Payroll transformation for better business

Intergrity1’s Sue Hancock and Marc Guillaume speak collaboration, growth mindset and the bigger picture of payroll

Just like payroll itself, Integrity1’s director Sue Hancock, is not one to sit still. But what drew her to a career in payroll “many moons ago” still stands firm – a desire to grow businesses forward by applying solutions that treat the cause of payroll problems, not just the symptoms.

“Payroll isn’t textbook learning – it can only be learnt on the job. It spans everything from understanding legislation, to data, to processes, to controls, strategy and governance – you need a hands-on approach to build expertise,” she says. “From my years spent working within businesses managing and transforming payrolls, then onto consultancy, the lack of employee training and knowledge in legislation and processes has become hugely evident.”

Raising the bar

The ever-widening payroll gap across the board has spurred Sue to drive greater change.

“I’ve spent a lot of time consulting for businesses whose payroll employees don’t understand law compliance, who lack payroll training and experience. You can’t even work in the same payroll job for 15 years and expect to head into another company and do the same role. You’ve only learnt what one company is doing in the payroll space. Every business has its own payroll requirements & processes.”

Each to their own

Fostering a growth mindset, and intent on lifting the payroll game here in New Zealand, Sue knew what she needed to do – and who with.

“You unearth the variables of payroll from working within other businesses, which is why I immersed myself in big corporates that are really complex – I wanted to learn as much as I could. You can’t manage payroll with one set of skills and thinking; you need skills in integration and the outputs of payroll; you have to understand where it sits within the broader business; and acknowledge how the broader business contributes to payroll systematically – understanding the ins and outs of those systems,” says Sue. “Payroll is an acquisition of knowledge, and that’s why I reconnected with Marc Guillaume – who’d I’d worked with in business seven-to-eight years earlier – because we click on the same ideas.”

Integrity1 is the product of their entrepreneurial thinking. Built on a foundation of joint experience consulting & practicing both here and overseas, it’s a union of Marc’s implementation & consultancy management expertise and Sue’s legislation, governance & remediation expertise.

Stay looking ahead

“Successful business isn’t rocket science. It’s about looking inward and strategizing the best pathways forward,” says Marc Guillaume, Director of Integrity1. “As a leadership team, Sue and I are on the same page and we play to our strengths to bring it all together. We’ve had clients request two hours work and we’re now into our second year of working with them because we’re addressing all aspects of their payroll operations.”

The bigger picture is something both Sue and Marc hold fast to – within their business and outside.

“As a consulting team we each bring unique skills to our model – we’re not a one-man band. And, we value that work-life balance. When you nurture your staff, they’ll look after your clients,” says Marc. “It’s a strategy that’s really resonated with our clients, as we’ve had extensive growth over the last year, doubling in size to a team of over 30 people. And as an expanding company, we’re looking ahead not just technology speak but people skill speak. Who can we bring onboard with other skills that will build into our consulting expertise for example, cyber security specialists? Why? Because payroll feeds into all business systems.”

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