decision-making.
Our discussion covered a lot of ground, but a few themes came through clearly, including the need for payroll leaders to establish credibility, understand what the business is trying to accomplish, communicate in terms senior leadership cares about, develop relationships across functions and make the payroll team’s contributions more visible.
Increasing business impact through payroll leadership
Credibility starts with execution
For payroll leaders, credibility begins with getting the fundamentals right. Accurate, timely payroll builds confidence in the function and creates a strong foundation for assuming a broader leadership role.
Expertise reinforces credibility. Payroll leaders won’t always have an immediate answer to every question, nor should they pretend to. Being willing to say, “I don’t have the answer right now, but I’ll find out,” and then following through demonstrates both knowledge and sound judgment.
From there, credibility grows through how payroll leaders anticipate and respond to issues. Flagging risks early, explaining the potential impact on pay, cash flow or compliance, and bringing possible solutions to the conversation can help leaders see payroll as a source of guidance—not simply the function that handles problems after they arise.
As Michael explained during our panel discussion, “Accuracy earns the seat, but influence is built by speaking early, speaking clearly and aligning payroll outcomes with business outcomes.”
Look at payroll through a companywide lens
Payroll data and processes can reveal unnecessary costs, operational friction and areas of risk across the organizations. Payroll leaders can add value by connecting those issues to business priorities and helping leaders of other functions see the downstream implications of their decisions. That requires asking questions such as:
Where could a process be more efficient?Where is the company spending more than it needs to? What risks could be reduced?What information does the payroll team have that could help another function make a better decision?
The answers can be quite practical. For example, if controlling costs is a business priority a payroll leader might examine frequent off-cycle payments or the cost of issuing and shipping paper checks. Tracking where those expenses originate can reveal patterns, point to process changes and give the team a measurable way to contribute to a company goal.
The same perspective is valuable in larger initiatives. A systems project may begin as a technology priority but raise questions about data quality, controls, payroll processing and compliance. Hiring or restructuring decisions may originate in human resources (HR) or operations but affect labor costs, cash flow and the employee experience. Payroll leaders who recognize those connections can bring useful context to decisions that might otherwise be made without their input.
Lead with what executives need to know
Payroll is complex, but senior business leaders usually don’t need—or want—insight into every process detail. They’re more interested in knowing about a problem or opportunity, its potential business implications and the recommended response.
Michael summarized the point this way: “My advice is simple: keep executives' primary concerns as your North Star. Most leaders are focused on driving growth, improving efficiency and managing risk. When payroll insights are connected to one of those priorities, they're much more likely to resonate.”
The emphasis may vary depending on who is listening. A chief financial officer may focus on cost management, risk and predictability, while a senior HR leader may be especially interested in employee experience, retention and compliance. Understanding those priorities can help payroll leaders decide what information to bring forward and how best to frame it.
Consider a problem with time approvals. A payroll leader could report that approvals are late, leading to processing problems. Or the conversation could focus on the resulting increase in manual work, delays to payroll close and additional compliance exposure. The issue is the same, but the second explanation makes the business consequences easier to understand.
But even the most useful payroll insights have limited value once leaders have committed to a course of action. As Sarah recalled, “Payroll was often invited into the conversation once decisions were made, with the assumption that we would ‘figure it out.’ I realized how much rework, risk and employee friction could have been avoided if payroll had been consulted at the right moment.”
Build relationships before decisions are made
Payroll leaders are more likely to be consulted early when they have established relationships with the people leading finance, HR, operations and technology. Intentional relationship-building can help them understand what those functions are working toward—and help colleagues understand what the payroll team can contribute. To get those conversations started, a payroll leader could:
Ask colleagues where payroll creates friction for their teams. Find out what could make their work easier. Learn what projects or staffing decisions are on the horizon.
The key is to look for opportunities to contribute while ideas are still developing. Sarah described taking that approach in her own role: “I started embedding myself more intentionally—asking questions, listening and connecting payroll impacts back to business outcomes. Instead of showing up with payroll updates, I showed up with perspective.”
“Visibility isn’t built by waiting for an invitation,” Michael added. “It’s built by consistently showing up upstream, listening and demonstrating how earlier payroll involvement benefits everyone.”
Make the value of payroll easier to see
One barrier payroll professionals face as they seek to expand their influence beyond the function is that much of payroll’s complexity is invisible when things are working well. Employees get paid, deadlines are met and the business keeps operating. People outside payroll may see and expect those outcomes, yet rarely consider the expertise, judgment and risk management behind them.
Payroll leaders can help close that gap by actively raising the profile of the function. If the team reduced unnecessary off-cycle payments, quantify the savings. If a process improvement cut manual work or reduced corrections, show the results. If payroll identified a compliance concern before it became a larger issue, explain the risk that was addressed. A small set of meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs) can also help demonstrate progress against priorities senior leaders already care about.
Advocating for the function means helping the organization understand where payroll creates value and how the team’s expertise can support better business decision-making. Sarah offered a useful perspective on what that influence can look like, so payroll leaders can visualize it for themselves. “When I think about ‘the table,’ I don’t automatically think I should be in the C-suite,” she said. “Instead, I think whoever is in the C-suite should have me as a trusted adviser and look to me when the time is right.”
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National Payroll Week, Sept. 7-11, is a time to recognize the professionals who keep payroll running—and the expertise, judgment and business contributions behind the work. For payroll leaders, the week presents an ideal moment to make their team’s contributions more visible, build and strengthen relationships across the organization, and identify opportunities to bring payroll’s perspective into important business decisions earlier.
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