Connor Gillespie, Not for Profit Lead at Zellis, shares his thoughts on how changing up HR and payroll across organisations can redesign how work gets done to create value and drive positive outcomes.
When I speak to charities, the conversation will very often turn to recruitment, retention or how they’re going to deliver more services without increasing costs. What strikes me is how many organisations are trying to solve very modern workforce challenges while relying on processes and systems that haven’t kept pace.
That’s why I think HR and payroll deserve far more attention than they often get. Not because of the technology itself, but because of the role it can play in helping organisations make better decisions about their people.
Understanding what’s happening across the workforce
People are the biggest cost for most charities, but they’re also the biggest factor in whether an organisation succeeds. Whatever the cause, outcomes depend on having the right people in place and giving them the support they need to do their jobs well.
Retaining those people isn’t easy. We regularly see experienced employees build their careers in the sector before moving elsewhere, often because they can earn more in the private sector. That’s understandable, but it does make it even more important for charities to understand what their employees need, where pressure points exist and what they can do to improve the experience of working for their organisation.
For me, that’s where HR and payroll become much more than administrative functions. They should be helping organisations answer important questions. Are people leaving particular teams? Is absence increasing? Are there patterns emerging that need attention? Which parts of the workforce are under the greatest pressure?
Without good visibility, it’s difficult to answer those questions with any confidence. The organisations doing this well are using workforce data to understand what’s happening across their teams and make better decisions about recruitment, retention and workforce planning as a result.
Why spreadsheets are usually a symptom, not the problem
One of the most common conversations I have with charities is about spreadsheets. In fact, if somebody asked me for the biggest sign that a HR and payroll system isn’t properly supporting an organisation, spreadsheets would probably be my one-word answer.
Usually, the spreadsheet has appeared because there’s a process that can’t be managed easily through the system. It might be absence calculations, leaver payments or reporting. Somebody creates a workaround because it’s the quickest way to get the job done and, initially, that feels perfectly reasonable.
The problem is that these workarounds rarely stay isolated. Organisations evolve, requirements change and more processes get added over time. Before long, you’ve got a mixture of system-based processes, manual processes and spreadsheets all sitting alongside each other.
I’ve seen organisations where critical processes depend on custom screens or bespoke workflows that only one person really understands. If that individual leaves, suddenly there’s a real challenge around how those processes are maintained and supported.
Interestingly, this isn’t always because the organisation chose the wrong software. More often they’ve got a good solution that simply hasn’t evolved alongside the business. The charity has changed, requirements have changed, but the underlying processes haven’t kept pace.
The cost of disconnected not for profit HR and payroll systems
The same thing happens when organisations are working across multiple disconnected systems.
You might have HR in one place, payroll somewhere else, recruitment in another platform and learning sitting elsewhere again. None of those systems are necessarily bad. The issue is what happens when information has to move between them.
Every time data has to be transferred manually, somebody has to enter it, somebody has to check it and somebody has to fix it if something goes wrong. That creates additional work, but it also creates risk.
I’ve had conversations with organisations that are losing days every month to activities that should be happening automatically. Recently, a housing association told us they were spending two additional days every month recalculating absence information because data wasn’t feeding correctly into payroll.
When charities are operating with limited resources, that time matters. It could be spent supporting employees, improving services or working on projects that add value to the organisation rather than correcting avoidable issues. This is where not for profit HR and payroll software really delivers value.
Making it easier for employees and managers
Workforce management has an important role to play here, particularly in charities with large numbers of part-time employees, casual workers or complex shift patterns. Having visibility of overtime costs, agency spend and workforce deployment gives organisations a much clearer understanding of where resources are being used and where efficiencies might exist.
Financial wellbeing is equally important. People sometimes see it purely as an employee benefit, but financial stress affects much more than that. It affects wellbeing, confidence and people’s experience at work.
Giving employees access to support around budgeting, saving, debt management and financial education can make a genuine difference. It’s not simply about helping someone get through the month. It’s about helping them feel more secure and more in control of their finances.
The employee experience matters too. People want to understand their pay. They want to know why it changes from month to month and they want clear answers when something looks different.
Historically, that has generated a significant volume of queries for payroll teams. Technology can now help bridge that gap. Features such as payslip explainers can help employees understand changes to their pay without needing to contact payroll directly. That benefits employees because they get answers immediately, but it also reduces pressure on payroll teams and frees up time for more valuable work.
Managers benefit as well. Most managers aren’t payroll specialists and shouldn’t have to be. Their focus is delivering services and supporting their teams. Giving both managers and employees better visibility helps everybody access the information they need without creating more work for HR and payroll teams.
Choosing a partner, not just a platform
When charities are looking at new technology, I always encourage them to look beyond the software itself.
Of course functionality matters. Integration capabilities matter. Open APIs matter. Being able to connect systems, automate workflows and surface meaningful workforce data can have a huge impact.
Software on its own isn’t enough. What matters just as much is whether you’ve got a partner that will help you continue getting value from the investment after implementation. Organisations change, priorities change and workforce challenges change. The system needs to evolve alongside those changes, and that only happens when there’s a genuine focus on adoption, continuous improvement and ensuring the technology continues to support organisational objectives.
Most charities aren’t looking for transformation projects for the sake of it. They’re looking for practical improvements that save time, support employees and make better use of limited resources.
The organisations that achieve that are usually the ones that view not for profit HR and payroll differently. Not as a back-office necessity, but as a source of workforce insight that helps them make better decisions, support employees more effectively and ultimately deliver better outcomes for the people and communities they serve.
To learn more about how Zellis can support your not for profit organisation to think differently about HR and payroll, get in touch today.
