Although one of the best things about my job is that no two days are the same, I thought for the blog post this month, it might be interesting to describe what a day in the Pixie Payroll office might look like, especially now my fellow director and husband Phil is working alongside me full time now.
There’s not much that gets done first thing in the morning until we have a cup of tea. That’s also a good time for us to go over the to do list for the day and priorities the tasks. We manage both weekly and monthly payroll schemes and so although there’s no doubt we’re busier towards the end of each month, we do have payrolls to run each week so ensuring our clients’ employees are paid correctly and on time is always top of the list. That’s also when we might contact our clients to request any missing information such as time sheets, employee information or bank details.
Each day is also filled with emails and phone calls from clients. We might need to add a new employee to a payroll scheme by processing their new starter form and dealing with their P45. We will often prepare a new contract of employment for new employees and have that ready for their first day to ensure our clients are meeting their legal obligations. At the other end of the relationship, we might also be asked to process the paperwork when someone leaves their employer which involves creating the P45 and ensuring they are paid the correct amount up to their last day.
All employees are auto-enrolled in their workplace pension schemes (unless they opt out) and so each day will have a fair bit of pension scheme admin to take care of. As well as enrolling a new employee into the workplace scheme, we might also be asked to prepare a pension forecast if someone is considering retiring. We will refer the employee to the actual scheme administrators for more detailed help and support about their pension but we’re always on hand to help out if needed.
There will be times in each day when focus turns to our own business. We have to keep up to date with any payroll-related bulletins and new information so there’ll be some reading to do. Occasionally, it might be appropriate for us to undertake some training which can often be done remotely from the office but sometimes requires travelling. And of course, we have to continue to work on our business so there might be a bit of marketing, financial management, new business generation and networking to do.
At the end of the day after all that, we’re ready to switch off the computers, relax and enjoy some family time before the alarm goes off the next morning and it all starts again. It’s hard work running our own business, but we wouldn’t swap it for the world!