Put Your Payroll Back On Track in 90 Days or Less

Struggling with payroll performance, compliance, or relations with stakeholders and employees? If you are managing a payroll system that feels like it is constantly in catch-up mode, or if you have recently taken on a payroll process in need of serious improvement, you know just how overwhelming it can be to turn things around. But it does not have to stay that way.

With a structured approach, you can reestablish control, optimise workflows, and put your payroll on the path to peak performance — all within 90 days. This guide breaks down the key steps you will need to assess, build, and execute a payroll strategy that fosters compliance, accuracy, and efficiency. Each phase is designed to build on the last, creating a roadmap that leads to a sustainable, high-performing payroll operations.

Stay with us until the end — you will not want to miss the little extra we have included!

Days 1-30: Assess

Your journey starts with a deep dive into the current state of payroll. By meeting with key players, reviewing team dynamics, and evaluating processes, tools, and vendor performance, you will build a solid foundation to understand what is working and what is not. The goal here is to gain clarity on where improvements are needed and begin mapping out your next steps. Let us dive into the details.

Meet Key Stakeholders

- Schedule introductory meetings with HR, Finance, and key managers.

- Identify each group’s pain points and expectations.

- Document feedback and note recurring issues to address in your Payroll Roadmap.

Assess Your Team

- Intake: current ways of working.

- Schedule team meetings to discuss daily operational topics, priorities, and issues.

- Identify team's main pain points

- Check if there is a functional back-up structure and vacation planner.

Review Vendor Performance

- Meet with vendor to discuss their performance and challenges.

- Ask for full information package: blueprints, wage type catalogue, escalation path, fresh templates, software handbook and/or training.

- Check features offered by vendor but not currently used by your team.

Review Processes

- Review processes and identify where time is wasted, or errors occur.

- Review input channels (HR master data payroll reports), controls (master data, changes, variance), approval processes, and deliverables.

Assess Tools

- Review existing payroll documentation and identify missing elements, such as labour regulations, HR policies, or specific inputs.

- Review tools and identify missing, outdated, or unused tools.

- Review data storage structure.

- Review communication channels for queries (e-mail, phone).

Days 31-60: Build

With insights from your assessment in hand, it is time to start building the framework for a streamlined payroll operation. This phase focuses on strengthening relationships with stakeholders, organising your team for optimal performance, enhancing vendor collaboration, and planning critical process and tool updates. By setting these pillars in place, you are preparing for smoother payroll cycles ahead. Let us take a closer look at each step.

Build Stakeholder Relationship

- Schedule monthly meetings to follow up on issues and challenges.

- Establish an Incident Log: track each payroll cycle’s issues, their root causes, and their impact on payroll.

- Present a brief overview of the payroll process, focusing on the complexities of the payroll cycle, using a simple visual presentation to help clarify R&Rs and manage expectations.

- Present updated Payroll Roadmap with stakeholder, vendor and process milestones.

Build Team Management

- Schedule 1:1s to discuss individual topics, build a SMART development plan in soft and technical skills.

- Build back-up structure and ensure all team members have required accesses to internal and external tools and resources.

- Build team vacation calendar.

Build Vendor Governance

- Establish a routine to meet before and after each payroll cycle for feedback.

- Ensure that both sides understand and commit to timely and accurate information exchange.

- Select relevant unused features to activate, agree on timeline and cost.

- Develop an Improvement Tracker: record and monitor any issues raised with vendor, including resolution timelines and accountability markers.

Plan Process Overhaul

- Build a timeline for process overhaul and/or automation.

- Focus on critical bottlenecks.

- Schedule workshops with key stakeholders (HR, C&B, Finance, etc.) to ensure both sides' requirements are met in overhauled processes.

Plan Tool Overhaul

- Build a timeline for building and/or completing process documentation.

- Build a timeline to complete toolkit: manual, flowcharts, annual calendar, wage type catalogue, input template, approval request template, etc.

- Set up centralised and resilient data storage (shared drive, SharePoint) and ensure all team members have access. Use it for current cycle.

- Set up centralised payroll mailbox for queries and ensure all team members have access.

Days 61-90: Execute

Now it is time to bring your plans to life. In this phase, you will focus on execution, implementing process overhauls, launching tool updates, and building trust through consistent communication with stakeholders, team members, and vendors. Each step forward will reinforce improvements and set the stage for sustained payroll excellence. Let us explore this phase in detail.

Develop Stakeholder Trust

- Continue to hold follow-up meetings with stakeholders after each payroll cycle to check in on the Payroll Roadmap.

- Use statistics from the Incident Log to communicate success metrics, highlighting resolved issues and areas of improved performance.

Enable Team Growth

- Introduce SMART goals for each team member and track their progress.

- Foster team spirit and emphasise the importance of continuous improvement initiatives.

- Schedule team-building events.

Leverage Vendor Capacity

- Continue to hold follow-up meetings with vendors after each payroll cycle.

- Deploy the Incident Log and the Improvement Tracker, discuss and update on every meeting.

- Kick off deployment of previously unused features.

Kick-Off Process Overhaul

- Kick off the process overhaul workshops.

- Plan to periodically review processes in an effort to continuously improve them.

Kick-Off Tool Overhaul

- Kick off the documentation effort and monitor the team's progress. Adjust timeline if needed.

- Kick off the toolkit overhaul effort and monitor the team's progress. Adjust timeline if needed.

- Work with IT to transfer legacy payroll data to centralised storage.

- Announce deployment of centralised mailbox.

90-Day Wrap-Up: Celebrate

Conclude your efforts by recognising the strides made in payroll:

- Stakeholders: present overview of achieved improvements from Incident Log.

- Team: celebrate your team’s accomplishments.

- Vendor: present overview of achievements from Improvement Tracker.    

- Processes & Tools: recognise and celebrate accomplishments.

With this structured approach, you will not only turn around your payroll but set it firmly on a path to excellence — all within 90 days. You are not just improving payroll processes. You are building a foundation of trust with stakeholders, empowering your team with clear direction and support, and enhancing vendor relationships to maximise value.

Ready to get started? Download the full step-by-step guide — free, with no fine print!