Punch to Paycheck

The person at this desk was dispensible, for example

So the number of new payroll jobs is down, salaries are below average, and the economy has just about everyone reaching into the sofa cushions for spare change.

Hmmm. An extra $2.13 is helpful, but there are ways to secure your job – and even advance your career – despite the depressing economy. Here we offer three ways to make yourself indispensible.

1. Be the Guru
Try rebranding yourself as the “innovator” or “payroll guru” in your department. Companies are much more likely to promote you if you appear to be knowledgeable and always presenting them with new ideas and while your ultimate goal may not be to have scores of loyal followers hovering around your desk, what you do want is to appear knowledgeable at staff meetings.

To elevate yourself to “guru” status, begin by researching your industry’s best practices and reading about current trends. Then, create a list of top performing organizations to study and tackle them one by one. Payroll is not generally seen as a competitive task, so you may find that people at these other companies are more than happy to share their expertise with you. Take advantage of this opportunity. Invite them out to lunch and pick their brains!

To keep yourself focused on this new challenge, set specific daily goals that are in line with your hopes for the future. This will not only make you look good and impress your colleagues, it will give you genuine insight into ways to help your company.

2. Identify Barriers and Instigate Change
Once you have identified best practices and procedures for your organization, work within your department’s guidelines to eliminate obstacles that could impede your progress. It is not uncommon for projects to remain on the “backburner.”

For example, you may find that bi-weekly payroll has not been initiated because there was strong opposition to the idea amongst non- payroll staff. In order to address the payment schedule, you would first have to address the other staff member’s concerns.

According to a survey conducted by the American Payroll Association, 82% of companies plan to purchase new or upgraded payroll software within the next two years.

So, if your department is still manually entering data to your payroll system, they will soon be way behind the competition. If you would like to explore this and other topics in further detail, iEmployee has a complete resource library available to keep you fully updated on issues to do with timekeeping and HR services. When your company does decide to implement new systems, you will be able to spearhead the decision, if necessary.

3. Become Part of the Solution
Most companies are going to suffer to some degree in this economic climate; there is no way around it. As Bob Willis of Bloomberg reports, “the deepening credit crisis and economic slump are forcing companies to trim payrolls, investment, and production.”

The key to making it through the recession on top is to become part of the solution.Since most employers will be looking for ways to cut costs and optimize resources, the best thing to do is to help them by coming up with solutions for affecting change. Remember that keeping the company’s profit and loss sheet healthy will benefit the employees in the long run.

Be flexible when suggesting improvements, however – it will increase the odds that your peers will accept your ideas. The important thing is to be seen actively seeking solutions to the department’s problems and showing management that you are a team