In celebration of both National Payroll Week and shining a spotlight on the true champions behind every payslip, we spoke to Eliza Brasier about her experience of the profession. Eliza is an Administrator at PayAssist (our specialist payroll team) and joined us in April 2023.

Hi, Eliza. First thing’s first – why a career in payroll?
“Well one thing is for sure it is certainly never boring! It’s very fast paced as the process repeats itself regularly by pay period. I find it very interesting and a lot of what I have learnt can be applied in my own life. The fact that legislation is updated regularly means that it is ever changing and evolving. It brings up new situations in which you must think outside of the box, and I am always learning something new.”

Please describe a typical day in your role
“It really depends on what day of the month it is! I usually start my day by looking through emails for the more urgent queries and get those out of the way first. Then usually the team will all meet to discuss what the day ahead entails. This generally means looking through our processing and BACS lists which are spreadsheets compiling all clients, paydays, whether they are a BACS client, pension information etc. and ascertaining which payrolls need to be completed and any issues standing in the way of completion. We then all have a good idea of how our days are going to run.”

How varied is the work that you do and how has this impacted on your skills and experience?
“Generally speaking, at beginning of the month we will send and upload pension files for the month before, making sure the correct amount of PAYE has been paid to HMRC. We will also take care of any jobs that have cropped up when running the payrolls that we did not have enough time to do when running. This is also the time when most queries arise for the month before. Later in the month is when we start to receive the bulk of payrolls due to paydays most commonly being either around the last working Friday or last working day of the month.”

Please describe your journey so far at PayAssist
“I have been here for 4 months now and although challenging at times, I am really enjoying it. I started here with some payroll experience however my knowledge has increased exponentially. I believe this is down to being given the opportunity to have hands on experience running a wide range of payrolls all with specific challenges and needs that is difficult to find elsewhere. I really enjoy coming into work each day and not knowing what to expect.”

What do you enjoy most about your role?
“The thing I enjoy the most is taking on something that is quite challenging or that I’ve never done before and knowing that I have the best people around me to give me the skills and knowledge to complete it. Being able to check it off my list afterwards is very satisfying and gives a great sense of achievement. Also, let’s face it, I enjoy how quickly time goes as there is always something to do!”

Have any challenges that you have faced had a positive outcome?
“Although obviously not ideal, mistakes do happen as is the nature of any job. In the past when I have made mistakes, I would get a bit bogged down by it. However, I have realised that this doesn’t really help anyone moving forward. The best thing I can do is learn from it and try my best to not let it happen again. Also, having to juggle a lot of different tasks in any one day can be a little overwhelming at times, however this has really taught me to become more organised and to make better use of my calendar.”

About PayAssist
Our dedicated team of payroll specialists can handle your entire payroll function, whether you have one employee or several hundred. For more information, please visit: www.pay-assist.co.uk

Contact details
E: eliza.brasier@pay-assist.co.uk
T: 01825 746 891