Sec 13: Managing a Payroll Department Flashcards
Situational leadership
The way managers handle their staff often depends on the way they dealt with two factors: tasks and relationships:
* Task behavior (guidance). High task managers emphasize control over their employees—control over the lines of communication, work procedures, and patterns of organization.
* Relationship behavior (support). High relationship managers place few restrictions on communication with their staff and often seek their support and friendship. They also push employees to accept responsibility and reach their full potential.
Principle‑centered leadership
It deals with four fundamental dimensions which grow out of leadership centered on principles such as integrity,
justice, and the Golden Rule. Security, Guidance, Wisdom, and Power
Fundamental skills that must be mastered in managerial positions
- Strategic planning/organizing
- staffing
- giving directions
- controlling progress
- reporting on the executive level
Strategic Planning and Organizing (GTS)
Activities that must be defined during the planning and organizing process include:
* Goals and objectives
* Time frame
* Subtasks timely completion will lead to objectives
Staffing
in developing a job description, the payroll manager must answer the five following questions:
* What are the educational requirements needed to perform the job?
* What knowledge/skills must the applicant have before being offered the job?
* What training opportunities can be offered to the new employee?
* What is the level of supervision required on the job?
* How much communication and interaction with other employees will be necessary?
Directing Employees - 4 common communication skills (PLLC)
Four communication skills managers must possess when directing employees are:
* Providing feedback
* Listening
* Leading
* Coaching
Controlling Performance/Progress
Often the best performers are driven by a personal need to succeed and be the best rather than by money or other incentives.
Reporting
A payroll manager’s report to upper management should have the following characteristics:
* Include only the relevant information
* The information should be produced in a timely manner
* It should be written clearly but briefly
Preventing a crisis
- Make sure the tools are available to do the job
- Plan and schedule for the “worst case scenario”
- Make sure there is a “back-up” for all your systems
- Maintain an open communication network
- Cross train payroll personnel
- Conduct a regular review of all department policies, procedures, and documentation
- Deal promptly and effectively with issues that adversely affect employee attitudes and morale
- Conduct a regular and comprehensive review of all payroll department output
- Keep your priorities flexible so the department can adapt to current situations
After the crisis— lessons to be learned
- Conduct a meeting of the team to discuss the crisis and determine which of the problems that occurred during the crisis are preventable
- Initiate a plan to prevent those problems that can be prevented from reoccurring
- List the successful results of the crisis management operation and include them in a “Crisis File” for future reference
- List all the issues that were not satisfactorily resolved and formulate procedures to resolve them
- Express your appreciation to your staff once again for their hard work during the crisis
Four combinations of time categories that tell a manager what his priorities should be are:
- Urgent and important— crisis management, immediate attention needed
- Not urgent but important— planning and prevention activities
- Urgent but not important— pressing activities that may be easy to accomplish
- Not urgent and not important— easily accomplished, time wasting activities
Characteristics of a successful team:
- The team has clear and specific goals and objectives
- Team meetings have a relaxed atmosphere where members can offer help and share experiences
- Each member has a role in reaching the team’s goals
- Team members listen without judging and with interest in what others are saying
- There is civilized disagreement among team members, who criticize constructively
- Decisions are reached by a consensus of support, not unanimity, with even disagreeing members
pledging to support the final decision - There is open communication and trust among members
- Each member has a clear assignment
- All members are responsible for the team’s success or failure
- The team builds networks with employees outside the team and asks for their feedback
- The team contains a diversity of employee styles—contributors, collaborators, communicators, and
challengers - The team performs a formal or informal self-assessment
Four stages of team development
- Forming
- Storming
- Norming
- Performing
When conducting performance appraisals, managers often make these common mistakes:
- Guilt over negative evaluations
- No accountability for the manager
- Improper application of standards
Effective performance evaluations
- Objective job- related goals and performance criteria based on some form of observable behavior or results and communicated clearly and in writing to the employee after being discussed with the manager.
- Managers conducting the evaluations are trained in delivering feedback in general and in the employer’s evaluation system in particular.
- There are written guidelines for administering the evaluation system.
- Employees who disagree with the evaluation are allowed to challenge it and receive an explanation of how
it was determined. - The evaluation system does not place unreasonable technical and time constraints on managers.
Basic Principles of customer service (TEARR)
- Tangibles - the physical facilities and equipment, as well as the appearance of the department and its employees
- Empathy - employees must be treated with respect and caring by the payroll department, no matter how basic their questions may be
- Assurance - When customers, especially employees, call the payroll department with a question or a concern, they need to be assured that they will receive an accurate and courteous response
- Reliability - The payroll department must be able to provide what its mission promises— dependable, accurate, and timely payments and payment information to employees and other parties inside and outside the organization
Responsiveness - Members of the payroll department must be willing and able to respond promptly to the needs and questions of their customers
Shared Service Environment
Shared services is the consolidation of related functions and integration of the processes involved with them throughout an entire organization. In the payroll context, shared services most often means the melding of employee service functions and integration of the processes they use so that employees have to make only one phone call or complete one email to finish a transaction or get a problem resolved.
Service Level Agreements (SLA)
A service level agreement (SLA) is a negotiated agreement between two parties, where one is the customer and the other is the service provider. It can be a legally binding, formal contract between two entities or an informal contract between internal departments when one department provides services to another department
What guide explains an ER’s obligations to withhold, deposit, and report withheld income and employment taxes?
IRS PUB. 15 Circular E Employers Tax Guide
Private Letter Rulings (PLR)
Private Letter Ruling is an IRS decision on how the tax laws apply to a set of facts involving a single taxpayer
The IRS publishes final regulations that are coded TD which stands for what?
Treasury Decisions
What is a decision by the IRS on how a section of the IRC is to be applied to a certain given set of facts?
Revenue Ruling
Employee Personal Styles
- Contributors
- Collaborators
- Communicators
- Challengers
Three qualities that can help a payroll manger become a strong leader
Having a vision
Building team support
Seeking partners
