Payroll Perspectives - Kate May, Aurora Dairies
Summary
After six years working in hospitality payroll, Kate May made the move into dairy and agriculture, bringing 14 years of payroll experience into an entirely new industry, workforce and award environment.
With Payday Super approaching, Kate discusses why the change is about more than reporting. While payroll teams that have prepared well for STP2 may already have strong foundations in place, tighter payment timeframes, data integrity and the impact on business cash flow will all require careful planning.
Kate also reflects on what makes payroll technology work well in practice, from strong implementation and accessible support to having the time and knowledge to understand how a system operates behind the scenes.
A recurring theme throughout the conversation is the importance of continuous learning. Kate shares what she has learned about leadership, delegation and relationship building, why senior payroll professionals need strong people skills, and why payroll continues to offer her the ideal combination of numbers, structure and working with people.
Learning a new industry without starting again
After 14 years in payroll, Kate May knows the fundamentals of getting people paid accurately and on time. But moving from hospitality into dairy and agriculture has given her the opportunity to apply that experience in a very different environment.
Now Payroll Manager at Aurora Dairies, Kate joins Shawny Smith for Season 2 of Payroll Perspectives to talk about what changes when an experienced payroll professional moves industries, and what remains remarkably familiar.
Their conversation covers the different rhythms of agricultural payroll, preparing for Payday Super, payroll technology and system implementation, the increasingly important people skills required in payroll leadership, and what Kate learned from recently navigating the Melbourne payroll job market herself.
It also comes back repeatedly to one of the things Kate believes matters most in payroll: continuing to learn.
Whether that means understanding a new award, putting your hand up for opportunities, learning from the people around you or teaching your own team what you know, Kate sees curiosity and development as essential to building a long-term career in the profession.
Episode transcript
Shawny: Hi Kate, thank you for joining me for another Payroll Perspectives podcast. You were part of season one, so I wanted to bring you back for season two now that I’m back from maternity leave.
Kate: Thank you for having me. Always a pleasure to talk to you, Shawny, and I’m very proud to have been included in round two.
Shawny: It’s very exciting.
Maybe we should start with a quick introduction. I’m Shawny Smith from Atlas Partners Recruitment and I host the Payroll Perspectives podcast. I’ve asked Kate May to join me today, so I’ll let her introduce herself and tell us where she’s working at the moment.
Kate: My name is Kate May and I’m the Payroll Manager at Aurora Dairies.
I’m relatively new to this particular industry, but I’ve actually been in payroll for 14 years this month.
Shawny: Congratulations on your anniversary.
Kate: Thank you. It’s a funny thing. I came into the industry not really knowing if it was for me, and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. I’m infinitely fascinated by the payroll industry itself, so I’m very happy to be here.
Moving from hospitality into agriculture
Shawny: I’ve always been able to hear your passion, which I absolutely love, and that’s why it’s so valuable to have you join us for this podcast.
You’ve made a really interesting move from hospitality into the dairy and agriculture sector. What prompted the change, and what has surprised you most about the payroll environment?
Kate: I’d spent about six years in hospitality and, as much as I love it and haven’t ruled out going back one day, I’d reached the point where I felt I’d learned everything I could and was ready to learn something new and develop those professional muscles, as they say.
The opportunity came up to join Aurora and it’s been extraordinary. Both the team and the nature of the business are incredible. It’s been such a shift in mindset.
Probably the biggest challenge I’ve faced is that both awards are complex, but in very different ways.
Hospitality operates on a 24 hour clock, so you’re constantly on the go and constantly looking at time. Dairy and agriculture isn’t quite the same, but there are a lot of layers of complexity.
It’s about understanding what has a flow on effect to something else, things like a longer standard day in terms of contract hours, and getting your head around a completely new award.
It’s been really good growth for me so far.
Shawny: I can hear how happy you are. Trying something new after six years in hospitality is an exciting challenge and a great learning opportunity.
You mentioned that the workforce is very different in dairy farming. What does that mean practically for how you run payroll, and what has been the steepest learning curve?
Kate: Operationally, a lot of it is still about making sure you hit your deadlines.
The pay run I’m doing now is fortnightly, whereas previously I was working across a mix of fortnightly, weekly and monthly payrolls. It’s a different kind of timeline. The deadlines are still similar, but you’re working to a different rhythm.
There have probably been two big changes. One is getting my head around being on a fortnightly basis, and we also have alternating fortnights, so one week is different to the other in terms of who we’re processing.
The other difference is availability. In hospitality, everybody is always on, or there’s generally someone available who you can speak to.
In farming, there are very specific times throughout the day when people are operational. I’ve had to shift my mindset around when I can contact people to get answers and when they’re going to be available. They might be out on the farm rather than sitting somewhere you can easily reach them.
That’s quite different to being in a hotel where everyone is right there.
That has probably been the biggest learning curve so far, along with getting my head around a new award. That’s always a challenge.
Shawny: It must be very different, but at the same time there are so many similarities to what you’ve been doing for the past 14 years. You can apply that knowledge to a new environment.
It sounds like it’s been an interesting challenge, but nothing that has stumped you.
Kate: Exactly. When you’ve spent time in payroll, a lot of it is the same. You’re running on a similar schedule and you know what your week, day and month are generally going to look like.
What changes is the nature of the industry you’re working in and the language you see within the awards. There are different allowances and other requirements coming through, so it’s about understanding what those mean and potentially adapting your workflow.
Every industry works a little differently. As I said, hospitality is a 24 hour clock, much like retail or healthcare.
That’s where the mindset changes. You need to understand what you’re looking at in terms of your data, what looks familiar and what looks unusual.
Preparing for Payday Super
Shawny: Last time we spoke, we touched on STP2, which was a big change for the industry. Payday Super is now very much around the corner.
Where are you at in preparing for it, and what do you think the real impact is going to be?
Kate: There are so many mixed feelings in the industry about Payday Super.
A lot of people are excited because it gives businesses a chance to cleanse their data and keep employee details up to date on a cycle by cycle basis.
For those of us on fortnightly, monthly or weekly pay runs, it means that during each cycle, if you have terminations, new hires or anything else happening, you have an opportunity to get that data correct then and there.
It’s no longer a case of waiting until the end of the quarter.
That focus on data cleansing and data integrity is what most payroll people aim for every day anyway. We want that integrity there, so it will be interesting to see where that goes.
In terms of how I’m preparing personally, I’m continuing to take part in webinars and keep up with newsletters coming from the ATO so I can stay across any small changes happening in the background.
It’s about trying to be as prepared as we can for when we go live.
Shawny: I think some businesses, particularly those running weekly payroll, may feel the impact differently to businesses on monthly payroll.
Overall, though, we’ve already done a lot of work to set up STP, so hopefully this should flow relatively seamlessly given the amount of information and preparation people have already done.
It can feel a little scary, but overall I think people are feeling reasonably comfortable, which is good.
Kate: That’s exactly it.
If you’re prepared and your reporting channels are correct for STP2, then Payday Super is really an extension of that. The reporting side is probably going to be the easier part.
The challenges we’ll face as professionals are more around the time limitations if something goes wrong with submitting super payments.
That quick turnaround is going to be tricky.
For some smaller businesses there could also potentially be a cash flow challenge, because they’ll need to incorporate super payments into each pay cycle.
That’s an extra 12 per cent on top of what they’re already spending to pay employees what they’re entitled to.
They’re probably the two biggest issues people at my level are thinking about. There’s the tight turnaround if you need to correct data, but also making sure the business is prepared from a cash flow perspective for those more frequent payments.
Shawny: I hadn’t really thought as much about smaller businesses and the cash flow effect it could have on them.
If you don’t have enough money flowing through the business at a particular time, it could make things harder.
Kate: Exactly. I have colleagues in different industries, particularly service based or product based businesses, where it’s not necessarily that they don’t have the money. They might simply be waiting for money to come in from customers.
It comes back to when clients are paying you. You need that money coming into the business before it can then flow out through the pay run.
It’s about shifting the mindset and making sure the cash actually flows through at the right time.
That can create a bit of a headache, but everyone will get there in the end, I hope.
Shawny: Definitely. There’s some extra planning involved.
Kate: Yes. From what I’ve been told, the ATO’s viewpoint is that the first 12 months will be something of a teething period.
It’s a chance for everyone to get used to the new process and try to operate as effectively as they can. My understanding is that they’re not intending to be overly strict during that initial period.
How that actually plays out will be interesting.
Shawny: The proof will be in the pudding.
Kate: Very much so. All we can do, as always, is be as prepared as possible, try our best and be honest.
What makes a payroll system work well?
Shawny: I can’t remember if we covered this last time, but I’m always interested to hear what people’s favourite payroll system has been and what specifically made it stand out.
Kate: I’m not sure whether we covered it last time either, but I do have a handful of programs I prefer, and generally for similar reasons.
Probably my favourite at the moment, because I’m very familiar with it and have worked with it for a number of years, is Micropay Meridian.
The reason I like it is that I know the language it uses and I know where to find the things I need to update.
The administrative side isn’t difficult to navigate and the reporting suite available for each pay run is very broad. There’s a huge amount of data you can capture each pay cycle.
The report writing side is also very easy. There’s a wide range of reports available, but you can also copy those structures and create your own reports as needed.
One of the best features, which some other programs also have, is the ability to create backups throughout your process.
At different stages of your processing schedule, you can back up the system. For example, you might have processed your timesheets, completed your reports and be ready to produce the bank file. Then you realise someone has entered the wrong bank details.
You can revert to that backup point, correct the data and reproduce your EFT file.
Not all programs have that flexibility.
There are obviously compliance considerations and you don’t want to be manipulating data at that stage of the process unnecessarily. But for something simple that allows you to make sure everyone is paid correctly, without having to process an additional manual payment, it’s a really useful feature.
That’s just one example of many where being able to revert to a particular point and continue from there helps you get the data right before it reaches the bank.
Shawny: I don’t know why, but that reminds me of backing up your homework or essays. You want to make sure that if you need to change something, or something happens, you still have everything there.
Kate: Exactly. That’s something we face as well because we deal with Excel all the time. You need to remember to hit save while you’re making changes or you can lose data.
Why implementation and support matter
Shawny: Do you think one of the biggest reasons you liked that system was because it was implemented well? Or while you were there, did you have to make changes and improve what was already in place?
Kate: There are probably a few things that have made it one of my favourites.
The resources they have available online are incredible. There are articles showing you how to do things, as well as a ticketing system where you can contact them and say, "I’ve got this issue, how do I fix it?"
Or if a prompt suddenly comes up, you can ask whether it’s happening across all of their clients or whether it’s specific to you.
That support is incredible.
The layout and access to IT support also help you set everything up and implement it correctly from the beginning.
Shawny: Payroll systems can be complicated because you can hear really good feedback from one person and really bad feedback from someone else.
There have been a few systems recently where the feedback has been completely mixed.
I’m always trying to work out whether that comes down to the industry, the implementation, timing, or whether people are getting the right support from the system provider.
It’s interesting that one person can absolutely love a system and the next person can hate it.
Kate: I think you’re right. It’s probably a combination of things.
If you don’t have the implementation knowledge or access to somebody who does, it makes things so much harder. If you’re running blind, it becomes very difficult.
It’s different if you’ve dealt with the system previously at a processing level and then move into a management role where you’re seeing more of the background. You already understand how it operates, and then you start understanding why it operates that way.
That can make the transition easier.
Time also plays a part. If you’re under pressure from other departments to get things done within a very tight timeframe, you don’t necessarily have the flexibility to go and explore the system or test things.
It can be an amalgamation of a few different factors, or sometimes everything at once.
Learning your way into leadership
Shawny: Last time we spoke, you shared some great advice about stepping into leadership.
Has your thinking changed at all, or do you have any extra advice about what can make someone successful?
Kate: I still feel very much the same way.
If leadership is something you want to try as a payroll professional, seek out the people in your team who have knowledge about the things you want to learn.
Put your hand up and say, "I don’t understand this. I’d like to know more."
There will generally be somebody willing to show you something and teach you.
I’m a big advocate for the idea that if you want something badly enough, you’ll make it happen. If there’s something you’re interested in, ask the question and ask to learn more. It’s one of the best ways to get out there.
People have invested so much time in me throughout my career, and that’s something I’m now trying to offer as a leader myself.
If one of my team comes to me and says, "I don’t quite understand how this works. Can we set aside some time to go over it?" I’m more than happy to invest that time and go through every detail.
If I don’t know the answer myself, then I’ll find a resource we can use.
Shawny: And then it becomes a learning opportunity for both of you.
Kate: Exactly. I’m all for that. Show me something I don’t know and I’ll be right there learning it with you.
The people skills behind payroll leadership
Shawny: Last time, we spoke a lot about being proactive. If leadership is something you want in your career, you need to learn as much as you can and build your network.
I also can’t emphasise enough how important people skills become if you want to move into leadership.
As much as you might love the day to day work of payroll and be passionate about it, once you move into leadership you become the person sitting between your team and the wider business.
A lot of your time can be spent in meetings, making change happen and influencing people.
You need to start working on those skills early.
People aren’t necessarily going to give you an opportunity to step into leadership if you can’t demonstrate strong people skills, mentor new people coming into the team or manage up and get the most from your own leaders.
Kate: Absolutely.
That’s something I’ve loved about how you and I have developed our professional relationship.
We’ve grown alongside one another in our careers, but you’ve also involved me in networking opportunities, which has taught me how to deal with people outside my industry and outside my immediate role.
I’m fortunate that I’ve always been a bit of a talker, so relationship building comes fairly naturally to me, but I know that isn’t the case for everyone.
I’ve had teammates where I’ve encouraged them to get out there and try.
If people intimidate you, there are ways to build those skills gradually. If you want to role play with me, I’m happy to do that. If you want to start liaising with more people outside the department, that’s a gentle step towards building your relationship skills.
Shawny: You can train any muscle and any skill.
If you’re not comfortable with something, the only way you become more comfortable is by being willing to feel uncomfortable and doing it anyway.
Sometimes people talk themselves out of something before they try it. I think you have to become a little more willing to say yes and think, "I’m going to give it a go."
You’re never going to learn or develop if you don’t push yourself.
Navigating the payroll job market
Shawny: You made a move relatively recently, so I’m also keen to hear your perspective from the candidate side. What was your experience like in the payroll job market?
Kate: That’s a fun one.
The further I get into my career, I don’t know whether it’s because I’m moving into more leadership roles or simply because I’m getting older. Possibly both.
But something I’ve noticed in the payroll world, particularly in Melbourne, is that it’s becoming quite cyclical, almost seasonal.
There are certain times of the year that are much busier in terms of what’s available in the job market compared with others.
Coming up to the end of financial year, for example, you’ll often see an influx of roles on the operational side.
There generally isn’t as much movement at management level at that time of year.
The more senior the management role, the fewer opportunities there are as well.
If you’re looking for a very specific type of role, experience or growth opportunity, you have to be patient and wait for those opportunities to come up.
Because of the nature of those roles, people are often happy in them, so you don’t necessarily get a lot of movement.
You have to wait your turn, so to speak.
Personally, finding a role that had everything I wanted meant being very proactive. I had to chase that opportunity, put myself forward and present myself as the best option.
Shawny: It isn’t easy.
You’re right that the market has its own seasons and changes. Sometimes it simply takes someone moving on before an opportunity becomes available.
There are also parts of the year when people actively avoid moving because it’s such a busy period.
Particularly at a senior level, people don’t want to leave their business in the lurch.
Around the middle of the year, people might think, "I don’t want to leave right in the middle of end of financial year," and they also don’t necessarily want to walk into a new business and try to figure everything out during that period.
Kate: Exactly.
You’re coming into a business at such a tumultuous time.
It’s similar around Christmas or Easter. There can be a lot of pressure during those periods because of the number of public holidays, so you don’t see as much movement in roles then either.
Shawny: Even trying to schedule interviews recently has been really hard because everyone is so busy and snowed under.
Who has time to squeeze in an interview during an already short week when payroll people are flat out?
Kate: Exactly. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the payroll industry.
We’re a department that is almost always time poor.
We’re constantly chasing our tails trying to buy ourselves more time so we can improve things and cover everything properly.
There’s the audit trail, the background administration and everything else that needs to happen. You can feel like you’re chasing your tail most of the time, and you just do your best.
Learning to delegate
Shawny: And this is why you love it, right?
Kate: This is why I love it.
We’ve established that I’m probably a little unusual in how passionate I am about this sort of thing.
But you make do with what you can.
One of the biggest learning curves I’ve had in this role personally has actually been learning to delegate.
That isn’t something I did particularly well before, and not because I lacked confidence in anybody else. It was more that there was already so much to do that I would think, "It’s just one more thing on my list."
This role has forced me to delegate.
Shawny: It can be really hard, but you need to find that balance.
Kate: Definitely.
I’ve also realised that part of being a good leader, and part of being a good senior person within your profession, is teaching your skill set to the people around you.
The skills I have now are things I should be teaching to my team.
Equally, if one of my teammates knows something I haven’t done before, it’s my responsibility to learn from them.
It comes back to what we said before. You need to constantly want to learn.
That’s one of the biggest strengths you can have in this industry because things are changing all the time.
There is repetition in payroll processing. Each cycle can feel like the same process over and over again.
But there is always something different. Someone has worked different hours, a rule has changed or there’s an administrative change.
You always need to keep an eye on the data.
Why payroll became more than a job
Shawny: To finish with what I’m hoping can become my signature question, what was the moment you realised payroll was more than just a job for you and that you really had a passion for it?
Kate: I don’t know if I can pinpoint one specific moment.
As you and I have discussed privately before, and I think we mentioned on the last podcast, I came into payroll on the suggestion of a colleague.
When I entered the industry, I decided I would give it five years and see how I felt.
If I was enjoying it, then it had been a great move. If I wasn’t, I thought I’d only wasted five years of my life, which was fine.
I figured five years was enough time to get a really good taste of it.
It was towards the end of those five years that I realised how happy I was every day doing what I was doing.
There was the job satisfaction and the happiness, and I was incredibly thankful that I’d found this opportunity.
It catered to every element of my personality, which I didn’t think I would ever find in a job.
So there wasn’t really a pinpoint moment. It was more a feeling that grew each year as I spent more time in the job, learned more, met more people and gained more perspective.
I’m constantly surprised by how happy I am within this sector.
Shawny: I also think there is always something to be proud of in payroll because there is so much change happening.
We went through STP, now we have Payday Super, EBAs change and awards change.
As much as that can be exhausting and contribute to burnout, it’s also rewarding to be able to look back at how many achievements you have under your belt.
I definitely understand the appeal.
The balance between numbers and people
Kate: It isn’t for everybody. It’s a very challenging department to be part of.
But if that’s what gets you going every day, then it’s hugely satisfying.
For somebody like me, I love a challenge and I love being able to grow. Payroll is the kind of profession where the sky is the limit in terms of how far you can take it.
If you want to focus on processing and that’s your thing, great. It’s cyclical and repetitive, so if that suits your nature, it can be perfect.
If you want to develop your personality, relationship building skills and the way you interact with people, moving into more senior and leadership roles gives you that opportunity too.
You still have the pragmatic and structured side as well.
For me, the best description of payroll for somebody looking at entering the industry is that it’s the perfect balance between HR and finance.
You’re dealing with numbers, but the further you progress within the department, the more you’re also dealing with people.
You get the best of both worlds. What’s not to love?
Shawny: Exactly. Sometimes those personalities can clash, but to find the right payroll person, they almost need to be moulded from both.
That brings us to the end of the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me.
Kate: My pleasure. Thank you for having me again.
