How you can help elevate the Payroll profession

Payroll is essential to every organization, yet how many people can honestly say they grew up planning for a career in it? For many payroll professionals, the answer is probably very few.

This National Payroll Week, as Gold sponsor – and an industry partner, we want to help change that. Whether you’ve worked in payroll for two years or twenty, there are simple things you can do to champion the profession, support the people already in it and encourage the next generation to discover what a payroll career can offer.

Start with the people already in payroll

One of the best ways to strengthen the profession is to invest in the people coming through it.

Remember what it was like when you first started? Be the person a new hire, graduate or career-changer can turn to with the questions they might be nervous to ask. A great mentor can make a huge difference to someone’s confidence and career.

If someone in your team is working towards their National Payroll Institute PCP or PLP designation, support them. That could mean protected study time, help with resources, sharing your own experience or simply checking in on how they’re getting on.

Development shouldn’t stop with a designation. Payroll professionals are constantly adapting to changing federal and provincial requirements, new technology and evolving ways of working. Give people the time and opportunity to keep learning.

Make payroll more visible

Payroll professionals know the skill involved in getting people paid accurately and on time. The challenge is making sure everyone else does too.

Share what a day in payroll actually looks like:

• Post about a project you’re proud of
• Celebrate a colleague
• Share something you’ve learned
• Get involved with the National Payroll Institute during National Payroll Week and add your voice to the wider profession.

LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok can all reach people who may never have considered payroll before, so don’t keep payroll just within the payroll community. Attend HR, Finance and technology events too, volunteer to speak on a panel, join a podcast or write an article. The more payroll is represented in wider business conversations, the more its value is understood.

Show people where payroll can take them

We also need to challenge the idea that payroll is simply about processing a paycheque.

Modern payroll careers can take you into leadership, compliance, systems, implementation, technology, analytics and multi-jurisdictional payroll. There are opportunities to specialize, lead teams, manage transformation projects or build an international career.

Our Payroll Salary Guide can help you bring that career story to life with real market data, salaries and insight into the opportunities available across Canada.

Help someone discover payroll earlier

Instead of waiting for people to “fall into payroll”, help them discover it deliberately. Talk about your career with the young people in your life. If someone enjoys numbers, technology, problem-solving or working with people, tell them where those skills could take them in payroll.

Take it further by volunteering at a school career day, offering job-shadowing or encouraging your organization to consider co-op and student placements within payroll.

For someone who has never heard of payroll as a career, meeting one enthusiastic payroll professional could be all it takes to put it on their radar.

Celebrate the people who make Payroll happen

Finally, use National Payroll Week to give payroll professionals some well-earned recognition.

Nominate someone for an award or internal recognition program. Thank the person who helped you early in your career. Celebrate your team publicly. Share someone’s success with your network.

Payroll professionals spend their careers making sure everyone else receives what they’re owed. National Payroll Week is a great opportunity to make sure they get some recognition too.

Payroll has a great career story to tell. The more of us who tell it, the more people will see where it could take them.

Hire Exceptional Payroll Talent with 25% Off

Growing your payroll team? National Payroll Week is also a great time to find the people who can help take it forward.

Use code NPW26 for 25% off with Portfolio Payroll Canada until Nov 30 2026.

T&Cs apply.