Is FY25 the year of the payroll burst model?

As businesses go through the highs and lows of economic pressures, there is a shift of focusing on efficiencies, cost models, ROI, and reducing head counts for profits. This often doesn’t consider the pipeline of the non-revenue generating support services work still required to service the remaining headcount. It also doesn’t consider the inefficiencies or the maturity of technology to get the job done. It's part of a familiar cycle for seasoned payroll professionals, but this one feels slightly different. 

Adaptability and tightening budgets

We recently conducted a survey on LinkedIn to see how budgets were planned for payroll in FY25. It was great to see a commitment to adding new headcount by many businesses - but several responses were, “there is no change in headcount, but we still need additional support”. This response is indicative of how tight operational budgets are in FY25. 

This cycle also adds in a significant shift in skills required to do the work. Previously, a set of skills could set you up for a lifelong career, but as we understand it, children entering primary school today will join the workforce in roles that do not even exist yet. This means one of the key skills required is adaptability and the ability to keep reinventing. 

Evolution of roles and resource woes

Payroll as a core task and skill set has changed and focussed on digitalisation vs manual checks. Meanwhile, HR have evolved from supporting these tasks to delivering strategy to partner with business – where they previously were often a backup or the burst support to help payroll teams through those times. What remains key is having the right skills to deliver cyclical payroll activities.

Previously, a temp was used for data entry and manual tasks but now often these tasks are not where the support is required in payroll teams. Nowadays, the thought of outsourcing is often overwhelming and often lacks results. It is difficult to resource effectively with quality control, onboarding, knowledge upskilling (placing pressure on BAU teams) and finding the right career stage skills. 

TPAC’s burst support models

In our experiences, businesses simply don’t need the peak resourcing that payroll teams often require during projects, audits, M&A, and remediation activities.

We have created an alternative consulting service with our burst support models. It is senior level support that fits in when you need it, often proving far more efficient and cost effective than a temporary resource or outsourcing.

It is a quality-controlled service with clear deliverables with skill sets that are complementary. We have current client case studies that may be of interest if you’re curious how this may work for your business.  

It’s output driven. It’s cost effective. It’s quality controlled, and it’s available. For only when you need it.