How to celebrate National Payroll Week at your organization

What is National Payroll Week?

It’s that time of year again – happy National Payroll Week! But what exactly is National Payroll Week (NPW)? It’s the annual weeklong event where payroll professionals get their time in the spotlight and take stock to celebrate, collaborate, and learn together.

What week is National Payroll Week?

National Payroll Week 2023 takes place between September 5-9 and is the perfect opportunity to refocus on your payroll strategies.

When did National Payroll Week Start?

The American Payroll Association began National Payroll Week in the United States back in the fall of 1996. National Payroll Week 2023 marks the occasion’s 27^th year.

What is Global Payroll Week?

Not to be confused with National Payroll Week, Global Payroll Week takes place earlier in the year during the month of May. While each country celebrates their domestic payroll professionals during NPW, the Global Payroll Management Institute began Global Payroll Week for payroll leaders around the world to consider multi-country and global payroll topics and issues.

Why National Payroll Week is important

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the criticality of timely and accurate payroll for continued business success. As workforces around the world rapidly moved to different work arrangements, organizations needed to ensure their people were paid accurately, on time, and in line with rapidly changing local or regional legislation. In this new reality, organizations needed to approach payroll differently to make smarter business decisions, and without their payroll talent, businesses would not be able to navigate increasingly complex payroll challenges.

Every year after Labour Day, the National Payroll Institute (NPI) hosts National Payroll Week to help celebrate payroll professionals and highlight the crucial role they play in the oversight of accurate, timely payment of workers. Employee satisfaction depends largely on the functions of the payroll professionals who keep processes smooth and efficient behind the scenes.

The campaign is also an opportunity to help workers better understand the payroll system, their compensation and benefits, and their paycheque documents in general, including how to make the most of their paycheques.

National Payroll Week is the perfect time to celebrate and recognize the value of your payroll professionals and thank them for ensuring payroll runs like a well-oiled machine. It’s also a great opportunity to generate awareness and education about one of the most critical areas of your business.

Here are some ideas for celebrating National Payroll Week at your organization.

Five ways to celebrate National Payroll Week

1. Spread the message

The first step to acknowledging or celebrating any event is to spread the word. Inform your employees about National Payroll Week and educate them on what it’s about. Get your workforce excited for upcoming events and share related links to encourage them to learn more. With wide-ranging employee buy-in, your payroll staff will feel seen and appreciated by their co-workers and managers. The more you share the message, the more people are likely to be involved and participate, making National Payroll Week a success.

Here’s a list of events hosted by the National Payroll Institute.

2. Give recognition and say thanks with your own campaign

Whether you go all out with posters and balloons or show recognition through small gestures, these actions can make your payroll team feel appreciated. Here are a few examples from past Ceridian NPW celebrations to help plan your own:

• Send out personalized thank you notes from the leadership team
• Bring people together with food – organize a virtual breakfast or lunch
• Share interesting facts about your payroll department or fun photos so people get to know the faces behind their paycheques. Posting information on your company intranet or in your employee newsletter is a great way to reach your whole workforce and spread the message

Leaders can support both department-wide and individual recognition. Think about how each person enhances your department and what he or she would appreciate as far as recognition can make the praise go a long way.

3. Give National Payroll Week gifts

Organizations are increasingly turning to gift-giving as an effective means of employee engagement. Back in 2021, Forbes reported that “over 80% [of gift-giving companies] said gifts have improved relationships with employees,” and gifts made the “recipient feel valued (45% reported substantial benefits)…and improved employee retention (41% substantial benefit).” In an era where remote work is increasingly the norm, corporate gifting is here to stay. For this year’s National Payroll Week, gifts are a great way to engage payroll employees and help them feel valued all year long.

4. Help employees get involved with their pay

National Payroll Week is a great time to build awareness of what the payroll team does. One way to do this is by creating opportunities for employees to ask your payroll talent their most pressing questions. Connect people with the payroll team to allow them to start a conversation either through a team collaboration tool or a virtual information session.

Organizations can also support employee financial wellness. Show the value of payroll by sharing tools with employees that help them maximize their paycheques. Organizations can provide on-demand pay solutions in which employees will be able to gain access to their funds after they have finished their shift. For organizations that employ 1-99 people – Powerpay small business payroll can help you manage people, compliance, and time tracking to make paydays easier.

Helping employees become more tech-savvy with their pay such as being able to access their earnings statements, see pay stubs online, etc. will help get them more involved and allow them to raise questions or concerns earlier.

Reinvent how you pay your people with a smarter payroll solution

5. Invest in smarter payroll solutions

If payroll talent isn’t given the technology needed to do their job efficiently and with fewer errors, they will spend time fixing issues associated with manual data entry and processes. In a Constellation Research analysis, Holger Mueller, VP and Principal Analyst says that real-time payroll is “now a standard for both employees and managers who want and need to make smart payroll-related decisions.”

The right solution will help payroll teams complete their job faster and with fewer errors. Errors result in rework and excess hours spent correcting. Integrating payroll, time, and HR data into a single system can help cut down on reporting time and make data management much easier for payroll teams – avoiding the “payroll crunch” at the end of the pay period. Organizations can leverage software that continuously calculates and updates payroll data immediately, cutting back on wasted time and helping to reduce the number of errors.

While payroll is complex, it shouldn’t be complicated for the payroll team and business leaders. Successful businesses are investing in solutions that help them make smarter business decisions while providing the flexibility to do payroll their way.

Payroll in a rapidly changing world of work

There has never been a better time to acknowledge and appreciate payroll professionals. As organizations embrace disruption today and in the future, payroll teams will be under continued pressure to pay the workforce accurately and on time. Legislation will continue to change, making it difficult to keep up with regional requirements. Companies that are rebuilding, restructuring, or expanding face even greater complexity when adhering to local laws and regulations in various areas.

Recognizing your payroll team will have a wide-reaching effect. No matter their job, all employees should understand the importance of what the internal payroll team does for your organization. This is a great time to show your appreciation to payroll professionals and all your employees who work together to drive growth and success on a daily basis. Whether you celebrate it as National Payroll Week or Payroll Appreciation Week, make sure your payroll staff feel seen and valued.

The focus on payroll doesn’t have to stop after Payroll Appreciation Week ends. Explore other payroll-related resources to learn how to navigate the increasingly complex payroll landscape:

• GUIDE: The case for a single global payroll solution
• GUIDE: Reimaging payday: Why it’s time to rethink how you pay your people
• BLOG: Payroll challenges organizations will need to overcome to thrive in the future
• BLOG: Leveraging a single, cloud-based solution for global payroll
• BLOG: How to simplify and save time on payroll
• BLOG: The value of operational efficiency in your global payroll model
• BLOG: How your global payroll strategy can drive future growth
• WEBINAR: The future of pay: How payroll can drive employee engagement in the new world of work
• WEBINAR: International growth requires a global payroll strategy
• WEBINAR: Ready for the Future: Global Payroll Management
• WEBINAR: Building a path forward: When traditional payroll met the pandemic
• WEBINAR: The case for global workforce management and pay
• CUSTOMER STORY: Danone North America delivers the future of employee experience with pay on demand
• CUSTOMER STORY: David's Bridal finds a match
• CUSTOMER STORY: Aquent takes care of its remote workforce with global pay

Resources for small businesses with anywhere from one to 99 employees:

• GUIDE: A buyer’s guide to small business payroll and HR software
• GUIDE: Payroll audit guide for small businesses
• BLOG: How to pay employees in a small business: Eight rules to follow
• RESOURCES: Latest small business guides and research
• CUSTOMER STORIES: Latest small business customer stories
• SOLUTION: Small business payroll software
• SOLUTION: Small business managed payroll
• SOLUTION: Small business self service
• SOLUTION: Why PowerPay