5 reasons your boss should invest in your training

Transcription

1 5 reasons your boss should invest in your training Training is a vital step to take for your professional development, but sometimes it isn t easy to put into words why. This guide will give you our top 5 reasons why your manager should invest in your training.

2 Why is training so important? Payroll, like many other business functions, is complex and often fraught with challenges. It is still a vital part of your business though and should be viewed as such. With advances in software and technology, and major changes in legislation it is more important than ever to ensure that you and your team are up to date on what is happening in your industry and are prepared for the future. Even though you may understand the benefits of training, sometimes articulating these to your manager can be difficult. If you are looking for your manager to approve and invest in your training, you need to be able to demonstrate the benefits it will have both on yourself and the company as a whole. Don t worry, we re here to help. This guide will help you demonstrate why training is so important by looking at the 5 following benefits: 1. Keeping up with changing legislation 2. Using your software to its full potential 3. Achieve your career goals and maximise your potential 4. CPD (Continuing Professional Development) 5. Increase your productivity and efficiency

3 1) Keeping up with changing legislation The payroll industry is currently undergoing enormous change, with the introduction of new legislation including Real Time Information (RTI) and automatic enrolment. RTI, which was introduced in April this year, is widely regarded as the biggest single change to payroll since PAYE was introduced in Automatic enrolment, the flagship component of the government s workplace pension reforms, has also started to be rolled out and will be compulsory for all businesses across the UK by As with any change, educating yourself and your team on the new legislation is a vital step to achieving success. Early feedback tells us that automatic enrolment is incredibly complex, much more so than RTI. This further highlights the need for proper preparation within your business. Unlike RTI where businesses only had to satisfy the requirements of HMRC, automatic enrolment has many key stakeholders (The Pensions Regulator, The Department for Work & Pensions, pension providers, employers, employees etc). Any legislation that involves multiple parties is clearly complex, as each individual stakeholder will have different demands which need to be met. The Pensions Regulator will be performing audits on companies for automatic enrolment and will be giving out fines of up to 10,000 per day for non-compliance, so ensuring you and your company are prepared for this change is not something to be rushed or taken lightly. By attending training on legislative changes such as RTI and automatic enrolment, not only will you better understand why the change is happening, but you will learn the steps you need to take to prepare for it. This will save your business time and make the transition much smoother, as well as helping avoid financial penalties!

4 2) Using your software to its full potential When choosing commercial software to run your payroll, you want to make sure if offers the functionality to perform the tasks you need. Once you have chosen the right piece of software for your company, this is not the time for you to sit back and forget about it. Even if you have the best piece of software in the world, if your knowledge does not match the software s functionality, you will not be getting your money s worth from it. Understanding the capabilities of the software you are using will make your job easier, while allowing you to perform a wider range of tasks more efficiently. With legislative changes and advances in technology, software providers will also occasionally release updates for your software. These updates may involve increased functionality, allowing you to remain compliant with new legislation and keep up to date with the latest technological advances. By regularly refreshing your software knowledge, you can ensure you are using your software to its full potential. 3) Achieve your career goals and maximise your potential Regardless of the position or industry you work in, it is safe to say that most people have a desire to advance in their field, and do the best they can. Undertaking training, whether it is on using certain software or on legislative changes, will help you to be able to perform better in your current role. By increasing your performance you are more likely to be noticed by your manager and gain the opportunity to advance (and in turn earn more money!) Being proactive about the training you feel you need also demonstrates your motivation and desire to perform to the best of your ability.

5 4) CPD (Continuing Professional Development) The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996 as the leading independent organisation operating across all sectors to complement CPD polices of professional and academic institutions. CPD is a combination of approaches, ideas and techniques that will help you manage your own learning and growth. The focus of CPD is firmly on results the benefits that professional development can bring you in the real world. Perhaps the most important message is that one size doesn t fit all. Wherever you are in your career now, and whatever you want to achieve, your CPD should be exactly that: yours. As a professional, you have a responsibility to keep your skills and knowledge up to date. CPD helps you turn that accountability into a positive opportunity to identify and achieve your own career objectives. It is wise to review your learning over the previous 12 months, and set your development objectives for the coming year. Reflecting on the past and planning for the future in this way makes your development more methodical and easier to measure. This is a particularly useful exercise prior to your annual appraisal! CPD is an investment that you make in yourself. It s a way of planning your development that links learning directly to practice. CPD can help you keep your skills up to date, and prepare you for greater responsibilities. It can boost your confidence, strengthen your professional credibility and help you become more creative in tackling new challenges. CPD makes your working life more interesting and can significantly increase your job satisfaction. It can accelerate your career development and is an important part of upgrading to chartered membership. All IRIS training courses are CPD certified, which guarantees their quality, as well as contributing to your career development.

6 5) Increase your productivity and efficiency Undertaking training to ensure you are both up to date on changes in legislation and are using your software to its full potential can help increase both your and your team s productivity and efficiency. An issue that many payroll professionals experience is the feeling that payroll is undervalued in many organisations. A reason for this could be that it is often seen as a reactive function. Employees need to be paid so payroll arrange wages. Managers require certain information so payroll provides a report. Training can help make the move from being a reactive to a proactive function. By understanding legislation and how to get the most from your software, you will get the opportunity for payroll to be more influential in company strategy, providing the adequate information can be provided to your manager. An example of this would be the following: a business may be employing staff members to do an increasing amount of overtime, which pays a higher rate than usual. Payroll could analyse the long term costs of this and may see that it could be a more sustainable option to simply bring in a new employee to work part time, rather than having existing staff on overtime. Training can also help encourage and improve collaboration across different departments. This is especially important with the introduction of automatic enrolment, as this legislation change will require HR and payroll departments to start working more closely together.

7 How to ask your boss for training Now we have explained our top 5 reasons why your boss should invest in your training: 1. Keeping up with changing legislation 2. Using your software to its full potential 3. Achieve your career goals and maximise your potential 4. CPD (Continuing Professional Development) 5. Increase your productivity and efficiency Even now you know these benefits, approaching your manager and asking them for additional training can still seem like a daunting task to many people. The following are a few tips to help you with this: Preparation is key! One of the main mistakes people make when approaching their manager is not preparing fully. The more you have thought through your proposition, the more likely your manager is to accept it. Calculate costs and time Before approaching your manager, make sure you have exact figures relating to how much the training you are wanting to undertake costs, and how long it will require you to be out of the office. Demonstrate ROI If you can demonstrate the ROI (Return On Investment) of the training, your chances of having your proposal accepted are much higher. This ROI can be financial, but can also relate to your being more efficient and saving time in the long run. Offer to present highlights to your team Not only does this demonstrate that you have taken in what you have learnt, but also brings value back to your team. By condensing what you have learnt into some key highlights, your whole team, including your manager, can benefit from the training without having to pay for each employee to go on it.

8 The IRIS Solution IRIS offers a range of different training options based around your software and changes in legislation. Stay ahead of the curve and increase your competitive edge through industryleading training programs, which build your skills and enable you to optimise your investment in your IRIS software. In the run up to the introduction of RTI (Real Time Information) we helped train over 13,000 employers and payroll professionals and are currently offering training to help businesses prepare for automatic enrolment. Whether it s a free, half hour online webinar, a paid for half or full day course, or on-site consultancy, we have a training option suitable for your business. Don t just take our word for it though! The below is what some delegates had to say about our training courses. I found the training very useful and the trainer has brilliant knowledge of all aspects of payroll. He was able to go in to great depths but make it understandable at the same time. I have come away with a better knowledge of the payroll process and also now feel like I can use the software to my best advantage. Nicola Savage, Rotronic Instruments UK Ltd. It was a very enjoyable course and exceeded my expectations and I felt very satisfied when I left knowing that all my questions and worries were answered. I now feel that when I run the payroll next month for an employee who has just started maternity leave, I will know what I am doing. Sheila Robins, Brunswick Health Centre The trainer was incredibly knowledgeable and paced the learning just right for our group. She explained things in detail and passed on a lot of good tips. My expectations of the course were far exceeded and I ve come away thirsty to improve our system. The course venue was exceptional - very conveniently placed opposite the train station and the food delicious. Nicky Jones, Bronmeirion Surgery

9 Want to find out more? If you want to find out more about the full range of IRIS training or would like to book a place on one of our courses, you can visit or call one of the numbers below: Small business owners, payroll & HR professionals GPs, practice managers & medical professionals About IRIS With 30 years' experience, the IRIS Software provides business critical software and services to the UK SME sector and accountants in practice. More than 30,000 small to medium sized companies and 15,000 UK accountants rely on the IRIS Software Group every day to run their business. IRIS Software Group is the number one solution provider for RTI and its software pays 14 per cent of UK businesses that operate under PAYE. All customers receive the greatest choice of RTI payroll software and services managed under the brands IRIS and Earnie. The company has over 95 per cent customer retention across its core products. Follow us on