AI and the future for payroll
2023 brought mainstream attention to AI and its potential impact on people and jobs. It bred the perception that once adopted, jobs would be eliminated and the world of work would be forever change.
Given all this, it was expected that AI, machine learning and analytics would be at the forefront of respondents' focus and consideration set in terms of payroll technology and value generation. However, our survey clearly demonstrates that technological advancements in payroll, including AI, are lagging for many businesses.
It's unsurprising then that manual processes are recorded as the biggest pain point by respondents in our survey and that more time and effort is expend on using spreadsheets in the payroll process than analysing their data.
While not explicitly asked, it feels the number 1 priority for payroll runs is ‘please let there be no error’. The prevailing approach seen in the research is ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.
While it is admirable that organisations want to ensure their people are paid on-time and error-free, with today’s technology this should just be a given.