Question

Choose three of the following changes that may be negotiated in a collective agreement and provide an example of how each would impact the payroll department.

·         Timing of changes

·         Changes to salaries, wages, overtime rates

·         Paid absences

·         Group benefits

·         Retroactive payment dates

·         Method of payment for retroactive adjustment

Answer 1

 Changes to salaries, wages, overtime rates

absences

Group benefit

Answer 2

Following are the negotiable changes and the impact them on the payroll department:

1. Timing of Changes: By changing the office's timing for each employee, the company can change the official start time from 9 am to 10 am. Also, the official end time can be altered from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm. This way, there will not be any impact on the payroll department. This is because the no of hours worked is the same (8 hours).

2. Changes to salaries, wages, overtime rates: When there are any changes in the salary structure, wages, and overtime rates, there will be changes in the payroll department as they have to maintain specified pay rates and also different overtime rates for every employee. There will be an extra effort from their end, and that will be employee/team specific.

3. Paid Absences: In the provision of paid absences, if there are changes in the paid leaves given to an employee, there will be a special entry made in the salary slip structure. For that to happen, the salary software will have to be optimized, and costs will have to be incurred from the company’s side. The HR executives will also have to make separate excel account sheets for the paid leaves taken and leaves left.