Coronavirus (COVID-19): a message from John Petter, CEO, Zellis

For over 50 years, Zellis and the customers we serve have faced challenges big and small – and come through them by working together.

The COVID-19 crisis is worrying and moving very fast – but the whole Zellis team is totally committed and working tirelessly to ensure we continue to deliver for customers. The leadership team and I are also focused on supporting our customers’ businesses through this difficult time, as well as the safety of our people.

We will be updating the statement on our website daily with any immediate news from us, and to reflect legislation and policy updates from the UK and Irish governments. The normal channels of communication such as the Zellis Support Portal and our email communications will also keep you up to date with the changing situation. We are already hard at work on the changes announced by the Chancellor this evening to pay up to 80% of salaries to preserve jobs – we will update you shortly on this.

A brief recap of the key points in our current statement:

1. Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) in the UK, and Social Welfare Payments (SWP) and Illness Benefit (IB) in the Republic of Ireland have been included in the ResourceLink 23b U02 Emergency Software Update. This will enable you to recognise COVID-19 related absences and automatically apply the new sick pay rules.
2. The Republic of Ireland Employer COVID-19 Refund Scheme Emergency Software Update ResourceLink 23b U03 and ResourceLink 23a U04 will be available next Friday 27 March. This will enable Irish employees who are temporarily laid off to receive the special support payment of €203 per week through the normal payroll process.
3. The UK government has also announced it is building a service to automate the issuing of sick notes via NHS 111. Under the new system, people will be able to provide a note to their employer as evidence of absence from work, without having face-to-face contact with GP services. It has not yet been announced when this system will be available, but we will provide an update as soon as more information is available.

Additional Support, Services and Information

We are conscious that your own organisation may be experiencing difficulties – and so wanted to suggest some ways in which we might be able to help.

Emergency Payroll Advice

Advice and support for your payroll teams as they work remotely or have less management oversight. Examples include: review of business continuity plans, documentation of processes, and technical advice from our experts on how to manage all aspects of payroll and HR administration, including year end.

Emergency Payroll Support

For customers who have ResourceLink software as a service, we can offer you an additional layer of resilience and provide support to your payroll teams. This support includes key activities such as gross to net calculations and payments via BACS to employees and third parties, thereby limiting the impact of colleagues not receiving any pay, helping businesses continue to function, and ensuring key third parties are paid, such as the Child Support Agency.

Rapid Enablement of Employee & Manager Self-Service

ResourceLink’s extensive Employee and Manager Self-Service capability allows employees and managers to access and update business critical information. Our self-service functionality is available to employees and managers 24/7 and is accessible through a range of mobile devices to facilitate remote and non-office based working. If you are interested in adopting or expanding your ResourceLink Self-Service capability, please get in touch.

HR Advisory Services

Being able to protect your business and your people is key in extraordinary times. Our advisory services ensure you can work safe in the knowledge that you’re compliant, with 24/7/365 employment law advice, comprehensive documentation and support on-site, on the phone and online by qualified employment law consultants. Our team are members of, and qualified by, the most rigorous professional bodies of HR, employment law and health & safety in the country, and we invest in their continuous professional development every day to ensure they give the best HR advice for employers.

Free Benefex Digital Social Recognition for 6 months

We know morale can be hard to maintain in times like these. So our sister business Benefex is offering free access with no strings to its social recognition software “OneHub | Recognition” to help you stay connected to your people, keep your culture alive out of the office, and show your appreciation for employees wherever they are. We use this in Zellis and our people love it.

Early Settlement Discount

Several customers have told us that they are concerned about ensuring continuity in their own accounts payable team. So we wanted to let you know that we are willing to offer discounts to customers who prefer to pay early to avoid disruption.

Absence Reporting

Being able to record and report on the different levels of absence is particularly important right now. You need to know who is unavailable, the levels of absence you’ve got (whether it is parents looking after children or personal sickness), and what gaps in your workforce this might create. Reporting on your absence is critical in identifying potential risks.

BACS Payment Process

We can help you with secure payments via any number of payment schemes or host-to-host banking connections including BACS, Faster Payments, Swift, and SEPA.

Emergency Background Checks

Run quick, thorough and fully compliant background checks on contingent staff you may be bringing in at short notice.

We are hearing that customers are finding useful information on the official government sites.

Please see the links below.

UK government: Guidance to employers and businesses about Covid-19

Republic of Ireland government: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Information for Employers and Employees

For specific requests and urgent support, contact us via this page. Alternatively, please contact your Account Manager. We are already responding to customer requests; in some cases this is to delay HMRC payments, where they have secured additional time to pay.

I appreciate that the circumstances in which we find ourselves are worrying. So I promise we will continue to be in touch, to support you in any way we can.

In the meantime – with best wishes,

John Petter

CEO, Zellis