Software for People hosted their annual HR and Payroll Forum at the Heritage Motor Centre on the 14th May with this year’s event focusing on HR and Payroll in Further Education Colleges.
Over 50 HR and Payroll professionals attended, providing an excellent opportunity to discuss current challenges in the FE College environment and to benefit from networking opportunities.
New College Durham presented their experience of the roll-out of employee self-service, providing an insight into the pros and cons of using this technology and the consultative approach taken with employees, trade unions and other organisations prior to the service being made available.
A talk by Hopwood Hall College in Rochdale on the challenges and benefits of moving to an integrated HR and Payroll system highlighted the key challenges faced prior to implementation and offered best practice advice for procuring a new system within realistic timescales.
An overview was provided on changes and updates to regulations related to SIR, Vulnerable Groups, Teachers’ Qualifications, Continuing Professional Development and changes to LGPS.
The talk included guidance on the key areas affected by the changes through practical examples and included a synopsis of the latest developments on changes to forthcoming legislation, sparking debates on the direction of legislation.
To conclude the forum, open sessions were held to discuss the subject areas covered during the Forum with the speakers.
The main topics were employee self-service, Outsourced Vs In-house Payroll, and Reports and returns.
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These Forums offer us a good opportunity to listen and understand the challenges faced by HR and Payroll departments in colleges across the UK. We then develop the right solutions to these issues.
Next year, Software for People plan to organise another Forum, so we welcome any suggestions regarding topics, location, timing etc.
